There are various obvious methods of rust removal, but these methods are unsuitable as they tend to be destructive in use, meaning that along with the rust some of the base metal is also removed. Dissolving the rust with acids such as phosphoric acid or even vinegar can remove surface features which may have been preserved in the rust. As I required a way of actually trying to salvage some of the rusted metal rather than just removing or dissolving it, these methods were considered inappropriate. This left the electrolytic method, also known as electrolysis, which involves using the passage of an electric current in an alkaline solution, or electrolyte, to do the job of trying to convert some of the corrosion products into a more stable form, whilst loosening the remaining corrosion by converting it into a loosely bound, easily removed deposit. In this photo you see the rust from a small piece of Bush Beast track being removed in a very basic electrolytic bath.
