Lionel 50's collection has termite poop on everything

it can possibly be cleaned but I would guess the fecal coly would stain the finish  permently. maybe try dawn dish soap with warm water and then immediately dry in a heated area .with most of water dried off as best you can then let the train dry in oven after it was shut off and just warm but not hot! I wouldn't be surprised that mice got into the boxes and left mouse fecal coly and also urinated on everything and the will RUST the trains if they were made form metal !

Sounds to me like it is mice or rat droppings. Termite droppings are dry pellets that resemble sand and don't usually stick to anything. Mice and rats love all things cardboard and paper and will make an absolute mess. Their droppings and urine will stick to everything and can carry pathogens..

1. Remove everything from the boxes and let it air out for a few days. this will allow things to dry out and will help with the odor. Latex gloves are a must! Wash your hands thoroughly after handling. 

2. Use a shop vac and try to remove all the loose debris. Use a soft 1" wide paint brush to get in to all the "nooks and crannies". Again,Latex gloves are a must! Wash your hands thoroughly after handling.  

3. Carefully disassemble and clean everything using normal methods as discussed here in the forum before.

I have had excellent results removing mice/rat droppings with dawn in warm soapy water gently a soft toothbrush. Just be careful around rubber stamped lettering and decals on the older trains.

Hope this helps!

Ricky

You would want a Hepa Filter on that shop vac. Don't want to be blowing that stuff around from the exhaust on the vac.

Alan Mancus posted:

it can possibly be cleaned but I would guess the fecal coly would stain the finish  permently. maybe try dawn dish soap with warm water and then immediately dry in a heated area .with most of water dried off as best you can then let the train dry in oven after it was shut off and just warm but not hot! I wouldn't be surprised that mice got into the boxes and left mouse fecal coly and also urinated on everything and the will RUST the trains if they were made form metal !

 

Great supper time reading!......🤢.........🤮........Pat

I want to thank Alan, Ricky and Gweedo for your great answers and suggestions.  Now to see what the guy wants for all of his stuff.  Thanks again guys.

Last time I checked, mice can't make a meal out of die-cast and plastic.  I'm going downstairs right now to throw away all of my original boxes.  

hot water, soap, a toothbrush, and persistence will clean the cars up nicely. i would recommend disassembling them first.

i would be far more worried about rust, urine tends to be rather corrosive. 

I would wear a paint or medical mask while dealing with that!  You don't want to inhale hantavirus or whatever kind of rodent borne plague those visitors carry.  Too bad a strong anticeptic cleaner might damage the trains.

I agree with wearing a dust mask and being careful about stuff coming out of the vacuum (if it is nice weather where you live, doing  this outside would not be a bad thing.....). In terms of cleaning the units, while things like lysol or clorox cleanup might cause damage (I myself would try clorox cleanup on a non visible place and see if there is a reaction, but that is me), you might want to try washing it using anti bacterial soap (I think Dawn and the other dish soaps have versions like that). Another option might be using sanitizers like purel, I have used them on laptop keyboards and the like and they aren't harsh, so that might work to help kill any diseases that might be there (again, I would test it on a non visible place, to make sure it doesn't seem to cause a reaction). Dish soap alone likely won't kill that much of any pathogens there. 

harmonyards posted:

 

Great supper time reading!......🤢.........🤮........Pat

It would be helpful to see a photo! 

Where there's termites, there will be other critters.  Mice etc.  The mouse droppings and urine should be dealt with carefully.  Even if you don't see the urine, it's there.  This coming from a carpenter that did renovations and restorations his entire career.  But hey, when you're young, you are invincible.....LOL

Cockroaches are relatives of termites, and love paper (and some wood), and make a mess all over everything when they find a stash. Their droppings are dark and small. They dry hard, but stain like crazy before they get that way. (Makes you want to just burn it all. Ew.)

Here's some good information: https://www.cdc.gov/hantavirus/index.html

Bottom line: There is a always some degree of risk regarding exposure to rodent droppings. 

I would weigh the pros and cons of purchasing the trains. If it's low to medium end,common postwar,I would likely pass.

Me? I worry more about dealing with venomous spiders! I am a recovering Arachnophobiac in a 12 step program. 

Ricky

Ricky Tanner posted:

I would weigh the pros and cons.....

How much time and effort to get what in return - what's your or whoever's time worth dependent on just what each item is.

"Now to see what the guy wants for all of his stuff."

There's the big unknown that could be quite entertaining. We've all seen folks who think every old Lionel is worth BIG money. They look at the price guides, see the first category of "Mint" without even considering the actual condition of what they have. Not saying that is the case here, but we have all seen situations like that.

From what I'm reading here, this sounds like far more trouble than it's worth. Even by the TCA standards, junk condition is probably being overly generous. I wouldn't touch the stuff without cleaning it with bleach, as recommended in the link Ricky posted above. And by using bleach, you'll probably ruin some lettering and/or paint, leaving you candidates for repainting. Never mind anything metal, that likely could be rusted. 

And the real tragedy here, would be if the owner of this stuff decided to sell this stuff on an auction site, saying only  "it's dirty... can be cleaned up." That would be an understatement. There are plenty of trains for sale out there without giving yourself an unnecessary health/sickness risk.

But this all sight-unseen speculation just going by description. Still, it doesn't sound very encouraging.

I agree with everything said so far about the clean up and protecting yourself.

One thing I do want to point out is be careful around any decals. Some of these are very brittle and can easily disintegrate in a cleaning operation! If possible, I would avoid messing with them. Rubber stamping, paint, metal, and unpainted plastic surfaces should be fine.

Chris

LVHR

I would personally pass on that collection.

I watch American Pickers. Those guys crawl through barns to find stuff. I hear them say things like "There are piles of raccoon poop up here.; I put my hands in something squishy." And, they don't wear gloves! They are almost never sick if you look at the number of shows they have produced. Maybe it's all 'TV magic', or maybe we are blowing this rodent poop stuff out of proportion. Just don't eat it!

George

George S posted:

I watch American Pickers. Those guys crawl through barns to find stuff. I hear them say things like "There are piles of raccoon poop up here.; I put my hands in something squishy." And, they don't wear gloves! They are almost never sick if you look at the number of shows they have produced. Maybe it's all 'TV magic', or maybe we are blowing this rodent poop stuff out of proportion. Just don't eat it!

George

I enjoy that show but it's all staged - even the "Freestyling". The items Frank and Mike buy are all selected in advance. The president of our local Antique Radio Club was on the show last year and told me all about it. They sent in a team in advance and decided then what would be purchased and the price agreed on in advance. Mike and Frank show up with van loads of the filming and production crew. It's all mostly scripted on the spot and edited for television. That's Hollywood for you! I still chuckle about poor ol' Frank and the $8000 repainted Lionel 408E Brown State set he got burned on. He did mention that Frank and Mike were "Real gentlemen and very professional".