Aurora HO track cleaning

[Turnpike]

Hi
I've resurected all my old ('64 vintage) model motoring track , it was not stored badly but it did have a fair bit of rust on the metal runners and track end contact surfaces. I burnished the track end contacts to the point of shiney and assembled the track on my layout using the proper pins and joiners , I've secured the track with screws as well using the original molded in screw openings.I then figured it would be a simple matter of burnishing the rust off of the track runners wipe down the track surface and go to it...not so... the cars hardly ran at all so I checked the continuity around the track with a meter and it appears good so I figure its a problem with the cleanliness of the track runners. I cleaned the runners again using a hard straight block and aluminum oxide wet or dry sand paper in various grits starting with 320 and finishing with 1000 after which I cleaned the track with a mild soap and water solution and a micro fibre cloth doing a final wipe down with isopropal alcohol , the cars still run like
cr*p. As far as the cars go I have my original T-Jets as well as a number of the new Autoworld/round 2
remakes none of which run very well on the track. The cars run great directly off the controller but on the track its not good...So....am I waisting my time or did I miss something in the cleaning.

[RichD]

Back before I got my MaxTrax I got some old Aurora lock and joiner track out of storage. My track had not gotten rusty, but I cleaned up the rail ends with a Dremel and wire brush and assembled the track with great care using the steel slips that were used to hold banked corners together. I found that I still had to add one set of jumpers for the ~65 foot track.
Unless you put a load on the circuit voltage readings will only find completely open sections. Sections with barely conducting joints will still read OK. Disconnect the last section next to the one where the power comes in. Put a car on the track with the rear axle removed to act as a load on that last section, then take your readings. If the car will not run you will have to push it back around the track until it does. Joints that are at least making marginal contact act like resistors. Put enough of those in series and you get a big voltage drop.

[Turnpike]

Hi
Thankyou for the reply...what you say makes sense I'll give your suggestion a try ...