@ScottV posted:@Mike Wyatt - thanks will give it another try.
@Hot Water - those posts talk about ongoing maintenance, but this seems to be EXTRA dirty since several cleanings have done little. The methods I tried resulted from reading those posts!
@uberstationmeister - ok, so this might be "as clean as it gets". I was imagining using a white glove test for clean track. Expect some gray no matter what?
Our whole layout was Atlas solid nickel silver track & turnouts. After everything was completed, I went over the entire layout with 300 grit shop cloth, wrapped around a short piece of 1X2" pine. From then on I only used denatured alcohol or acrylic lacquer thinner for dust removal. Rarely did I ever have to use the 300 shop cloth again. That said, solid nickel silver does oxidize ever so slowly, so without use, you just might have to resort to the 300 shop cloth occasionally.
