Greetings all. I bring cheerful tidings and the gift of knowledge. I recently had the idea of removing caboose and tender wheels, and cleaning them. To do so, I gently put them in a drill chuck, slowly spun it, and cleaned one wheel at a time. I also cleaned the axle. You will notice a signifigant improvement in electrical pickup. I sure did!
Perhaps others have thought of this before me, there may be an article somewher, but I assure you I thought of this on my own, and I am quite pleased with myself. [:)]
Sounds like a lot of work. All I’ve ever done was a lint free rag and some alcohol across the rails and a couple of back and forths. Done. But that is the beauty of the hobby. No right or wrong way as long as it works in the end.
I grew up watching trains throughout my teens and twenties and freight trains used cabooses. They don’t look “right” without a caboose. So I chose to model late caboose era.
Caboose wheels are just the same as any rolling stock wheels.
If they are extremely bad I find it good to scrape black gunk off with a fine screwdriver. Then blue shop towel across the rails with alcohol. I use a piece of track on a board, not layout track.
No. actually, they are not. For whatever reason they seem to be lighter, and of course on caboose trucks, there are better springs and snubbers to give the crew a smoother ride. While that should not affect your caboose, it does have a lighter weight than another car, and more frequently have plastic wheels that attract goop. My AHM passenger cars (alsoi with plastic wheels) also attracte such goop.
