# Restoring rusted HO track as fill in



## jlong (Feb 20, 2010)

OK I know, track is cheap. The rusted stuff should be tossed. But I wanted to expand and found some forgotten rusty Tyco track that was not stored so well. I will eventually replace it with new but I needed something in the meantime. It's really not worth the effort if certain new track pieces are readily available which is not my case with Tyco banked turns. Plus I'm tight and on a car buying binge at the moment. But then I spent 2.5 hours restoring 30 pieces so it ain't too bad.

Surprisingly, this procedure worked quite well for such Fugly track. I mean the cars took right off with very little stalling and a little electrical arcing finished the job. 

For anyone who wants to try this, I would experiment on a few pieces first. you need the following:

Kitchen sink
MASS Metal Polish
Scotch Brite pads
90% isporpyl alcohol
Dawn dish wash detergent
Terry towel
Old (or new) stiff tooth brush
400 grit automotive wet sand emery cloth
Small modeler's file
HO track eraser
Clean white automotive polishing cloth
Blow Dryer
Shop vac

MASS Metal Polish BTW is popular with HO model train hobbyist for polishing electricals. It's excellent stuff. It leaves no counter conductive film. I also like it for cleaning copper pick up shoes. I get it Wally World. Dawn detergent is a favorite as it leaves no film either.

1) Wet a piece of Fugly track, squirt some dabs of MASS over the power blades, and scrub like h%%% with a Scotch Brite pad. Get as much rust as you can off.

2) With the small file, remove any rust off the sides of the blades where they make electrical contact to other track 

3) With the track still wet, wet sand the blades with the emery cloth under warm running water.

4) You should have a brown, metalic, goopy mess by now. Squirt the track piece with a shot of Dawn, run a little water over it, and scrub the goop off with the tooth brush really good. Rinse by scrubbing under running water with the tooth brush.

5) Dry the track the best you can with the terry towel and blow dryer. Set aside for complete drying.

6) Once dry, burnish the power blades with the HO track eraser.

7) Remove the track eraser crud with a shop vac. We don't want to be left with any particles that are subject to contaminate our precious cars.

8) Soak the white cloth with the alcohol and wipe down the track real good and set aside to dry (it will dry quickly).

9) You're ready to go. You should be left with some black pitting which is not a problem other than it will likely entice future corrosion. But not anytime soon. Otherwise, electrical arcing should finish the job with a little coaxing of the cars here and there.

I have been running cars all day on this restored track and it wore in nicely. It's really no different than running on new track.


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