I finally decided to clean my track and try polishing it with MAAS silver polish as so many of you have suggested. I first rubbed the track down with a rail eraser to get the heavy oxidation and dirt off the track. Then I followed up with MAAS silver polish. I tried several suggestions I’ve seen for applying the polish and found one that worked well for me. I cut 1 inch pieces of cork roadbed and applied a small amount of the polish to the flat side of the cork and slid the “tool” along the track. After about 2 feet of track was polished, I turned the cork over and used the clean side. I also used the edeges of the cork pieces to apply the polish. The trick is to apply very small amounts of polish and then lightly run the cork along the track. Afterward, I used my finger wrapped with a piece of clean cotton cloth to clean off the polish, leaving the track bright and clean.
I’ve been running trains on the clean track for over an hour now and the electrical pickup is fantastic and the fact that the engine lights are running constantly, with no flickering, demontrates how clean the track is.
I have a friend of mine that sure would benefit from this as his track grimes up quickly. Some of the locos he runs have a tad bit too much oil which finds its way to the rails!
Makes me scratch my head sometimes why he just doesn’t polish the rails instead of constantly putting drops of “Rail Zip” (the chemical that helps with electrical conductivity) on the tracks.
For those who haven’t seen a zillion similar threads, this is one of those areas that gets lots and lots of opinions on each side – track cleaning vs. polishing. Some are actually irate that someone disagrees with the “best” practice.
Yes, the polish routine seems to work great . . . for some folks. I tried it on my previous layout, and it did NOT work. But that was about fifty feet from the Atlantic in Melbourne Beach, Florida – some of the highest humidity and saltiest air anywhere. Cleaning with a CMX Clean Machine and acetone was a better solution . . . but not by much.
My current layout, still in Florida but much farther from the beach, is fine with just cleaning. I don’t run trains a lot, sometimes a week goes by without any running. It is air conditioned and not dusty, and needs cleaning with the CMX about every two years, as long as I also clean all wheels at the same time. The only exception is areas under construction, when I manage to get paint, glue, or plaster on the rails.
So take anything in this discussion with a grain of salt – your mileage may vary!
I will try anything once if it isn’t illegal or really bad for me. So, I will try the gleam method to see for myself. In the meantime, I believe that sudsy ammonia should do a bang-up job on cleaning track. I don’t mean spray and wash, or splash and wash, but wet a corner of a clean rag and rub.
Cleaning track with silver polish works well. I have more than 200 feet of track on my DCC layout,and I have been polishing the track with Flitz polish for three years. After polishing the track, I can run my trains for about six weeks before I have to Polish the track again.For me Polishing with Flitz is the way to go.
I presume you must not have any grades. The polish is OK on the level, but someone jumped on the Flitz bandwagon at a former club and unilaterally applied to a curving 1.5% grade. Cut pulling power of my brass locos exactly in half, from 38 NMRA weighted cars to 19. Count me out. It is nice on the flats, but be careful as only way to apply that I know is by polish on a cloth. An easy way to pick turnout points and damage.
I have used the metal polish once back in July of 2003 and have not had to clean the track again. It is now over 3 plus years. And I plan on running the layout until it won’t run anymore before I plan on using the metal polish again!
And my sound engines don’t miss a beat, either!
As for losing traction I have not seen any loss and I am running 4% grades and this would show up rather quickly with this type of grade. And I run all brands of engines although I am in the '85 time period so everything is diesel.
As for applying the polish using a piece of Cork roadbed is the only way I have found to apply it easily and not leave a lot of lint of the polish running down the sides of the rails. And you don’t end up picking the points of a turnout with the cork.
Using a small amount and just push the cork up the rails, cleans both rails at the same time! No mechanical tools needed.
In addition to using the cork didn’t this process first involve using a piece of 400 or 600 grit wet/sand paper to get a true polishing effect and maximize electrical pickup? Then the liquid polish would be applied last?
From my understanding the sandpaper removed the tiny nibs and imperfections that model locomotive wheels ride on top of.
When it comes to having clean track that stays clean, you might want to try this. It was posted by one of the members of the Model Railroader forum. It worked for me. It’s called ‘GLEAM’.
QUOTE: (Originally posted by Semafore)
I’m talking GLEAM!: ULTRA_SHINY and Smooth rails can now be had with my ‘WHAT box?" approach to this conductivity problem. An HO modeller since 1970, I know the problem WELL!
THIS IS A ONE-TIME PROCESS. DO ALL TRACK!!
1] On an appropiate-sized block, use 400 wet/dry paper to remove the extrusion milling left on the railheads. The block must span both rails.
2] Now use 600 or finer, repeat process.
