Hello I am gleaming my layout I started with 800,1000,1500,2000, grit then use my stainless washer and then I used mothers mag & aluminum polish. I got a nice shine and a smooth look and feel but I keep getting black on the rag. I had the same problem the first time I did this on the old layout . I had to clean it with alcohol a few times before it was gone.
Before I do 80+ feet of main line and my yard should I do something different or is it just part of the job. It just doesn’t seem to go away . Any thoughts? Thanks Frank
I’ve used the gleam method too and I also get “black” on my rag. I still use a CMX cleaning car on the track regardless every few months. I don’t think you’re doing anything wrong. It’s a “perfect” solution as others seem to think. But it does help IMHO.
You keep saying that but I truly find it hard to believe. Eight years??? Come on, eight years is a very long time to have never cleaned your track. [*-)]
It well could be. I GLEAMed my layout in 2006 and didn’t have to do any more than give the track a quick wipe with a dry rag if I hadn’t run any trains for a month or two. The only real cleaning came when I pulled half the track up to change the track plan, at which time I re-GLEAMed the layout.
But you DID give it a wipe. Thats the thing, eight years without even giving it a wipe is just to hard to believe in my opinion. Imagine not dusting your house for eight years. Just imagine how much dirt would buildup. I’ve got some track I haven’t cleaned in eight years, its sitting in a box still waiting to be used. [(-D]
The “wipe” is probably just a courtesy wipe and not because the trains had problems. At the club we have never done gleam or any other process and we still only do a cleaning one or 2 times a year with nothing between.
You missed a step in the GLEAM process. To keep your track from oxidizing, enclose layout in impermeable plastic, gleam rails, then take a vacuum pump and remove all the air, insert Argon or other inert gas. To work on your layout, evacuate the argon using a gas recovery system, open the plastic, and do your work. Then remove the atmosphere and re-insert inert gas. You will have no problems with oxidation.
Since the oxidation conducts electricity and doesn’t really affect operation unless it’s really nasty, most of us just let it happen. Brass track is a different story, but who uses that anymore?
Depending on how dusty your space is and how often you run trains, you may or may not ever have to clean rails. A lot of people clean their track, see the black oxide on the rag, and think their track is filthy when it’s not.
I run the layout twice a month and the room has a drop ceiling above the layout.
And as for maintenance - there is none - When I built the layout I built it to commercial spec. While it took a little longer and cost a little more - it has paid for itself over and over with NO MAINTENANCE!
In the beginning - I was cleaning the track EVERY TIME I had an OPs Session - I had tried ALL of the ways others used to keep their track clean and NOTHING Worked actually it did UNTIL the next time I had an OPs Session!
After having read the article in Model Railroader about using Metal Polish on the track - I tried it in desperation and it worked and has been working ever since!
And if you all don’t believe it - COME ON OVER (UP - DOWN) and we can run the layout and you can see for your selves that it works.
Hello well I worked on it some more and I think I have it now. The black I was talking about was the real dark black when you start wiping off the polish. I used a block of wood with a rag and it would just clean the tops of the rail. Then I used the rag on my finger and and that dark black was back. So I tried it again with the wood and it was clean. Here I was getting polish on the sides of the rail and when I used my finger it touch the sides. That’s were all black was coming from. So now I have to clean the sides to.
My layout is in a room that is finished drywall ceiling and hardwood floor so the dust is not real bad. I am not sure if I will gleam the hole layout now. I did it on the last layout and it was a lot of work and that layout was a lot smaller so to go through all that and have to clean the sides to. I dont know if its worth it. Some of that track is on this layout so maybe I will just run some trains and see how things go. It will be a while before I start any scenery so there is time do it if I need to. Thanks for the help Frank
For future reference use a piece of cork to apply the polish. Don’t wipe it on. Dab it on lightly and just on the top of the rails. Doing it this way keeps the polish off the sides of the rails. Let it dry then buff it off with more cork. When you do it properly it can go pretty quick.
