Somebody was telling me by using hair clipper oil on the track will improve locomotive performance. I would think that would be the ultimate dust magnet and hinder locomotive operating mechanisms not to mention slippage on a grade.
You have identified some of the potential pitfalls of this practice. Some people swear by hair clipper oil others swear at it. Certainly excessive use will cause problems. the trick is to know when you have applied just the right amount. Placing a drop on each rail and allowing the train to spread it, may not be as effective as using a cloth and applying it by hand. All you really want is just the finest film coating the rails. It helps with electrical contact, especially when used with DCC.
Some people swear by it, think it’s great. What you’re looking for is Wahl clipper oil. I believe Micro Mark might even sell it.
I picked mine up at a local beauty supplies store.
Here is the link to the magazine index. The original article was published in RMC June of 1981. Eric Brooman was one of the contrbutors.
http://index.mrmag.com/tm.exe?opt=I&MAG=RMC&MO=6&YR=1981&output=3&sort=D
Thank You for the link Big Boy.I’ll go to the beauty supply store ,but I won’t take my wife, she’ll want to buy a bunch of shampoo crap and cut into my railroad budget, shampoo goes down the drain, model railroads don’t.
If you ask nicely, your barber might give you a bottle with a few drops left in the bottom.
Oil is Oil!.
At one time people bathed in it . Problem is, dirt and dust stick to it - then and now.
If used as a track cleaner, it may loosen the dirt but ends up deposited on your wheels. At least Alchol-on-a rag picks up the dirt.
Well Don, this oil is supposed to be a little different. It is actually electrically conductive, where normal lubricating oil is not.
I know exactly what you mean about it collecting dirt and depositing itself as a gummy crud on wheels, because I have had this happen. I attribute that problem to over use, but I’m not positive.
At least being in 3 rail O my cars will stay on the track longer before the crud build up causes derailments.[:0][B)][:p][:D][;)]
Elliot:
Re:Elecrical conductive oil Cleaners . Once the ‘gunk’ on the track has it’s grip loosened, where does it go? What picks it up?
Well Don, my experience has been that the wheels like to begin to accumulate the gunk, almost snowball fashion. Sometimes it will build up in a frog of a turnout, if it’s sharp enough to knock it off the wheel.
Cars have more tentdancy to get the build up than do the engines. What can end up happening is you trade the problem of dirty track, for the problem of dirty wheels.
It isn’t difficult to dislodge the crud, that can be done with an xacto or small screwdriver. Just pick up the car, and roll the wheel while holding the blade against it and the crud just flakes off. Collect it in a paper towel or over the trash can, and the dirt is gone until next time.
Of course this could get to be a big project if you have a lot of cars. The secret may be just to do it to cars when they have a noticable problem.
I have about six liquid cleaning products, brite boy, the oils, had the centerline/tony’s clean machine.
The oils, Wahl, CRC2-26, and the pricey ACT-6006 from Aero-Locomotive Works@ $7.00 for an eight ounce liquid bottle.
I’m not DCC and therefore do not have to relly upon the statements"
Will leave a conductive film that will enhance current flow".
I have a single deck, 95% all within reach and out of all of the above what works best for me on track & wheels, day after day, week after week, month after month is MAAS Metal Paste Cleaner.
It not need be expensive or technical to clean, just a little elbow effort.
Guys,I use Radio Shacks Channel Tuner Cleaner.Spray your track and forget it for 6 months…[:D] I learn this at the club as that is the way we keep our track clean…Also running your trains will help keep the track clean as well.
Another thing there is no need to keep your track squeaky clean.I know of several modelers and clubs that seldom use anything other then a old fashion locomotive or car with a bright boy attached on the bottom that they simply shove around the layout with locomotives…
Guys, this oil has nothing to do with track cleaning, at least that is not the intent. A Bright Boy is abrasive, and will leave microscopic scratches in the rails, and may not be the cleaning method of choice when it comes to a DCC layout. The main purpoes of the oil is to improve electrical contact between the wheels and the rail, thus improving signal reception for DCC.
BIG BOY: BRAKIE:
Radio Shack’s TV Tuner Cleaner and other low viscosity oils with / or without cleaning agent’s DO NOT improve conductivity - by itself - only by dissolving carbon, dirt - and - Oxidation on the track and then removed by something - which a ‘Bright Boy’ does by scraping off and leaving alogside the rails.
You are correct, that this ‘crud’ has to go somewhere - such as on rolling stock wheels. The TRADE OFF is whether you prefer cleaning off your wheels, or your track.
Don, I think you’re right about this being a trade off. No mater what method we choose there will always be some amount of effort required to keep things running smoothly.
Here’s a link to a discussion we had over on CTT a few months back. It isn’t about hair clipper oil, but it does address the issue of crud.[swg]
http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=15260
Don said:(snip)Radio Shack’s TV Tuner Cleaner and other low viscosity oils with / or without cleaning -
Don,The Channel Turner Cleaner is not a oil…Its a cleaner not a lubicant.There is NO flim left behind like you would get with clipper oil and some popular track cleaners…We have use this for the last 12 years at the club with no gook built up on the rails or wheels.Just like I said spray it and forget for 6 months.
I use a product called RailZip! It claims to improve electrical conductivity,prevents and removes corrosion. This product seems to work very well,just use a drop or 2 on each rail.It is made by Pacer Technology and is available ay most hobby & train stores.
LARRY: You can believe north is south and South is north if you want to, but…
CLEANERS Dissolve things whether WATER based ( detergents) PETROLEUM based ( kerosene) or CARBOHYDRATE (alchohol ). You must think you have a ‘magic’ elixer.
TRY taking some soap or detergent to clean your hands without rinsing - let them air dry sometime. The dirt is re-deposited back on your hands.
TAKE some Energine Cleaning fluid (you remember that) to get out an oil spot on your pants. It spreads the soilant, not remove it. You will end up witha larger (but greatly subdued) spot. Sort of like diluting paint.
To GET RID of something one needs to have a ‘desolver’ (Surfactant?) to loosen it, and someplace for it to go. Even the top cleaner of all time (Freon) the dirt and oils were suspended in the solvent, which then evaporated away leaving the ‘gunk’.
Don’t think your “Tuner Cleaner” isn’t oil based? OK, spray some on your thumb and index finger, and rub together, sometime.
Putting a ‘cleaner’ on your track may ‘loosen’ the dirt, but does not remove it. Go down to your layout and give it the ‘finger’ test. That carbon streak on your finger is what is being deposited on your wheels.
Don,Just try it.You may like it…