I went by to see my buddy Rob the other day, the one I’m always complaining about that can’t ever do anything for himself… Anyway, he was beside himself because his tracks had gotten so dirty that his locos could no longer run on them. So, I went back to my house and got my can of paint thinner, then went over the tracks a few times with it just to get the worst of the gunk off. Then told him that it might be better to push his track cleaning car rather than pull it so as not to get the loco wheels any more dirty than they already were.
I’m not saying it did any better of a job than if he had pulled it, but it did seem to get clean quicker than in times past (probably because of the paint thinner…).
Well after reading much about metal polish I spent the day Sunday polishing my track. I used cut up pieces of cork as was mentioned in one thread. Won’t use cork again. It crumbles and I had to vaccuum the track when done. I guess that’s ok though the track got a good cleaning. As far as the metal polish goes tried to run trains three days later and got lots of starts and stops. Sound units were scratchy. My situation is different than most i think. I live in the Florida Keys. The layout is in an attached Workshop. The humity is 100%+ most of the time. I have a window AC unit I turn on when I get in the room. So most of the time it is hot and humid in the room. I was hoping the Flitz would do the trick but I am thinking not. Maybe I didn’t get all of the polish off the rails. However just after I polished the track the trains ran smooth as silk. So I guess i will go back to my CMX. To answer the question - push or pull? I push it for awhile that way the loco wheels get a little cleaning. I also push it into sidings but pull it most of the time around the double main.
Terry[8D]
The ones I use usually have to be pulled, otherwise they derail over grade crossings and switches.
But track cleaners have never been the best way to clean my track. The best for me is to use an old sock, put some rubbing alcohol on it and clean the rails. The wipe it dry and the trains run great. I’ve found that clean loco wheels makes the biggest difference.