At some point during the summer of 2018, not too long after the last post in May, the basement where the train layout is located flooded. Whether from the standing water or from the ionized volcanic rock placed under the layout as part of the cleanup I can't be sure, but I flipped on the lights to find about 80% of the track covered in rust. Entire switches just red with it - really unbelievable. So for rest of 2018, all of 2019, and most of 2020, very little was done and certainly no trains were ran. Somewhere along the line I started cleaning the track with eraser, scotchbrite pads, goo-gone, and rags.....after the first cleaning I waited months to see if the rust came back. Since the cleaning seemed to hold (rust didn't come back), I continued and eventually got it all completed in 2020. So this is the only post for 2019.