Im losing patience! No sooner do i clean my track with a CMX loaded with IPA, after an hour or 2 running a train, i get black streaks on a rag again[banghead]
My layout room is clean, i dont smoke. My locomotive wheels stay clean, its the track that dirties up quick. Ive cleaned all my car wheels with a Bachrus wheel doctor a while ago, they sure dont look dirty now!
It seems like only a couple of days and my track is dirty again.
I have 10 Kadee cars and another 10 or so Kadee trucks with Kadee wheels under some other cars.
Although the black has worn off the wheels where they contact the rail leaving a silver shiny band around them, could they still be causing the problem?
The rest of my cars are the usual Ahtearn, Walthers, Atlas etc etc.
Your suspicion of the Kadee wheel blackening probably is correct. We’ve had similar problems on our club layout. At least one of our members has taken to using a wire brush to remove the blackening prior to putting into service. When using these wheels, you end up with two options–remove the blackening before use or let it wear off in service–and constantly clean the track. Other wheel blackening does not seem to wear in the same way. The problem does seem to be mostly with the Kadee wheels. Too bad, as they represent a good way to upgrade from plastic wheelsets. Beaver Bill
You mention that you also have Athearn & Walthers cars. Do these have ‘plastic’ wheels - that may be the source of the ‘gunk’ getting tracked around the layout. All of my cars have either P2K or Intermountain wheels on them - No problems!
I have a scientific idea that you could use to determine the culprit. 1) Choose a test locomotive. (i.e. pick the sdz-3957-318a-kfl[I don’t know how to classify diesels] that runs well) 2) Separate all your rolling stock into groups by wheel type. (i.e. Group A [GA] = Kato trucks Group B [GB] Walthers trucks Group C [GC] Kadee trucks) 3) Create a loop of track from spare track or a loop on your railroad where all parts can be easily reached. If you don’t have any of this, run it from point A to point B 4) Gather 1 cloth for every group of cars that you have. 5) Set an amount of time for the train to run around the track. (i.e. 15 min.) 6) Put the locomotive and GA on the track and run it for 15 min. 7) Once the 15 minutes is up, take one rag and clean the tracks fully. Set it aside and put a post it on it saying it cleaned the track for GA 8) Repeat this process for GB and GC. 9) When your testing is done, compare the rags side by side. This method will help you find the worst set of trucks and the best trucks.
No, Jim. All the rest of my cars are fitted with P2K metal wheels or Atlas together with half a dozern Intermountain. Even though the Kadee wheels have worn the black away where they roll on te rail head, i cant think what else is causing it. Just seem to get that black streak from the rail realy quick.
I also get a little build-up of it accasionaly on the knuckle rails of frogs that you can kinda scoop up with ya nail!! The other strange thing is, alot of my track is hidden so as to afford even more cover from dust in the air. I did some paint spraying a while back but it still seems far to regular problem.
Thanks for the input guys, think i may bite the bullet and replace all the Kadee wheels with P2K, about 60 dam axles[sigh]
if you don’t already use one make a slider car with a masonite pad underneath and run it in each train you run. they pick up a lot of dirt. also when you start to operate your layout run it around with a loco pushing it first.
I’m [#offtopic] a bit, I know, just noodling around in the forums. Hope no one minds.
Well, I’m glad plastic wheels are not the sole culprit. Although I know I should be running only metal wheels, I started to order up some bulk packs (100s) of Intermountain (the best price I can get with exchange and shipping is about 85 cents Cdn each…that’s when offered at 63 cents US) and found I needed $500 worth of wheels.
So for now I am just going to buy a few dozen at a time for those cars that don’t pass my roll test down the big hill.
Hi My problem is with Lionel O scale and a layout that is up near the ceiling. How can the dust in the air end up a dirt film on the track? Maybe a car with a brush running as part of the consist would help. What do you use to clean the track? rio bill
Hey !! Hey ! ! What’s all this about dirty track ? ? you MUST be using brass rail eh? because all I’ve ever heard is n/s is the only thing to use, it’s better! No one uses brass track because it get’s dirty, and all this time, I hear you must switch to n/s, well, you must be using brass if the track is getting dirty, that would be my solution.
You could easily test Brakie’s theory by cleaning your track and then doing nothing for two hours. Then run your rag over the track and see if it has the same black streaks as after running the trains. I seriously doubt that it will, but if if does you might try a better brand of furnace filters.
Harry,There is a constant bombardment of dust,hair,dead skin flakes,human and pet dandruff etc and has absolutely nothing to do with your furnace filter.
I agree largely with Larry. Your furnace blows stuff around no matter how good or clean it is, including those ducts that haven’t been blown out in four years. But the real culprits are carpeting, but only under your feet, strangely. Every time your foot makes contact with the carpet, or the lino or parquet flooring, an obliquely shone light will show billows of crud rising like a mushroom cloud around your foot. If the furnace happens to be running, that gets distributed…everywhere.
Then there is the arcing at the gaps in powered rail segments. Arcing causes carbonization and oxidation. Arcing also causes the generation of ozone. Ozone is highly corrosive to plastics and other organics. Any plastics corroded release volatiles and dust, including more carbon, into the atmosphere. The furnace and your feet also distribute this byproduct of your trains and other electrical devices that emit periodic sparks.
I don’t often have to clean my metal wheels. When I do, it’s the weirdest thing…it’s like one wheel, or one axle, volunteers to do all the crud pickup for the whole host of rolling stock on the layout! I kid you not! But I will say that the consistent rail-cleaner-uppers are the few plastic wheelsets out there on my layout.
Tatans, you obviously have a hearing problem.[:)] Brass track doesn’t get dirty any quicker than nickle silver (which is neither nickle or silver, but a form of brass). It does, however, oxidize (as does nickle silver). The oxide of brass is a non-conductor of electricity. The oxide of nickle silver is a conductor. For that reason, and because a silver-colored rail looks more realistic than a gold-covered rail, nickle silver has become the defacto standard. Nothing to do with dirt.
Larry, I don’t doubt what you said, but not everyone has the problem Gary UK does. So maybe his problem is the wheels or maybe it is something else.
And I’m no expert, but it seems logical to me that better furnace filters could improve the situation. If not, there are only two possible conclusions: (1) Gary is already using the best filter, or (2) filters make no difference, so use the cheapest ones you can find.
Personally, I’m betting the wheels are his problem. I know that plastic wheels really gunk up my track, whereas metal wheels do not, although I don’t have any Kadees.
I don’t know if this thread is continuing but Scale Rails has an article about this in the new issue… Unless that is what brought this up… Just throwing it out there.
There’s a lot in the 2 page article; a list of possible contaminants, airborn, chemical, and equipment, among many others. A list of cleaners used. The results of cleaning the wheels of 3 different manufacturers, wherein the wheels themselved were critiqued… espcially the Kadee’s, and suggestions when working on your layout. A club layout was used and a test was done of the cleaners and effectiveness. This all evolved due to the purchase of a track cleaning unit and what appeared to be disappointing results from the unit. It is an informative article. not entirely scientific, but the test was well thought out, offered a range of variables and gave some interesting results.
The magazine article is by “Railroad Bill” Tully, Scale Rails, NMRA.ORG, pgs.48-49. April 2009. Vol.75, Num.8, Issue 817.