Someone just gave me 100 feet of brass flex track. It has never been used however it was in a very dusty and dirty garage and it is pretty filthy and might have rodent excrements on it. Can I clean it with water without it getting rusty? I want to spray it off with a hose and maybe even use some dish washer detergent on it. Will that be ok or will it damage it? Thanks.
https://youtu.be/BxeyYn8q9qA
You will note that the torpedo tube door is brass. Water and detergent won't hurt the brass, but read on. Rodents can carry some nasty diseases. After you get rid of the rodent kaka it will be tarnished and oxidized. That's what brass does.
The ties back then were fiber ties. Here is the big but: I'm not so sure they stand up to water. No doubt those who have been in the hobby continously will know the tricks to cleaning brass. Once you get it cleaned up, the downside is it is still going to look like brass.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Old memories, I worked on torpedo systems for 7 years.Not all brass track has fiber ties, there much of it around that had plastic ties.
Brian
My Layout Plan
Interesting new Plan Consideration
I think they really have to be old to have the fiber ties, check them, you should be able to easily tell, if they are plastic, your good to go with the washing.
If your going to use them, you could weather them after the cleaning, then clean up the rail heads.
All of my yard and spur track is old brass, because I had so much, just the main line is NS.
Mike.
My You Tube
I would clean it with a belt sander with a 60 grit belt. On the off chance you damage it, replace it with nickel-silver.
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fibre ties have seperate metal clips holding the the tie to the rail .... plastic ties have the attaching part molded as part of the tie assembly .
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Thank you for your answers. The track has plastic ties. If I look close I could probably read which brand it is but I didn't want to get that close. I didn't see any actual rat droppings on in but I did see some traps in the garage so I figured there might be. Mostly I see a lot of dust and dirty spider webs.
Wash the track with warm to hot water mixed with dish detergent, scrubbing with an old toothbrush. Let partially dry. With an old t-shirt cut into pieces, scrub with the Brasso polish that KenK mentioned above. No real need to worry about the Brasso getting on anything but the track, because the next step, You will be washing it off with the detergent water mix, followed by plain water wash. Sounds like a lot of work, but goes quite fast, if you can lay them track side up on a picnic table. If done properly the brass track should be quite shiney and almost look gold colored........DO NOT use any abrasives on the track...no matter what anyone says...It scratches the track and makes it easier for oxidation to form faster.
Also fiber ties from Atlas Do Not swell from water........My first large layout was Atlas code 100 hand laid/spiked on fiber Atlas ties on cork roadbed and I never had any problems with it. I also used Brasso once a year on rail heads and used a Masonite drag car, all the time mixed with the trains I was running.......that's all I did.
An old photo from 1959:
Take Care!
Frank
clean a small spot before you spend much time on it, to see if it is red brass or white brass if it is red pitch it.