TRY THIS;three feet burnished and polished; three feet NOT.
SLIDE [no power] your FAVORITE loco, any fuel type, from one section into the other; you will hear and feel the difference.[:O]
no bumps,scratches,nicks, etc = smoother steady rail to wheel adhesion
area of HO contact = about 22-gauge wire.[:0][:0]
So, more metal = more adhesion, yes?
Whatever polish wax left behind after a good wipe is mostly in the scratches that are left. Still need time itself for a study…
This all sounds like waaaaay tooooo much work…I’ve been using Wahls clipper oil applied twice a year with excellent results. My switchers craawl…no hesitation anywhere on the layout for the past 15 years (12 x 23 double level). I’m still running DC, so maybe you guys with DCC have special issues that I don’t have. Anyway have fun with all that polishing![:D]
I think I’ll have to give this a try. Our club is plagued by cleaning problems and we’ll try anything that helps. Thanks for the tips.
Jesse
Use the metal polish and it stops cleaning the rails Period.
I applied the metal poli***o my 2700 feet of track back in July 2003. Have not had to do any thing to the track since.
I have every other Thursday night OPs and twice a year OPTUD (OP Till U Drop) 12 hour sessions. Never have any trouble.
BOB H - Clarion, PA
jESSE, READ MY OTHER TOPIC, ‘TO GLEAM OR NOT TO GLEAM’
Although it seems a formidable task, the results are long-lasting, maintenance-free railrs, as far as track cleaning is concerned. I never dreamed that I could create a process so effective, thanks to my deep concern for freeing quality time up to do what I like most - OPERATIONS!!! It works on ALL rail stock and gauges! [steel rail = NO polish]
The purpose of sanding the rails [400 grit wet/dry ] prior to burnishing is to remove dents,deep scratches, Bright-Boy abrasions, 'OOPS, I MISSED!'s, and the like. It also helps to even out different rail stock heights at frogs, crossings, joints, and those slightly higher- than-rail feed solder jobs. The finer grade [600 grit] prepares it for the burnish. The wheel’s contact area is about the cross-sectional area of a 22-gauge wire.
Since the rails are extruded and then NOTHING ELSE, they really are rough at a real close look. Burnishing wihout sanding will still make shine and seal, but the trains are riding on less than the ideal contact area because of these bumps and ridges.
Burnish with STAINLESS-STEEL washer until you have to turn away to protect your eyes from the REFLECTION! Burnishing helps seal pores and scratches with the SAME METAL! Because there is more metal, there is more shine, adhesion, and nowhere for the arc flux residue [the REAL grunge!!] to collect. Follow with Blue Magic [per bob H. of Clarion, Pa] polish and wipe… all done! Then OPERATE forever! He’s right!
The way your trains creep, glide by quitely, and become well-behaved will respark the love for model trains! You’ll see!!![swg] Oh, clean the loco wheels of course!