3] Using an appropiate-sized STAINLESS-STEEL piece, apply moderate pressure and BURNISH the rails! The more you slide back and forth, the smoother and shinier the rails become! [ the GLEAM part ]. This is because you have removed the ridges, bumps, and pits. Burnishing helps seal pores with metal, eliminating traps for dirt and tarnish; almost like a MIRROR!
4] [For Bob H.] Use BLUE MAGIC or equivalent metal polish to deep-clean the remaining contaminates.
5] Last, buff the rails to your eye’s content!
The shine is 5x more lusterous than just polish alone. The wax left behind is minimal, is not insulating, and virtually eliminates rail cleaning.
This is a process HOT OFF THE PRESSES! [Of my brain] I’ve only been at it 6 weeks with amazing results! {I just added the wax step today.} prior to that, though, the NS HO rails I’m guinea-pigging (300’) sans wax STILL gleams today, with slight tarnishing, so I’m gonna wax 'em next!
I will also try some classic brass rail to see how that stands up.
AND REMEMBER; NO MORE ABRASIVES…EVER!!!
Or you’ll just ruin your mirror finish, and will have to gleam and wax AGAIN!
Dry-wipe with paper towel or cotton. You can always polish anytime; wipe away excess.
I’ve had DCC and DC locos/lash-ups creep at a scale 3-5MPH around the staging level loop 100’ with NO STALL or FAULTER. gott
When it says “use” the various fine-grit sandpapers… “use” how? Scrub like heck with 'em? Just barely graze the track? How much pressure? How much “rubbing back and forth” versus “push it along the rails?”
I’ve sanded a few rails using medium hand pressure. For me on a "12 stretch of track that’s 10 to 15 back-and-forth strokes. The technique will vary from person to person based on his/her hand pressure on the sanding block, size, patience, etc. (Put it this way, don’t sand the rails on a day when the boss really flamed you at work! You’ll probably turn Code 83 rail into Code 70! [:(!])
Easiest thing to do is to experiment with a spare or scrap piece of track.
Several months ago, I chose a short section of a stub end siding on the front of my layout for testing this process. I chose this location because it is the section of track I use for checking my locomotives and it is easily accessible. I lightly sanded the rail tops with 400 grit sandpaper, burnished the rails with a stainless steel washer and applied the metal polish using both cork and padded paper towels. Clean-up was done with paper towels and an old, soft washcloth. At the same time, I cleaned most of the other rails with my usual method of Bright Boy and Rail Zip.
The results so far are that the gleamed rails are still shiny, while the mainline tracks have that characteristic “dullness” of dirty track. Any locomotive that I place on the siding track starts up immediately and runs the length of the track. When I throw the turnout to take the locomotive onto the mainline, it stalls just past the turnout.
I have to say that this method seems to be the best method for keeping the rails clean. It is labor-intensive, but not much more so than Bright Boy and Rail-Zip.
Now all I need is the time and inclination to do the rest of the layout. I’m not sure how I’m going to get at the hidden tracks in the tunnels. I have access for derailments but I don’t know if my fat hands will be able to work in the tight areas!
what if you took a cleaning car (i know I know) and attached some stainless steel strips across the bottom (one for each rail, so it doesn’t short out) and weigh that car down so its say 4-5x heavier than NMRA standards, and push it ahead of the loco (so that you don’t oxidize the rail before you burnish it) for those sections?
It might work, but I’d suggest putting several locos behind it. When running a CMX cleaning car with a couple of Kato SD45s it took most of what they had to pull it…
Cleaning rail is the hardest job on the railroad! I have recently been experimenting with Flitz polish. So far not all that impresed. I have found a easy way of applying the polish. With a Dremal cutoff wheel ma k a small rail sized notch in a small spout of any plastic bottle that has a nose. If you get the notch just right you can run the polish on to the track with no mess. Wipeing is a time consuming chore! I wish some Genie would magicly arrived to do my track!
I too thought I would give the “gleam” to part of my yard this week. I have previously used just the polish ( which in itself has worked great ), but thought I’d take it to the next step. Out of curiosity, I looked at the polished rails through a strong magnifier. What I thought was smooth and shiny, was far from it. Under magnification, the rail-head was covered in scratches and pits. After using a three stage sanding ( 400 / 800 /1200 ) and then polishing, I reinspected the rail-heads … 3/4 fewer marks or better !!! I then gleamed the rails with a large stainless steel washer - man, just like chrome !!! With a surface as free of blemishes as that with a protective polish job, I can easily see that staying good for a long time.
Now, does anyone want to come over and help me do the 1000+ feet of track I have left !?!
I use a CMX Clean Machine and drag it behind two Proto GP9’s. I make a little work train out of it by adding a couple MOW equipment and a caboose. Those GP9’s have no trouble pulling it.