I uncovered some 1950’s Lionel 027 track. It is pretty surface-rusted. Tried Navel Jelly - not much effect. Any Ideas on how to restore the track?[?]
If naval jelly didn’t do it, it’s more than surface rust. Anytime I have rusted track, I throw it out. The work involved with restoring it and keeping the rust from coming back is just too much. It’s much easier to just get new track. If, however, you’re like other people I know and stubborn as a bull moose, You might try carefully disassembling the track and detail sanding the rails, making sure to get all the rust off. It’s a good idea at this point to seal the sides of the rails with a coating of clear fingernail polish. This will keep the air away from the metal and retard rust reformation. Everybody with me so far, Nobody lost at that last slip switch? Ok! Let the clear nail polish dry thouroly. At this point you are almost ready to reassemble the track section. Examine the center rail insulators (the little paper things that were on the rail) very carefully, making sure there are no places where the rail could contact with the metal ties. That would be bad. If you find any bad ones, replace them NOW! Put the insulators on the center rail, you’ll be able to tell where because the rail is slightly crimped at these locations. Place the rail onto the metal ties and CAREFULLY press the tabs down onto the insulators. Make sure that the rail does not contact the metal ties. Do this with all ties. Now do the same with both outside rails (slightly easier since you don’t have to worry about insulators). Make sure the ends of all the rails are even. Lastly, make sure the holes in the ends of the rails are properly sized. There’s nothing like bad contact between track sections to make you pull your hair out. You should now have nice shiny new looking track. And you thought this was going to be hard. Do this with all track sections that have rust. Remember, rust is like a disease. IT SPREADS - QUICKLY! If you do this properly, your track should be ready for use. Challenge somebody to see if they can tell it was rusted. If you followed the instructions to the letter - they won’t be able to.
And that’s pro