Dead trains... why? how? help...

Hi Blue Plastic Tracks forum! I've been a keen observer of this website for many years but finally decided to make the plunge and join. I've got a few issues with my tomy trains! and thought that there'd be no better place to find assistance than here.

I've been building a big layout to run my trains and road vehicles on after years spent in storage, only to find out that... none of them work (initially for some, at least). I spent some time replacing batteries and even tried a few somewhat brutal methods like gently tapping them, and thankfully a good few of my childhood trains yawned, stretched, and eased themselves back to life. I bought out my road vehicles last night with a fresh pack of AAA's (and AA's) ready to test them out on the road track I'd put together, but unlike the trains, I was unable to bring any of them back to life. I'm not sure what spending 5 years in a box did to them...



I'm a little desperate for a solution because I'd like to film a video with them by the end of this week, but I don't want to go to the effort of taking them apart and fiddling around with their internals since I don't really have access to new parts, nor do I have a means of fixing them available to me at the moment. Forum, what do you recommend? Contact cleaner? I'll try anything...

Thanks in advance