Is there an easy way to clean up ballasted track?

[rickb773]

Is there an easy way to clean up ballasted track?

Just scrapped portions of my old layout (http://www.allscalelayouts.com/R/Aspfiles/DetailPage.asp?Xfer_Code=20001280 ) to reuse on my new layout (http://rickb773-prsl.blogspot.com/ ).

The old track has had the ties and rail sides painted brown.

Is there an easy way to:
1)   Remove ballast (WS & scenice cement)?
2)   (The tougher question) Remove the gunk of AMI roadbed (pressed in 10 years ago)?

 

[DKS]

Ballast secured with white glue, or a close cousin of it, can usually be removed by saturating it with water. This may take a few days, so be patient.

As for the AMI material, you could try alcohol, or possibly mineral spirits.

[chuck geiger]

David has the best idea - For salvaging flex track, bathtub for a soaking or
long plastic tub. Bit of warm soapy water and then take a brush to the track
sections to knock off the excess.

[rickb773]

Won't soaking rust the switches? (I can see that short term rinsing would be OK.)
And will mineral spirits soften the plastic ties?

[pnolan48]

David's got it. If you used yellow glue, it will at least soften in warm soapy water. It's water-resistant, not waterproof. I just added boiling water every once in a while to whatever tub I used. I am going to be doing this a lot in the coming months as I rebuild the Portsmouth Branch on a limited budget. The "tool tray" from a 4-foot long storage chest will be great for straight track; a shallow under-bed storage bed will work for curved sections (mostly).

I bought a roll of the AMI stuff years ago and immediately hated it. I've used heat (cautiously), 91% isopropyl alcohol, and a very sharp scraper to remove similar materials that have gunked up furniture I've restored.

There's not much to rust on the switches--except the motors. I haven't found any softening of ties with mineral spirits. Acetone in abundance will make them brittle, but has no effect when I use it in track cleaning cars--i.e., sparingly.

[chuck geiger]

Pele Soeberg is dismantling his layout and in the new MR- He takes you
through how to salvage structures, signs, and more. It's really about how
to soften white glue.

[rickb773]

Yes, I had to laugh when I saw the MR article this morning.

But I followed the forum's advice on soaking the track.
It helps, but it is still a pain in the neck getting the remnants off.
Seems only worth it for the more expensive items like turnouts/switches.

Thought I'd be creative on the AMI gunk and put the switches in a zip-lock bag in the freezer for an hour and a half.
Really helped remove the stickiness and enabled much of the gunk to pop/push off.
Have to work quickly though because when it starts to warm some of the stickiness returns.

Thanks for the suggestions gang!

Rick
http://rickb773-prsl.blogspot.com/

[chuck geiger]

I learned so much in the past 20 years of layout building with adhesives. No more Liquid Nails
for roadbed and track, gobs of glue for structures. A lot of this changed when we started
using foam. I remember plywood risers with cork roadbed and track nails. Try removing that?