Which track cleaner works best? Is it a car, a loco, or one of the old eraser types? I am working on a small layout, but I don’t want to spend all day cleaning the track. What is your suggestion? Sound off.
Peace
Round here, it;s called GLEAM. Basics of it is to smoth the rails down with progressivle smotther grit Sand paper so the dirt doesn’t have any places to get trapped in the rail at all. Then you can just run any ol’ soft pad periodically depending on the climate of the layout.
Original thread, as I know it: http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/t/53843.aspx?PageIndex=1
Ryan,
There is more than one answer. A lot depends on your enviromental conditions. A basement with no ceiling can be quite bad. You will be cleaning track all of the time.
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You will hear about GLEAM - the endless polishing of the track with varoious chrome cleaners to get any ‘scratches’ off of the rail and hopefully you will never clean again. Like most promises, it depends…
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Track cleaning cars - ther are lots pf them, and they are ‘abrasive/fluid/etc’‘’…
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Use metal wheels, they do not collect ‘crud’…
Guess what - they all are part of the ‘solution’… A clean enviroment keeps the dust from accumulating on the track. Nothing like a ceiling and a clean enviroment. After getting a clean enviroment, you really need to clean the track - The GLEAM idea may be overkill, but you will get clean track. Now you have clean track, but what about you wheels? Replacing the plastic wheels sets with metal wheel sets after you have clean track will help keep the ‘crud’ from moving around the layout.
I cleaned the tracked with an old ‘Briteboy’ - Oh, the ‘microscopic’ scratches that GEAM would have removed! You then need to get the rest existing crud off of the rail surrface! I ran a Tonys CMX track cleaner around the layout with a full tank of ‘lacquer thinner’ - it really cleaned up the track even better! I then replaced all of the freight car wheel sets with Intermountain or P2K metal wheel sets - I ran from October through May without cleanting the track. A few runs of the CMX car and a some spot cleaning of locomotive wheels made me ready for a flawless ‘Regional Layout Tour’ the following May.
To sum it
I use a CMX Clean Machine track cleaning car. I’ll run it about every six months, not because I need to but because I want to maintain a clean track. I’ve had it for about 3 years now and although its expensive it was one of my wisest model railroad purchases.
I use a CENTERLINE track cleaner.Its an all metal car with a solid brass roller that you wrap a 4 inch strip of Kleenex,paper towel or a blue checkered dish towel around the brass roller,put a few drops of track cleaner on it, to cover the entire roller,and let it roll with your train.After a few runs around your layout,take the damp sheet off the roller and wrap a dry strip of paper towel on it and let that absorb any excess debris off the rails.You will see that the brass roller ,wrapped with the strip of paper towel,picks up ALOT of black grim from the tracks.Its a pretty heavy peice of equipment but it DOES work. Granted the track cleaner will cost about $65.00,but its well worth the money and an awesome investment on your model railroad.
Another vote for the CMX machine.
I have subways, which run under the rest of the layout. I can get to almost all of the track by removing liftoffs, but there are a couple of annoying spots that are very hard to reach. The CMX does a very good job, and I don’t even have to pull the liftoffs from the layout.
Oddly, the worst track problems I have are in the subways, where I don’t run anything with plastic wheels. Up above, I run a mixture of metal an plastic, about 50/50, but I have much less trouble with dirty track. This does go against the accepted wisdom, but, well, it’s a data point so it needs to be presented.
I have posted this before, but I run two CMX brass cars in a worktrain that stays together, runs around the mains and passing tracks periodically, and even backs into various spurs at times. That is all I do.
The train has two units, the first CMX with alcohol in the tank. Next is a gondola carrying various small tools, then a ballast car, then the second CMX with a dry pad and a brass drovers car which completes the train. I even schedule it in an operating session as a work train when the mood strikes me.
Finally, as others have said time and time again, I use no plastic wheels, all cars have metal wheel sets.
Bob
So far, I’ve stayed away from Bright Boys and other abrasive cleaners. Even after several months of not running trains (remodeling, and construction of new garage to house the layout), a quick wipe with a little alcohol on a clean lint-free cloth got my locos running great.
It seems what works for some, don’t always work for others. I have never used any abrasive on my rails, not even bright boy. I believe that anything that scratch’s the rail will collect dust dirt, bits of metal and plastic, oil and grease. I use Maas or Flitz metal polish once every 6 months. I have about 28 feet of tunnels and over 70 feet of subway. I have either removable covers or flip down doors so the track is easy to maintain in those area’s. So I spend 2 days every 6 months to polish, I’m retired and the time spent is worthwhile. I believe in maintaining all the hard work I’ve done.
