Atlas track cleaning car

Today I picked up one of the new Atlas track cleaning cars. For DCC use you have to put a decoder in, it will not work without one. After running around the layout once with the vacuum attachment I notice that some dirt was blowing away from the bottom and not sucking. Turns out the rotary motor used for the cleaning disks and fan/vacuum attachment is controlled just like the motor of an engine, You increase the rotation speed using the throttle. If the decoder is plugged in backwards (like mine was) it will rotate backwards and blow down instead. Just a note to anyone who has one and doesn’t like the vacuum performance

I take it that it will work just fine as is on DC, then? It looks like just what I need for my garage DC layout to help manage the dust and pollen.

Tom

For DC you use it as-is. You still need an engine to push/pull it with.

Question on DC operations:

  1. Is the amount of vacuuming power dependent on the track voltage so that to get maximum function one must run at maximum speed?

  2. Does it suck going forward and blow in reverse, or is there some fancy circuitry to suck in either direction?

Seems to me there would be a lot better control using DCC.

I believe the unit also has functions for sanding and polishing.

Mark

Since scale was not specified I assume we are talking about the Atlas N-scale track cleaning car. The unit has sanding and polishing disks that snap into a rotating plate on the bottom of the car. Or it can be run without the disk adapter, which is how it is used in the vacuum mode. The rotating plate is also the vacuum’s impeller. There is also a resevoir for cleaning fluid.

I will admit I have never paid much attention to what direction the wind was blowing. Mainly I use mine to polish the track and then follow up with a mini-wand on our real vacuum cleaner.

Here’s a vid of it in action.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKMExevHZjc

I saw a picture of a decoder installation for the unit. From the relative size of the decoder and the car, I’m sure it was an HO-scale model I was referring. So they have an N-scale version, heh?

Mark

Mine is an HO scale. I guess DC would have the same issue. If the voltage is reversed it would blow instead of suck. DCC is definitely the way to go. With DC when you increase the voltage the engine pulling will go faster resulting in less time over any one area. with DCC you can have the pulling engine move at a slow pace and have the cleaner running at a higher speed and spending more time over an area. This gives a one pass cleaning. So far so good. Nice little unit.

From the video they are virtually identical, except of course in size…

I see this thread is from March (09), but has anyone had exerperience with the HO version of this car, in DC/analog mode? I want to know if it is worth using on a large club layout.

Thank you,

Ted Moreland