Join the discussion on the following article:
Martin Track Sweeper car
Given that you can buy the broom assembly for under $75 on eBay, I could not spend the extra money for this unit.
Where can I purchase one? I live in a wooded area and this would be a boon!
I mounted my ebay unit on a free flat car that Hartland used to give away. I couple this unit to the front of my LGB track cleaning locomotive for superior cleaning. This is the way to clean areas that are difficult to get to, like tunnels and under a porch. Terrific idea and well worth the money. Follow directions and remember to drop the drive belt when finished cleaning.
I mounted my ebay unit on a free flat car that Hartland used to give away. I couple this unit to the front of my LGB track cleaning locomotive for superior cleaning. This is the way to clean areas that are difficult to get to, like tunnels and under a porch. Terrific idea and well worth the money. Follow directions and remember to drop the drive belt when finished cleaning.
I have an earlier version of this and I wouldn’t be without it. It is the first thing I run across the tracks each day as I do a visual inspection. My layout is under a birch tree, a pine tree and a mountain ash. The mountain ash leaves are just too big for it to deal with. For the pin tree it does great with the needles but only so so with the pine cones. With the birch tree it does great with the leaves and the seed pods. I alwasy do a visual inspection in front o it because tree limbs and the mountain ash leaves are something it can’t deal with. Whn it comes time to re-ballast the track, it works great. I slightly over ballast th track and the sweeper takes the ballast right down to the correct level. It also does a reasonable good job on clearing the channels on the turnouts but I still have to pick a few rocks out by hand because they become too wedged for the sweeper to deal with. If and when it wears out I will definetly get another one. It takes 30-35 minutes to run it over all of my track and the battery only lasts 40-45 minutes. It takes about 10 minutes of charging for every minute of running so after 30 minute cleaning session, it takes about 5 hours to re-charge the battery, which is why I purchased a second battery.
I have an earlier version of this and I wouldn’t be without it. It is the first thing I run across the tracks each day as I do a visual inspection. My layout is under a birch tree, a pine tree and a mountain ash. The mountain ash leaves are just too big for it to deal with. For the pin tree it does great with the needles but only so so with the pine cones. With the birch tree it does great with the leaves and the seed pods. I alwasy do a visual inspection in front o it because tree limbs and the mountain ash leaves are something it can’t deal with. Whn it comes time to re-ballast the track, it works great. I slightly over ballast th track and the sweeper takes the ballast right down to the correct level. It also does a reasonable good job on clearing the channels on the turnouts but I still have to pick a few rocks out by hand because they become too wedged for the sweeper to deal with. If and when it wears out I will definetly get another one. It takes 30-35 minutes to run it over all of my track and the battery only lasts 40-45 minutes. It takes about 10 minutes of charging for every minute of running so after 30 minute cleaning session, it takes about 5 hours to re-charge the battery, which is why I purchased a second battery.
Boy I have been using this unit since it came out and now am looking for a new brush assembly as the brushes are to short.
Boy I have been using this unit since it came out and now am looking for a new brush assembly as the brushes are to short.