Cannot believe this is the first time I am seeing this thread. Very impressive. Was all of this equipment in the stuff from your father?
Since you have it, try the Atlas Track Eraser first. If it scratches the rails too much, I would recommend going to a heavier linen cloth (no lint) and rubbing alcohol (the 90% kind). Blocks that scratch the rails work great but those scratches then accumulate dirt that much faster, hence more cleaning, and it is a vicious cycle. Anyway once it gets clean, get a quarter and slide it along the top of the rails to smooth the scratches out.
Despite all the science, rail cleaning is still part art. The deeper one gets the more complicated it gets. For example the alcohol I recommended above leaves the rail too dry and the loco's wheels will arc and pit which is eventually almost as bad as the scratches. Therefore some folks after the alcohol cleaning will put on a light (emphasis on the light) coat of electrically conductive oil. An old favorite is Wahl clipper oil, but both Bachmann and Atlas make some, many other brands too. Atlas #192 Conducta Lube, Bachmann EZlube. And there I go babbling, probably way more information than you need at this point in your model rail journey.
Thank you for the information and the kind words! Sorry for the slow reply, but my 12 hour shift yesterday turned into a 14 hour shift. We were busy with ambulance calls all day and night.
It's hard to separate the stuff that I got from my dad, from stuff that I bought since last fall, but here goes... He had 13 turnouts. I've added another 26. I bought the Atlas Santa Fe loco, the Burlington Northern Loco, and the dummy Union Pacific loco. All other rolling stock and locos were in my dad's boxes. He had 10 track bumpers, and I added another 14. The 2 old Bachmann power packs were bought by my dad, and I bought the 2 MRC power packs. I'll use one of the Bachmanns to power my turnout switches. I bought all of the Atlas connectors, selectors and controller, as well as the Atlas turntable and motor. At least 10 of the houses and structures that my dad bought and/or built needed some level of repair, due to shipping and storage over the last 20 years. There were also at least 10 buildings that my dad bought and never assembled. That list includes the warehouse that I modified to be a Burlington Northern depot, the KFC, the church, and the grain elevator. My dad didn't have a waterfront in his plan, so I bought several waterfront items to include the not-yet-assembled Walther's harbor wall kits (4), Walther's tugboat, Walther's car float, a shrimp boat, a 34' fishing boat, a Bar Mills dock house & low boy trestle, the Walther's lighthouse, and the Atlas signal tower. I've bought very little track, such as 12 Atlas 9" straight tracks,12 Atlas 6" straight tracks, 12 Atlas 3" straight tracks, at least 50 Atlas 18"/10* curved track (for those who don't know, those are the 1/3 18" radius track sections), 3 Atlas 18"/15* curved tracks, and some assorted short Atlas track pieces.
My dad's boxes had a bunch of wire, lots of landscaping grass and trees, different styles of fences and other accessories. He also bought a bunch of Matchbox cars, trucks and vehicles and aircraft. My best guess is that most of the Matchbox vehicles and all of the aircraft are not 1:87 scale. I bought all of the Atlas wired terminal joiners, plastic rail joiners, and nickel-silver rail joiners. I also bought all of the cork for the roadbeds, more than 200 wire connectors, and 6 spools of 18ga wire (6 different colors).
That's about the best breakdown I can provide. My dad's model railroad collection was absolutely the catalyst that set all of this in motion. It's crazy to think that I walked away from this hobby in the late 1970's, mostly due to life changes and circumstances, plus a 20 year Army career and other life choices, none of them bad or negative.
But I will admit without hesitation, that my dad's model railroad collection tuned out to be a huge blessing. Not only for me, but for all of my friends and family who appreciate it, and who would never attempt to build a model railroad themselves.