how to remove rough edges at ez track rail joints

[Frankv]

Just finished my track redo - 132 sections of n/s ez track. Try as I might, I cannot get rid of all the rough edges at the rail joints. I've very carefully made all the joints, swapped/replaced sections and rail joiners to get good fits, etc. Still have a few tiny burrs which trip up my steamie pilot wheels. Will sanding or filing the rough edges cause problems with the track? What is best to do the smoothing? Would  filler between the joints help? What kind of filler? Help please. I'm a rank beginner trying to build a knockout layout for my grandson, and I think I have bitten off more than I can chew.

[jward]

i always file the ends of the rail on any track before i lay it. you can bevel the blunt ends of the rail, especially the top and inner surfaces where the wheels make contact. it does not hurt the track, and drastically improves performance. you only need to take a couple of swipes with a mill file, don't overdo it.
i would advise against the use of filler. for one thing, i don't think any readily available fillers conduct electricity. for another, unless you are verrrrry careful about filing and sanding the filler, you may end up with a worse bump in the track than what you had before. you can use solder to hold the rail joints together. this will increase the reliability of the joints at the expense of being able to easily take the track apart. also, with plastic ties on your track you'need to be very careful to quickly do your soldering before you melt anything. that said, i always solder my joints. 

[Jim Banner]

If I may add to Jeffery's post, check that the rails are inside the rail joiners before filing the tops of the rails. 

Jim

[jdmike]

I have a small set of jewels/modelers files.  I use the flat one to dress the ends of the rails and the tips of switch points.  Yields a much smoother running layout.  I also have a "stone" used to dress steel molds for plastic molding that works good for track that is already assembled. One is white/greyish in color, other is a ruby stone.   I am debating on using extrack on my new layout to take advantge of the DCC equipted turnouts.    Mike