Just let me ask one question of those that use abrasives and clean or polish their track with it. Would you use the same abrasives, no matter how fine or how nice it seems to polish your track, on your gold watch or silver bracelet ?
At the club I belong to we have a 5 car train we use to clean the track. We clean track every other week or so because we operate two fridays of every month. The train we use consists of the Walter’s Box car with the pad on the bottom, the CMX tank cleaner car, and then two centerline-type cars with the brass roller (they are homemade on a CNC mill).
We use the Walther’s pad car to scrape off the big stuff (like the ocasional ballast rock or new piece of scenery foam where the new scenery is going in). The CMX tank car puts down a liquid solvent to disolve the grime on the rails. the two centerline-type cars pick up the grime that the liquid stuff disolved and other stuff the previous cars missed. the last car of the train is the operator’s personal choice of caboose.
This train requires at least two diesel units to operate. Even one Proto SD won’t pull it on the flat and level.
THe only time I use a abrasive on the rails is if some sort of paint (or other stuff) gets on the rail and will not come off with alcohol ( laquer thinner will disolve the paint we use to paint the sides of the rails). I also use it directly after painting track to remove the paint from the top of the railhead.
Our club layout gets a once a week visit from the cleaning train. The main gets two passes and the sidings get one. The consist includes a CMX tank car (mentioned above) loaded w/ 90% alcohol, followed by two flat cars each equipped with double rollers that are covered with strips cut from handy wipes and a box car that has magnets glued onto the bottom to pick up any stray metal shavings or spikes.
Yet another vote for the CMX track cleaner, using 90% isopropyl alcohol. It’s quick and works great. I run mine around the track between two SD45’s. I have also “Gleamed” some portions of the track but they still require periodic cleaning and the CMX machine does a grat job all around.
Tilden
From all the raves you guys got for that track cleaning car I went to Tony’s and read up on it. Now that sounds like a great track cleaning car. I’ll probably order one, but before I do, have any of you tried that electric track cleaning car that puts 200 volts across your rails? Just curious!
Hello,
the CMX Clean Machine totally surprised me tonight. Put a Athearn BB ac4400 on the tracks to test the wiring and track laying from my layout. This was a first time around with the tracks full of dust and grime from the work progress so far. Had to turn the power pack up to almost maximum to have the engine make it around the track - sputtering and stalling in the process with sparks coming from the wheels. So decided to try out the Clean Machine in front of the loco. What a huge difference even the first time around. No stalling, no jerking. So I kept the Clean Machine on the tracks for about 6 trips around the layout. Now even my most finicky powered vehicle will go around the tracks. Truly impressive.
Frank
PS: In case you are wondering this is my most finicky vehicle http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/products.php?act=viewProd&productId=136
I have visited a few layouts over the past few years and the topic of track cleaning always comes up. The answer i get most is WAHL oil is the magic fluid. Some of the guys say that they never clean the track. My question is it a MYTH? Where does one buy the magic fluid?
Thank you
Barry S
My club tried WAHL Clipper oil at a show we attended in April. Usually we need to clean the track every 4 hours or so because of all the dust and dirt that collects on the track at shows. We tried the clipper oil and didn’t touch the track the whole day. It really surprised all of us just how well it works. Think about it, your adding oil to your track which shouldn’t be a good thing right? The oil dramatically cuts down on the arcing that you don’t see which is 90% of the reason why tracks get dirty. Long term I don’t know how much dirt the oil will cause to stick on the track. I think cleaning the track with a track cleaning car and then adding a few drops of clipper oil on the track around the layout is the best way to go now. I was never a fan of trying the clipper oil but once I saw that it really does work I’m now a believer.
I forgot to add you can buy it anywhere you can buy clippers. Hardware stores, Walmart, Sears etc. A 4oz bottle is around 5 bucks.
I’ve heard oil works well. CRC is also mentioned now and then since it’s used as a lubricant and electrical contact cleaner.
Someone mentioned having a ceiling in the basement which I don’t understand. Rafters do not create dirt. I’ve cleaned my track only twice in the last year and don’t have a finished ceiling.
I have half of my track gleamed. It takes some time but is worth it.