I am having a dickens of a time keeping my Marx tinplate locomotives from spinning their wheels. To keep from losing traction, I am considering using the product “Bullfrog Snot” liquid traction tire on my wheels. Has anyone used this product? If so, do you recommend “Bullfrog Snot”? Thanks!
No but some claim it works although it probably wears off onto the track. Oil the wheels/axles stick to short trains and the engines should pull them.
I suggest you clean the oil and grease off of the track. Here is my secret method: Take two or three paper towels and fold them up to make a pad. Fasten the pad to the bottom of a heavy car or a gondola that you add some weight to. It doesn’t have to be too heavy to work well. I use rubber bands that are installed so they don’t touch the track. Put some isopropyl alcohol on the pad and run it behind a loco. Change the pad frequently as it is going to get dirty very fast. You can add more cars behind the gondola so that the car wheels get cleaned, also. Do this until the pad shows only a faint trace of dirt. This approach cleans the wheels of the cars and the loco along with the track. If the track has any rust on it, just run the train and the train wheels will polish a narrow stripe on the top of the rails.
Thank you. I hadn’t thought about the residue issue.
Thanks! I have just the gondola for this!
Is Bullfrog Snot conductive for electricity? If it is not conductive, you might have some power issues. You could just put it on 1 or 2 drive wheels, but not all of them.
I am assuming it is not. I watched the video on their web page, and the liquid is applied when the loco is upside down. When power is applied so the wheels turn, the product is applied wet with something like a toothpick. After some time the “Snot” cures so it becomes a traction tire. When dry it probably behaves like rubber.
As a follow-up, I cleaned the track and wheels. That cleared up my traction problem. Thank you all for your helpful input!
Have I used Bullfrogsnot?
Yes, I have.
It is a type of paint that you can apply to train wheels that dries to a plastic surface - it does not stay tacky but hardens, (within a few minutes of application, but when hard it is a tiny bit soft and “sticky” with much more surface friction than metal. Applied well to the drivers or a steamer or the powered wheels of a diesel loco, it increases traction.
I do not recommend it for Marx tinplate locos. I have four and have never used it on them. I will give you my thoughts and experience and let you decide:
It works. Locos with it applied well have noticeably more traction and pull more cars and slip less going up grades. It is not “traction tire in a bottle” - the increase in traction is not as good as if the loco has traction tires. Maybe half as good. But it helps.
It is not that easy to apply well. I turn my locos over and clip power leads to them to get the wheels turning slowly, and apply it with a small fine-pointed brush, and put on only a light coat.
It is remoevable. Turn it back over on the workbench, connect power leads to it and get the drivers going, and hold the tip of an X-acto or similar knife blade to the driver and you can shave it off.
It comes off over time anyway, in tiny flakes that don’t seem to hurt anything, after two or three months or more. You have to renew it. No big deal.
It does not conduct electricity. Someone brought this up in this thread earlier. When you apply it to a wheel, that wheel is no longer going to contribute to electrical connectivity. It you have a loco with a limited number of wheels, such as a 0-4-0, applying it to one or two wheels means you may be trading traction problems for stalling-due-to-poor-connectivity problems.
Put it on just one wheels on any axle, so there is a “traction tire” on only one side of a powered axle,
[I] I do something similiar to this but I use a Scotch Brite type of sponge instead of the paper. I buy the pads at a flea market for about $1.00 for six. The rough side of the pad can really remove grim as it rides the rails under the gondola. Three pads seem to do the trick for my 200’ of track. (What ever you do, do not use steel wool or sandpaper.)
For those who are thinking that clean track and wheels do not make much difference in performance…
Thank you, Lee! Great information! I have decided to pass on the “snot” for now.
I like your idea. I was planning on using the “Mr. Clean Eraser” pads that I had seen on a YouTube video. Do you apply a cleaning solution to the Scotch Brite pads?
I have seen Bullfrog Snot for sale and it is very expnsive here in south Florida, about $25.00 for a 4 ounce bottle. Have not used it so I can’t say either way but I would clen my track first before I would use the BF snot.
$25 a bottle seems to be the going rate wherever I’ve seen it. Haven’t tried it yet myself but I’m thinking about it.