I picked up several large boxes of prewar Lionel standard gauge straight, curve, crossover, manual switches, and automatic switches at a train show. The track is very dirty and has surface rust but the rails are straight and complete with all pins.
I want to clean the track and get it looking as close to new as possible.
The article recommended cleaning it with soap and water with a 3M green abrasive cleaning pad. Then drying it and putting it in the oven at 200 degrees F to evaporate any moisture.
I tried with 1 section of track and it came out very well. Is this the best method? Can I put switch tracks in the oven (both manual and auto)? Will the wiring be okay at 200 degrees F? Is this the best method?
Better to use naphtha (lighter fluid) to clean off dirt and grease. It is an excellent solvent, and evaporates without leaving any residue. Alcohol absorbs water from the air, and leaves an invisible layer of water after it evaporates, encouraging rust. If you don’t want your track or equipment to rust, stay away from water, or any water-based cleaner. Naphtha will clean anything and everything, and will not harm most plastics and paints. Stay away from decals, though, as it will dissolve the glue. Naphtha is also great for removing tape residue from boxes, rolling stock and accessories. It also will not harm the shellac insulation on many motor armature and field windings like alcohol will.
Naphtha is the only cleaner/degreaser I use, and I do not need anything else.
Light rust can be removed with ScotchBrite pads. Wipe off all residue with a rag, then clean track with naphtha. Do not use any sandpaper, as you will take off the tin plating. Heavy rust can be removed with the electrolysis method.
Heck, I stick my train track in the dishwasher to get it clean. Sometimes I may have done some pre cleaning with rust remover, or wire brush, but after it comes out of the diswasher it is nice and clean, and you can deal with it from there. As far as your switches I cannot comment, as I have no prewar switches. On a good summer day, I don’t think you need the oven.
Hehe…if you ask 10 train people how to clean track, you’ll get (at least 11 answers. The only thing that elicits more opinions is what type of oil to use on your trains.
Everyone has their preferred method and from what I’ve seen (nearly) all of them can be used successfully. I think success is more often about how much diligence (and common sense) you use. There are though a couple of things that are almost immutable:
Don’t use steel wool to remove rust. You’ll likely remove the tin plating (leading to subsequent rusting in perpetuity) and probably leave minute metal shavings that will subsequently get attracted to anything magnetic (like Magnetraction wheels).
Use sandpaper to remove rust only as an absolute last resort. If you do, you’ll likely remove the tin plating as well and be repeating the cleaning process periodically from there on out.