Does anyone have experience with or an opinioon of the Atlas track cleaning car that vacuums, sands, and polishes? Thanks in advance.
Tom D
This was discussed a few months ago. We have one of them at our club, and the only useful part, is the vacuum. The car is made in England under a different name and is merely imported by Atlas.
The fluid reservoir for the cleaning pad doesn’t hold enough to do more than 10 feet or so of track, and the cleaning pad itself is too small to clean very well. We never use that part of it.
A decoder has to be installed to use the vacuum, and you have to be careful to never run the vacuum motor at full throttle.
It is a terrible waste of money.
A CMX clean machine is much more useful.
You;d do much better with the CMX Clean Machine. If all you want to do is keep the nickel-silver oxidation under control any cleaning car dragging a non-abrasive cleaning pad will do. I use a Bachmann track cleaning tank car. No cleaning agent required and it can be run in the train all the time.
Everyone is trying to reinvent the Masonite Block That did well for George Allen with brass track.
Yep. I had two John Allen type track cleaners back in the 80’s., one HO and one N. The HO one worked great. The N Scale one was a pain in the butt. There wasn’t enough weight for it to work effectively.
They work really well for me. Both in HO on my home layout and at our club on our N scale layout.
Another vote for the masonite pad homemade car. Why spend up to $100 or more for a manufactured car that cannot be proven to do a better job. I even rigged up a cloth pad to fit over the masonite pad which when soaked in alcohol or your other favorite track cleaning fluid will pick up any tell tale specks of dust left on the track. Of course gleaming your track first is always the best starting point for clean running track.
That’s the best advice I’ve heard in a while! I’ve GLEAMed my track twice. The first time in 2006 and the second time after I tore down the layout and built what I have now. The Bachmann track cleaner is the only thing I’ve used to keep the oxide from building up. No sand paper, no Brite Boys, no track cleaning fluids, etc. The most I’ve had to do is give the track a real quick wipe with a clean dry cloth if no trains have been run in a month or so.
A friend has the Atlas car and, as others report, he uses the vacuum part only. I have a CMX and, though a bit pricey, think its worth the money invested.