I am having a problem with both DIRTY TRACK and DIRTY WHEEL contact on one of my engines. I have to run a abrasive cleaner car each time I run the trains for approx 10 min and clean the wheels of the engine with Goo Gone. The train only get to run once a week. The layout is in a 10’x16’ Shed in Florida. The room is air conditioned but I am sure the humidity is probably high. Is there a product that will help give me better electrical contact? Thanks in advance for your answers.
What kind of track are you using? Nickle silver or brass?
I would just use Alcohol to clean the wheels and track.
Questions before answers:
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What scale? Track material, ie brass, nickel/silver, steel, etc? DC or DCC?
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Problem with only one locomotive? If one loco, what type? Traction tires? Is problem loco over lubricated, thus dropping oil on the track to attract dust & grime? Does problem loco have all (or at least many wheel electrical pick-up?
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Do many of your cars have plastic wheels?
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HO. Nickel/Silver. DCC
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One Loco. Atlas Diesel. No traction tires. No not lubricated. All wheel pick up.
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Metal wheels on all cars.
Goo Gone is the problem – it leaves a sticky film on your track and wheels that attracts more and more dirt. You’ll have better luck if you use lacquer thinner, rubbing alcohol, or a commercial track cleaner.
Thanks. I will try it. Is there any product I can use after I have the track cleaned to slow down the dirt process. Have you used any of the track cleaning cars that carry Liquid or Rollers? Is the use of the abrasive cleaning car hurting me? I have a couple of long tunnels that will be hard to reach.
http://www.ehow.com/how_5645996_remove-goo-gone-residue.html
I found a couple more links but the above shoulld be enough. Next time, ask here first.
Rich
Yes, there is a rather laborious process that has adherents on the forum. It is called ‘gleaming’ and threads dealing with that process can be found using a search with the appropriate syntax in “Search Community” to the right.
Generally, you make a hardened, burnished and nearly oxidation free surface by using very find sand paper, a steel washer and then automobile metal wheel polish such as Mother’s or Black Magic.
-Crandell
Getting rid of the Goo Gone will dramatically slow the dirt process. I recommend the CMX Clean Machine, a track cleaning car which feeds drops of cleaning fluid (I use lacquer thinner) to a pad which wipes the rails. It leaves them clean and dry. Yes, the use of abrasives can hurt because they tend to leave tiny scratches where dirt can build up. The Clean Machine is just what you need for those hard to reach places, too.
I’m a big proponent of the gleaming process - see thread …
http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/t/162533.aspx
At the bottom of the first page, there was mention of a product called No-Ox-Id. This product appears to have great potential to virtually eliminate metal oxidation. I seldom run trains on a regular basis, but with having gone through the gleaming process, I haven’t had to clean track in over five years. I’m now in the trial stages to see the long-term results of using this No-Ox-Id as a final application to the process.
Mark.
I second this recommendation, including the use of lacquer thinner. I have subway tunnels running beneath my layout, and cleaning track would be a nightmare without my CMX car. It’s pricey, yes, but I think it’s worth it for the job it does.
But, back to that locomotive. Do you have other engines which are not giving you problems? If so, then you may have intermittent pickup on that Atlas engine. I don’t have one of these myself, so I can’t say what kind of pickups the Atlas uses. In most engines, the wheels are connected to metal half-axles which slide through metal bushings. These bushings provide the pickup between the moving axles and the engine. In some locomotives I’ve seen, the bushings are friction-mounted on some sort of support frame. If this mount is loose, then the bushings may be making poor contact.
The sticky film not only attracts dirt; it is known to be non-conductive. Remove the Goo-Gone on all the wheels and track with denatured alcohol. You may have to burnish the track as others have suggusted.
-Robert
I’d be VERY careful using lacquer thinner. Too heavy and it will disolve the plastic ties, and it’s also a VOC, so good ventilation is essential.
Good point, Tom.
When used with a CMX machine, you can control the flow very precisely. If you do it right, you will barely notice the odor. However, I still make a point to pick a nice day to clean my track, so I can keep the windows open and ventilate the room well.
You might want to check the electrical connections from the trucks as I have had problems with this in the past on Atlas and others. Depending on the unit it may have metal shoes against the back of the wheels for contact. These tend to get dirty as well.
Len
Another caution on lacquer thinner is with the cleaning car. If any parts that will be touched by the thinner, including the wheels, are plastic, the warning about the ties will apply to them as well.
Anyone having success using the CMX track cleaning car on rerailers in tunnels, etc.? IS there anyway to adequately clean the rails in them? I’m about to lay hidden track areas and would like to use some but have read in the archived posts that they’re hard to clean/keep clean.
For regular out in the open track I’ve just used alcohol so far. I’ve got a few friends who use electrical contact cleaner liquids or tubed nozzle spray cans with success.
First, clean the tracks and get rid of the Goo-Gone. I use denatured alcohol mixed with an ammonia based window cleaner 50/50. For my cleaning cars, I run two. Each has a pad with corduroy material on them with the ‘grain’ running cross wise. The front car has the pad dampened with the cleaning solution and the second car is run dry. These can be run separately or in front of your first engine. I do this each time is run trains for the first time that day and have not had to clean engine wheels in several years. This is using DCC on BRASS, yes BRASS track. And no, my track is not green either. I just love proving them wrong ! ! ! ![:D]
Y’know, that’s a good point. We occasionally debate the merits of rerailers in hidden trackage, but I don’t think the issue of cleaning the track on a rerailer has ever come up.
The CMX cleaning pad is flat, so it rides over everything. When I used alcohol as the cleaning agent, it would take the acrylic gray paint right off the top of my grade crossings. Lacquer thinner doesn’t seem to do that, but I also make fewer passes than I did with the alcohol.
There is enough compression in the cleaning pad to let it mold around the rails a bit, so I’d guess that it would clean the rerailer track OK. But, I’d be concerned about the effect of the lacquer thinner on the plastic of the rerailer itself. It might not be an issue, because it’s in a tunnel and won’t show anyway.
CAUTION with the alcohol…be sure to use 90% or better. The 70% stuff that is generally sold contains too much water…and causes oxidation quicker…
Several track cleaning cars using “padded” or “roller” applicators will handle the dispensing of the alcohol, including your tunnels, and it will dry rather quickly…there is also an “electronic” track cleaner, that uses it’s “ultra-sonic” feature to break up any “crud” buildup on the track, that does a good job…but much better using the “ultra-sonic”, then followed with an alcohol wipe…
TRAINMAN.