I have a lot of Lionel O gauge track that is about 40 years old. It appears to be in good shape but a person who fixes model trains thought it would be no good due to the pin holes being too difficult to clean. Does anyone know effective cleaning techniques for salvaging this track or is it not worth the effort. I have plenty of time to do the work. I just hate the thought of discarding about a 100 feet of track. I am in my 90’s and bought the Lionel Santa Fe diesel in 1952 with all the running stock. Thanks for your help.
Hi Bill,
Welcome to the Forum
Your 40 year old track maybe OK if its not rusty. Then you have to check to be sure the center rail is still insulted from the outside rails. NO SHORTS.
The time you spend on trying to fix it, and the cost of new track (less that $1.00 each now), it may not be worth trying to save it.
BTW, the part of this forum where most of the O gauge hobbiest are at is at this link
http://www.trains.com/community/forum/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=95
tom