I don’t do any of these things, or use any cleaning product or a cleaning car. My layout sat idle for 2 months. I powered it on, selected a loco, and ran it - no problems, no stalling, no sound cutout.
If I rub my fingers on the rails, I do get black streaks. However it does not appear to in anyway degrade the operation of my locos. My cars do all have metal wheels, and are fully weighted to NMRA standards. If that makes any difference. The only cleaning I’ve ever done is runnign a strip wood over a section I just painted to clean any excess paint off the railheads. Basic dimensional lumber scrap from my benchwork. I try to do that before the paint dries. No alcohol, no Brite Boy or similar eraser type device, no sandpaper, no files, no washers, no polish.
I DO have lots of feeders, every rail joiner is a feeder, except the insualted ones between sections. That means a turnout typically has 3 sets of feeders. I do paint right over them, so paint surely must seep in. The only soldered joints are on curves, 2 sections of flex are soldered together and feeders added, then formed into a curve and cut to length. Everything else ‘floats’ lthough I only use fresh joiners - I cut them apart right from the package, solder feeders, and install them on the track. None are old and used and loose.
I have not done the full ‘gleam’ process(using the stainless steel washer), but I have polished my rail with 600/1200 grit abrasive materials. I clean my rails about twice/year with a lacquer thinner loaded CMX track cleaner. I do not like to use anything that leaves a ‘film’ on the rail. I tried ‘clipper oil’ back in the 70’s/80’s when RMC suggested it. It provided immediate electrical pickup improvement, but reduced the pulling power of my locomotives(even with just a few drops applied), and a few weeks latter I had ‘black gunk’ on the rails. I think the oil and plastic in the wheels have been an issue. I did go to metal wheels right after that, and did not see as much ‘gunk’. I also replaced my ‘sintered’ iron wheels in my Athearn BB engines with n/s wheels - a big improvement!
Our club allow only metal wheels on the layout, and we clean the track at least once/month with a CMX track cleaner. We are in a ‘climate controlled’ room in a local business center. We still see some gunk - but not much! One of the replies mentioned n/s oxide producing the ‘gunk’ - I have a hard time believing that as we have no lube or ‘wetting’ agent to mix with the oxide. Also, this big club layout get ‘run’ once or twice/week for 3-4 hours each session. I tend to think dirt and the chrome polish are making the gunk.
I have not cleaned my track in 8 years and the black is on the rails
The trains run great! - I only used the metal polish back in 2003
BOB H - Clarion, PA
You keep saying that but I truly find it hard to believe. Eight years??? Come on, eight years is a very long time to have never cleaned your track.
As someone that runs on Bob’s railroad every couple of weeks during an OPS session and being good friends with him I can tell you for a fact that he HAS NOT cleaned his track in eight years. For one thing, he has waaaaayyyyyyy too much track to have to worry about cleaning it all the time.
When it is time for an OPS session we show up, Bob turns on the layout and we run trains. Plain and simple as that.
Needless to say, I am heeding his advice for my layout as I don’t want to spend time cleaning track, I would rather spend time running trains.
I would rather spend time running trains too. Thats why I make a work train with my CMX clean machine. I clean mine a couple times a year, not because I have to but because its preventative maintenance. Eight years without even wiping down the track to me is far fetched.
As far fetched as it might seem all I can tell is those are the facts. All I can tell you is that as someone that operates on the railroad twice a month and then the occassional special OPS Session for out of town visitors that eight years is the truth.
You may choose to not believe it but what would be gained by stating something that isn’t true on this forum?
Tom, people stretch the truth on this forum all the time. The number of self proclaimed experts here that don’t even have layouts is mind boggling.[:|] Lets just leave it at that…
Well don’t lump me in with people that stretch the truth on here. I have no reason to stretch the truth as it is just a hobby and my personal ethics and morals are well beyond stretching the truth to look good to some people I don’t even know.
Now that we have that cleared up. It has still been 8 years since he has cleaned the track. I can guarantee you beyond a shadow of a doubt that both Bob and I have layouts. Mine is still under construction but I have one.
