The other day I was helping my dad at the hotels, and I saw this stuff on a shelf.
Has anyone ever used or heard of someone else using this stuff for track cleaning? Just curious, cause it looks/sounds like it might work.
Sounds like something you’d use to polish a bald Ozzie woman’s head.
Steven, I bet there are at least half a dozen other eligible materials for track cleaning in the market and asking the forum members, whether anyone has ever tried using them, does not enlighten the community.
Get a piece of track and try it yourself, if it is important to you!
Good one. Your reply had me in tears!
My wife looked it up; stainless steel polish. Doesn’t sound like it would be good for track cleaning. Let us know how it works out.
Just like “Blitz Cloth” and Carbona Spot Remover, Sheila Shine is an older 20th century product well known to those of us older than 60.
In the service, Sheila Shine was used to clean and “polish” the vinyl edging where the floor met the wall. It was also used to clean metal surfaces-particularly stainless steel, to remove dirt and restore Lustre.
Blitz cloth was used to polish brass- it would have been good for the old brass track rails. As for Carbona Spot Remover- worked great as a quick alternative to dry cleaning to get rid of spots on your clothes.
Gone are the days!
Cedarwoodron
I used a stainless steel polish to polish the railheads after I burnished them. It worked nicely and nearly put an end to having to clean the track. Every now and then, I just run a simple track cleaning car over the layout and that does it for quite some time, say half a year.
So Sheila-Shine could be used - sparingly and carefully, not to mess up the ballast with it.
So burnishing was what worked, not so much the liquid used. I’ve seen people talk about gleeming - is that basically the same thing?
I’m over 60 and I’ve never heard of Sheila Shine. It could be this is a regional product?
But it sounds to me like it’s worth a try on nickel-silver track if you haven’t found something that works. I use CRC 2-26 and have yet to to find anything that works better for me.That said, in reading the struggles people have with track cleaning, it seems to me that these issues are largely driven by environmental factors – once you’re on nickel-silver track. So it’s definitely worth experimenting with differernt stuff if you’re not happy with what you have currently.
My only concern would’ve been whether it’s reactive with metals other than stainless steel. If it’s used on vinyl, it has to be rather benign.
Not only the burnishing, but additionally the polishing is what does the trick on the track. The polished railheads are less prone to collect crud and therefor maintain better conductivity.
Basically the same as “gleaming” as described by our late friend Jeffrey Wimberley.
Hi,
Petroleum distillates, probably naptha, and tetrachloroethylene (dry cleaning fluid) are the two main ingredients in SheilaShine which, by themselves would probably make a good track cleaner.
My experience with several kinds of “metal polishes*” are that there are additional surficants and oils in order to leave behind the “water-repellant shine” (mainly mineral oil or pariffin) which I’d rather not have on my rail-head.
*Brasso, Porters Friend, Flitz, Tarn-x, Meguires, Mothers, etc.
In my experience, simple does it best.
Regards, Ed
My uncle polished his police badge with a blitz cloth and my dad had a gallon glass jug of carbon tetrachloride we used to clean clothes that has a spot of dirt of grease in his store. Shiela Shine has 3 carcinogens in it, I had enough exposure to the carbon tet.
Is Ozzie Osbourne’s wife bald. I thought she was a red head? [:D]
So perhaps a burnishing/polishing/gleaming process would do better?
Steven,
any abrasive material you use for cleaning track will leave tiny grooves on the railheads, which act as a magnet to any kind of dust, crud and grime. Basically, the process of gleaming - combination of burnishing and polishing, gets rid of those grooves and, while not stopping it completely, slows down the accumulation of new grime on the railheads and makes removable a lot easier.
Gleaming - the name coming from a metal polish named Gleam - has been described a number of times in this forum. Use the search function to find those posts.
Ed - you are right, most of the metal polishes contain some “secret formula” to make the metal surface water repellent. When you use them to polish the rail, make sure the polish is completely removed.
Has anyone tried Neolube? Micromark sells it.
As far as the gleaming, one should clean the track, give it a once over with 12000 grit sandpaper, then take a stainless steel washer and run it over the track a few times, then clean again, correct?
Not correct - forget the sandpaper and add the polishing after the burnishing.
First, don’t worry about your track until you have some!
Second, the most reliable operation I’ve ever seen is on a layout where the owner almost never cleans track. He simply runs trains every day. He even has long sections of brass track.
Running trains is the best way to keep your rails clean.
Yeah, use Carbon Tet inside your house. Preferably while chain-smoking Camel Straights.
What could POSSIBLY go wrong?
I’m doing research for my club, we’re coming up on an open house and the president is wanting to do a whole layout cleaning, there’s problems with intermittent operation of DCC locomotives.
What’s the polishing and burnishing process?
Tetraclorethylene isn’t very good for you. Here is the MSDS sheet. Read up on it before using.
http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9927293
That is one of those VOC’s that they trained us about in my OSHA Hazwoper class.
Go back a few posts and there is your answer [I]