 Here's the graphite stick. Notice it has a bit of a bow in it from being used for more than a decade. With the layout power off, I place it on the track like this, put a bit of pressure on it in the center, hold it at each end to steady it, and then rub it back and forth like this. Use very, very light pressure, and by doing it this way you get a bit of graphite on the inside of the rails as well as on the rail heads. I use the stick differently for switches because I don't want to tear the points out. So I'll throw the switch so that the point closest to me is next to its stock rail, and then I'll just rub the graphite stick along the rail like this. Notice I'm only doing it in one direction towards the point. Just a bit like that. When you're happy with the first point, go the other way. Throw the switch to the other side. Just rub a bit along like that. Again, you don't have to get it everywhere because the wheels of the locomotives are going to pick it up and spread it around. Another place I like to exercise more care is around the frog and the guardrails. Here, instead of scrubbing back and forth this way, which might break a guardrail out of the ties, I just run the graphite stick straight along the stock rail like this, put some on to the frog like this, do the other stock rail, and I'm done.