Real RR tracks are shiny and prototype Locos have the weight to get a good grip, along with some sand.
Would polishing the steel rails of HO, mainly for looks, cause wheel slippage? Anyone tried it?
Interesting!
Don’t know. I recommend you do an experiment:
Pick a test locomotive–single unit. Get two pieces of track long enough to hold it. Mount on a board. Polish the top of the rails on one of them. Put loco on one. Slowly tilt upwards until loco slides. Note amount of lift. Do again with the other track. Compare! Report your answer to us.
An “extra” benefit: the polished track should/is supposed to stay cleaner than if you don’t polish it.
Now, off to work, you.
Ed
I hate to burst the bubble here
But that is called Cleaning the Track with Metal Polish
A benefit is you do not have to ever clean your track again!
Other here use the GLEAM Process using a Stainless Steel Washer with similar results (NO TRACK CLEANING)
which is what we all want!
BOB H - Clarion, PA
The OP asked if the polishing the track would cause slippage. Do you have an answer for him there?
Ed
YES I DO!
NO it won’t - I have been using the Metal Polish for the past 12 years with no difference in the traction of a polished rail
If there is any - I have not seen any difference!
If one is only looking at the shine - for cosmetic purposes - then why worry - I only worry about electrical pickup - not is it shiny like the Prototype!
BOB H - Clarion, PA
Sorry,Frank gotta go with Bob…I finally seen track that has been polish and it was shiny.
However.
For my Slate Creek it would be far to shiny…Urban industrial leads isn’t all that shiny.
The closest I ever came to the needed rail color was using brass track eons ago.
I burnished / polished my track years ago and wondered about slippage at the time as well.
Don’t know how many cars you normally pull and what your grades are, but I was still able to pull my average twenty car trains up the same two percent grades I had before the process.
Mark.
What kind of metal polish do you use?
Given the very small surface contact area between the railhead and momentary base of a wheel touching it, the locomotive weight involved, the weight being pulled and the friction generated, I believe the differences obtained between one polished set of rails and another unpolished set would be so small as to be negligable. One would also have to account for the effects of gravitational force acting on the entire experiment (tilted track) as well.
If two locomotives were compared of similar size, say a Bachmann trainset diesel and an Atlas one- and one was significantly heavier than the other- perhaps a slight difference might be observed, however…
I believe that drawbar meter tests done with a calibrated electronic device would give the most meaningful data.
Cedarwoodron
One might think that would drop out when comparing the two, mightn’t one?
Ed
I am curious why you would think that superior to a simple slide test.
Ed
If believing only made it so. That is why I proposed the experiment.
Ed
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Larry,
I was gonna chime in with my recommendation if you don’t want the track shiny, but do want it conductive. FWIW, I rarely clean track. I have far too much hidden track. And I’m getting old and probably a little lazy about such things.
Friend in Australia, Laurie McLean, taught me about the virtues of CRC 2-26. He’s a retired ship engineer who used to serve the Australia Navy, so has lots of experience with making sure things that need to conduct will and corrosion will be controlled. Not much worry about salt water on the layout[4:-)]
I use CRC 2-26 primarily to promote electrical contact. But one of the benefits is that it dulls the shiny surface of the rail so it looks more lifelike for anything except a well-polished mainline – all while promoting contact.
Your rail must be relatively clean. Don’t try it on rail that needs cleaned well, as it will turn out badly. It’s not intended as a rail cleaner, but works so well at disssolving the deposits they get attraced to each other and form a mess that you must clean anyway, so might as well get that chore out of the way.
You don’t need much. I use a small, shallow jar that chopped garlic came in and spray a little in it, just enough so that it’s bottom will be wetted. You use a cork – no need for the fancy swill, just make sure it’s not a twist-off cap as it will do no good[;)] If the jar is sized right, the cork won’t be able to fall over in the jar, keeping it ready to pick up.
Using the wet end of the cork, wet the rails. Let it sit overnight, officially 24 hours but you can cut corners here. When done, the rail has that satiny steel look to it. Let me rummage in m
Mike,Thanks for the suggestion…Not sure if the boat shops around Port Clinton or Sandusky carries CRC 2-26 so,I may have to order it but,I will give a try…
One thing about ISLs is the needed close attention to details from rail to rolloffs with production wastage.
I initially went with Blue Magic (liquid) but found it way too hard to work with!
I then began using Mothers Mag Wheel Polish (paste). I apply it with a piece of HO cork rubbed on the rails - quick and easy!
Other brands that were recommended in the Model Railroader article back in Jan of 2003 were MAAS and Fitze (sp?)!
Brasso - I find leaves an Oily finish and that I felt would cause problems with traction and would pick up dirt!
Any type of polish that was designed for Metal will work!
I polished my track back in late 2003 and have not had to redo the track since!
Before I polished the track - I was cleaning 2000 feet of track before EVERY OPs Session I hosted (which was every 2 weeks) and was getting to be a real problem! I now have over 4000 feet of track!
Since then I just go down to the layout and turn it on and run. We still run every 2 weeks! - I probably have over 400 Ops sessions on the layout now.
We (our Model railroad Club) tried the Oils (Hair Clipper oil - WD40 - CRC 2-26) cleaners of all types (Lacquer thinner - Goo Gone - Achohol - regular Track cleaners - any type of cleaner suggested in the magazines or by others) we used the Car Drags of every brand!
And in every case - they worked!
BUT!
The next time we wanted to run - Guess What? -
We had to do the Track Cleaning thing ALL OVER AGAIN!
WHY?
Because we were ONLY CLEANING the TRACK - NOT PREVENTING the PROBLEM!
the Metal Polish eliminated the problem of having to clean the track again and again!
This is why I keep harping on the use of Metal Polish.
IT stops this vicious circle of doing the same things over and over and Expecting Different Results!
That is unless YOU like to run the Track
Larry,
I found my can of CRC 2-26 at Home Depot, in the Electrical section IIRC but may be elsewhere in the store. It’s not very big, but should be a lifetime supply for most of us, given that a little dab goes a long way.