Everyone has their faves for cleaning. I use a CMX with a centerline followed by a dragger car - works very well but is time consuming to run over the entire layout - 500 ft. of track.
Centerline cars work better with the rubber band on the roller. The rubber band drags against the frame and causes the roller to rotate slightly slower than it would if it were free rolling, creating slight friction to clean the rails more thoroughly. The rubber band is the small variety (smaller than the classic newspaper version) I have no problems with mine catching on anything.
While you can use any type of solvent you like, CMX recommends Acetone (my CMX came with a page in the directions on some study on the efficacy of solvents that claims acetone is the best). Personally I find acetone to be much less obnoxious than paint/lacquer thinner.
I removed the springs on the pad on my CMX to solve the problem that I had with the pad getting caught on switches - still cleans well and didn’t hang up on switch points or tear the cleaning pad anymore…Also a little easier to move on the layout due to slightly decreased friction on the rails (no more double heading).
I use Wahl clipper oil to keep arcing at a minimum. The use of oils/lubricants is very controversial among modelers but it works well for me.
Yes, of course they work. They suck the money right out of your wallet. What value ratio you expect for the price is a model of lazy vs money. Ewe get what ewe pay for he said sheepishly.
As far as I can tell from looking at a zillion posts no one really knows which cleaning systems work best. There have been no controlled tests to measure the effectiveness of various options. This is frankly - amazing. dirty track definitely degrades performance. Why doesn’t NMRA appoint a group of electronic experts to develop a reliable testing system? I’m all for LCC, which may improve the performance of high end systems by some percentage - But why not come up with a proven test system that shows what works best to clean dirty track - a problem that everykne deals with. isn’t that what NMRA is for? Making our hobby more enjoyable?
Jim, This is my sentiment exactly. There are so many contradictory opinions on whether various track cleaning methods are effective or harmful. They can’t all be correct. Either abrasive track pads create scratches that attract dirt and make the problem signficantly worse, or they don’t. Either various chemicals leave a residue that attracts more dirt and reduces electrical conductance, or they don’t. Either metal polish signficantly removes the nickel silver coating of the track, or it doesn’t. I agree that this is an issue that should be resolvable through controlled experiments by qualified chemists and engineers, much like those conducted by Consumer Reports. And NMRA would be the ideal organization to contract out these tests since it is not beholden to advertisers of these products. Dirty track is a problem for many of us and is worthy of a serious investigation by NMRA that would finally provide answers instead of subjective contradictory opinions.
Since posting this question in Oct I bought a CMX track cleaning car and I think it is absolutely awesome…works unbelievably well, especially for the hard to reach areas. I have run it at least 40 times and it had never gotten caught on the track. I used mineral spirits and the track cleans up very well. it’s a bit pricey but well worth the money. I rarely use my eraser anymore and I don’t miss it.
Probably most systems work to some degree. Since this is no standard for dirty track, yours may have cigarette smoke, mine might have concrete floor dust and high humidity, any head to head comparison may not work for both of us.
Humans are subject to confirmation bias. This means you don’t shell out $150 for a track cleaning car as an experiment to see if it works. You EXPECT it to work and you think it works. If it works some, maybe that is good enough so you don’t have to admit to yourself and to us that an old tee shirt and some alcohol is just as good.
Disclaimer:
I am not impuning anyone’s honesty, and I had a bid on a CMX on ebay this week, and threads like this caused me to be outbid.
In my opinion, they don’t work; I tried a Centerline-Products, track-cleaning car for a G-scale layout. I found that replacing my PIKO USA locomotive with a LGB locomotive was much-more effective, and I tried an eSPee-track cleaner for my N-scale layout. I found that switching from Bachmann-EZ track to Tomix-Fine track solved that problem; I recommend better locomotives, and track over cleaners[:)]