I’m up to 12 Lionel CN #9013 hopper cars. I removed all the trucks and plastic pins and put them in the upper section of the dishwasher and used Cascade detergent. They are all standing up on end on top of the stove drying. If I don’t see dry residue on them when dry, I’ll next do all my 027 gondola cars.
Am curious to see how the lettering holds up and make sure you don’t put the “drying” feature on on the dish washer. Please give us an update.
Dennis
I seem to remember someone talking about this befor about a year or so ago. Seems they said it worked very well forget what they used for soap.
I have placed sectional track, that was dirty and flithy, in the dishwasher and they came out looking like new! After the dishwasher, I then placed them in the oven at 150 dgrees for about an hour to dry them out. Works great! I have not tried rolling stock in the dishwasher, though!
This might be OK for modern pad printed trains but might be a little risky for PW era trains. Pete
Dishwasher “detergent” is a chemical cleaner meant to disolve food particals. It can and does etch glass. If you want to wash your trains, a 5 gallon bucket of warm soapy water (Dawn, Joy, whatever) works quite nicely and it won’t attack the plastic or paint.
They came out cleaned but not as good as if I had hand washed them. I opened the door at the start of the hot drying cycle and pulled them out. I did find a few pieces of egg on one car. These cars were made in 72 and the decals were unharmed. I did consider putting the entire cars in with their plastic trucks and metal wheels but was a little unsure of what the outcome would be with the metal pin in the coupler.
YIKES … !!!
My thoughts exactly. [:O][:O][:O][:O] Of course, I have seen worse.
Those MTH controllers never worked the same since. [(-D]
Thanks for posting this. I think I’ll stick with warm water and soap. This is a great tip of something that having been tried might help someone from doing damage to their items. Regarding the wheel sets/axles, You can do it, then spray WD40 on and wipe off as well as use a hair dryer on them to remove all moisture. I still think the other method is better.
Dennis
I take you guys aren’t married(at least not anymore)[:-,]
Gotta ask, after washing the track, and the gondolas, do they take curves better?
Boyd,
That’s neat, providing there’s no damage to the decaling and I guess that the detergent contains some kind of protective property to prevent damage to most synthetic items?
Years ago, I had an occasion to respond to a telephone recycling plant, and I found out that telephone plastic pieces were being washed in regular liquid, dish washing, detergent.
The pieces were washed, air dried and buffed to look new and the benefit of the detergent was to rejuvinate the plastic and prevent it from becoming brittle.
I did spot wash one of my older box cars with liquid detergent, it became clean and for all I know became spry again and I still enjoy it.
It’s a nice way to pay tribute to older model trains, which represent a time when railroading reigned supreme
Ralph
make sure you use rinse aid in the dishwasher to keep the water spots off.
Hmmmmm…I wonder how well my 671 Turbine would clean up in the washing machine? On gentle cycle, of course.
Silly you. This is the type of project/experiment best conducted while the better half is asleep at 1 am. [}:)]
Besides the detergent used and avoiding the dry cycle, I’d be concerned about the water temperature as well. Dishwasher water temp adjusts to 140, either from the tap or with the electric heating element…unless there is a setting for lower water temps.
Jack