thanks guys for all the responses.
Per Boilermaker1 - I just cleaned the daylights out of it - as suggested. Applied some flux to the 2 sections of track and then applied solder. It seems to be holding. If it fails later, I will use the wire stripping technique that you suggested. Assume it does not matter if it's solid core or stranded wire.
For Richie C - thanks for the info. My responses:
1. I will try brushes as you suggested.
2. I will get that lubricant.
3. I'm not sure I'll go through the connecting the outside rails together - but might entertain that later. It will require soldering a wire to the outside rail connector that currently is not connected to the buss wire. I will then tie the two outside rail wires together and connect them both to the ground buss wire. That sounds correct - yes?
4. I have a voltmeter and will do that, as suggested, if I later connect the outside rails together as mentioned in #3.
5. I have a track cleaning car that I've used very infrequently. I will endeavor to use it more frequently.
Thank goodness you guys have ideas to solve these issues. I did not want to pull my track up and fix these issues. Whew!!
