diff --git a/config/application.rb b/config/application.rb
index 02ddd0c8..76a0d471 100644
--- a/config/application.rb
+++ b/config/application.rb
@@ -28,12 +28,6 @@ module Tracksapp
     # config.i18n.load_path += Dir[Rails.root.join('my', 'locales', '*.{rb,yml}').to_s]
     # config.i18n.default_locale = :de
 
-    # Configure the default encoding used in templates for Ruby 1.9.
-    config.encoding = "utf-8"
-    
-    # Set timezone of dates in database
-    config.active_record.default_timezone = :utc
-
     # configure Tracks to handle deployment in a subdir
     config.action_controller.relative_url_root = SITE_CONFIG['subdir'] if SITE_CONFIG['subdir']
     
@@ -41,8 +35,5 @@ module Tracksapp
     config.action_view.sanitized_allowed_protocols = 'onenote', 'message'
     
     config.middleware.insert_after ActionDispatch::ParamsParser, ActionDispatch::XmlParamsParser
-
-    # if a locale is invalid, the Rails app will raise an error
-    config.i18n.enforce_available_locales = true
   end
 end
diff --git a/config/environments/development.rb b/config/environments/development.rb
index 529dd7ce..47ec4d0b 100644
--- a/config/environments/development.rb
+++ b/config/environments/development.rb
@@ -29,10 +29,6 @@ Rails.application.configure do
   # Raises helpful error messages.
   config.assets.raise_runtime_errors = true
 
-  # Unique cookies
-  # config.action_controller.session_store :cookie_store, :key => 'TracksCucumber'
-  # config.action_controller.session = { :key => 'TracksDev' }
-  
   config.rack_dev_mark.enable = true
 
   # Raises error for missing translations
diff --git a/config/environments/test.rb b/config/environments/test.rb
index 458acf1e..ec7446fa 100644
--- a/config/environments/test.rb
+++ b/config/environments/test.rb
@@ -33,10 +33,6 @@ Rails.application.configure do
 
   # Print deprecation notices to the stderr.
   config.active_support.deprecation = :stderr
-  
-  # Unique cookies and use cookies for session
-  # config.action_controller.session_store = :cookie_store
-  # config.action_controller.session = { :key => 'TracksTest', :secret => SITE_CONFIG['salt'] * (30.0 /  SITE_CONFIG['salt'].length).ceil }
 
   SITE_CONFIG['salt'] ||= 'change-me'