Like so many of us I have had a real problem with dirty track. Engines hesitate, stop and start and in some places just won’t run. The worst are those equipped with Tsunami or QSI decoders. I tried gleaming, which helped for a day or two. But invariably every operating session needed another cleaning. Every day! I tried lacquer thinner, isopropyl alcohol and denatured alcohol, but all to no avail.
Then I stumbled on a thread on this forum with a link to another forum. There I discovered CRC 2-26.This stuff is a miracle! I cleaned the rails with lacquer thinner, using a cloth on my finger tip. Then I spread a very thin coat of CRC 2-26 on the rails, using a Q-tip. One time only. Now after about two weks, I’m a believer. Even my most balky engine now runs smooth as glass. There is not even a flicker of the headlight. My multiple switch interlocking used to be a nightmare, but now every train passes through without a hitch. The only drawback is that CRC is slightly oily and will tend to reduce your pulling power, but not by too much.
If you are having electrical troubles, get yourself a can of CRC 2-26 and try it. It’s about $5 at Home Depot. Just look in the electrical section. Most other good hardware stores should have it, too.
Are you also cleaning your locomotive and rolling stock wheels when you clean your track?
Are you using plastic or metal wheels on your rolling stock?
If you clean your track but don’t clean your wheels, you’re just recontaminating your track again when the cars ride back over the cleaned track. Plastic wheels are also notorious about degrading over time and leaving your track dirtier than metal wheels.
Also, if you’re running operating sessions, you may want to make it mandatory that clean wheels/metal wheels be a part of the routine. I only have metal wheels on my layout and I hardly ever have to clean the track or have electrical issues because of it.
Yes I am cleaning loco wheels before they go back on the layout. The rolling stock is 100% metal, Branchline semi-scale, but I’m a little slow to get to them. Cleaning 800 or so wheels is a daunting project, but I’ll get it done. I also plan to treat tender bolsters and conductive wheel bearings, as well.
I will second that using CRC after cleaning your track works great. I used the same exact cleaning method, and after about 4 months, all the track is working flawlessly.
This whole plastic wheels being bad or degrading thing is a myth! I have over 400 cars on the layout and 70% of them still have their plastic wheels (mostly 20+ year old Athearns). The plastic wheels are not the source of the problem. What does matter is the dust level and humidity in the train room and how you clean your track. One other factor is Athearn locos that have the sintered iron wheels. These wheels arc all the time and leave black carbon crud behind that of course other wheels can pick up and granted plastic wheels can pick it up more easily. So replace those Athearn wheels with NWSL or JayBee nicklesilver ones and you’d be surprised how much cleaner everything will be. Another big culprit is open basement ceilings, if you can’t finish the ceiling, then just get some plastic sheeting and cover the ceiling with that, that’ll really cut down on the dust.
I am also a firm believer in CRC 2-26. I just spray some on a lint-free cloth and wipe down the rails, (you don’t need to use a cotton swab!). I only do it about once every 4-6 months. And when you do clean your track, don’t forget to vacuum.
Isn’t this the same thing we used Wahl clipper oil for back in the dark ages?
Personally, other than the occasional wipe with a clean paper towel, my once-gleamed rails are never cleaned with anything other than a vacuum cleaner.
Things might be different if:
I didn’t live in a very dry environment (Humidity? WHAT humidity?)
I used DCC (holdeth not thy breath)
I had sound-equipped locomotives (asthmatic toy poodle, anyone?)
The CRC is almost as thin as water. The clipper oil is thicker and builds up over time. I use WD-40 as it does the same thing. I put less than a drop on each rail and let the trains carry it around the layout. I also use the John Allen type of car wiper pad, one in every train if possible.
It would be good if there was an easy rolling stock wheel cleaning machine. I’ve used my dremel, but almost always go back to the old manual method of spinning and wiping/cleaning.
Over the years, I have tried many different ways of keeping track and wheels clean, including track cleaning cars. None of the methods worked permanently, some of them even made the problem worse.
Aside from dust and humidity, which we can´t avoid, the main culprit accountable for dirty track is plastic wheels and traction tires. The best is just to replace those plastic wheels with metal ones and to get rid of the need for traction tires by adding weight to the locos. This will not prevent you from cleaning the wheels and track frequently, but you will find that there will be a lot less gunk on them. For cleaning I use a piece of cloth dipped into denatured alcohol, giving the rails a thorough rub, followed by using a dry cloth. I don´t use any type of abrasive, as the little fissures they leave on the track increase the accumulation of gunk.
Noch makes track cleaners, which you can clip onto a wheel set. I just run a train with that track cleaner each time I operate my layout.
Ulrich:Aside from dust and humidity, which we can´t avoid, the main culprit accountable for dirty track is plastic wheels and traction tires.
Plastic wheels isn’t the main problem…
That is MR’s infomercial answer so their advertisers can sell metal wheels to the uninformed.
The gook on our track is made of many things to include human skin flakes,bug droppings,electrical residual,dust,pet and human dandruff just to name a few…
Think of this if plastic wheels caused all dirty track woes why does track still need clean after converting to metal wheels?
Another thing…At the Bucyrus club track goes for months without being clean and we still run trains with zero problems.The layout is in a block building and 99% of the members still uses plastic wheels.
Several years ago there was a great article explaining what track dirt was really made of…MR has never reran that information…
I’ve converted most of my rolling stock to high quality metal wheels after noticiing that the plastic wheels tended to get dirtier. The plastic wheels would get gunk caked on whereas the metal wheels would get dirty, but not as fast or as caked on. Also, I’ve noticed that my old Athearn BB locos with sintered metal wheels get dirtier quicker and more caked on than the locos with NWSL wheels(or similar).
Which brings this point up, not all metal wheels are the same. Athearn has put some pretty poor metal wheels on RTR or Genesis and they accumulated dirt pretty quickly. I think these were sintered metal as well. I’ve had to replace those wheels not just due to the dirt but also they caused derails. Also, Walthers had product releases with metal wheels that got dirty pretty quickly–so I had to replace them too.
BTW, I really like the sound of those metal wheels on our long trains. When the sound locos pass and then you hear the wheels going down the line, it’s pretty neat.