Hi folks,
part of my DCC problem was dirty track. So, I fished out my HO Centerline and tried it out.
Besides not coming with any couplers, the “pre cut” cleaning strips are way too narrow to reach both rails at the same time. Seems to me that they should run from edge to edge of the brass roller. I thought tht it might expand when I put on some “goo gone”, but it didn’t.
Should I cut my own? Out of what? Should it have come with couplers?
BB
Are you sure you have the correct strips for your Centerline car and not ones for a smaller scale?
Mine came with a Kadee coupler on one end and a horn-hook on the other, and the cloth strips are the same width as the roller; otherwise, the roller will short out your track.
The strips are cut from Handi-Wipes, which you should be able to find at any grocery or hardware store in the cleaning supplies section. Any type of cloth should work equally well.
Goo-Gone is not the best product to use, even though it is supplied with the car, because it leaves an oily film on the rail. A stronger solvent would be better; unfortunatley, those that do a good job, such as lacquer thinner, also evaporate very quickly.
After fussing with a Centerline car and Goo-Gone for a couple of years on our club layout, we switched to Tony’s CMX Clean Machine filled with lacquer thinner, followed by the Centerline car running dry to mop up the residue.
Even so, elbow grease and a metal polish such as Flitz, Mag Wheel Cleaner, or Nevr-Dull Magic Wadding Polish which you can purchase from the automotive section at most of the big-name stores such as Wal-mart, is the longest-lasting and most effective method of cleaning rail.