I’m chasing thoughts on track cleaning for a layout not used in 9 months. I had a idea of consisting 3 or 4 locos, and just running them around the layout for 30 minutes or so. the theory being that any slippage or loss of traction may help to remove a top layer of debris as well as tickle the motors in the locos’ bak to life. The thought for consisting is more a gentle push/pull over areas of track where conductivity was a little less generous.
Your thoughts on this are appreciated, and if it’s meant that I’m to practise contortion, then I’m also happy to hear the pros and cons on that too.
Just running locomotives, no matter how many you put together into a consist, is not going to clean the track. All they’ll do is spread the dirt around.
It should not take more than maybe 10 minutes to do the proper cleaning after the layout has sat exposed and unused for several months. It takes a remnant of old bed-sheet liberally wet with isopropyl alcohol, wrapped around one’s index finger, and run lightly back and forth two or three times in the distance you can comfortably reach. Reposition yourself, turn the cloth a bit to expose a fresh patch of sheet on your finger pad, and repeat in an adjacent length of track that you can again comfortably and safely reach.
Takes me about five minutes to do over 80’ of trackage.
I don’t think there’s anything special you need to do.
I have a small vacuum cleaner that I run over my layout if there are large chunks of dust on it.
Then I use a rag made of an old t-shirt and denatured alcohol. Like one of the other posters said, dip rag, run finger over track, have a beer, run trains. Da!
My layout is in a room in the garage, so after the summer heat leaves the track needs a good cleaning. I first clean it with bright boy , then use a track cleaning fluid from Life Like using a lint free rag. I have tried track cleaning cars with little success , the best one i have i made using a bright boy. I also used a pipe cleaner on a old car with the Life Like stuff. Also you cannot clean spurs etc with a track cleaning car.
the Bright Boy will get the black gook on it , so i use a very fine grit of sand paper to remove it
thanks all . . looks like a rag with isopropyl on it after a light vacuum, or a bright boy (although I am not entirely sure we have those down under), then figures crossed as I gingerly send around ole 4189 (favourite RS-11).
Far as I know they all do. If you told me 5 years ago I be buying Nail Polish Remover I punch you up side your head![(-D] Now my wife and I fight over it. [:-^]
I ‘gleemed’ all of my track immediately after it was laid. Since then, all I’ve done is an occasional pass with a Dust-Buster and an occasional casual swipe with a dry paper towel. My layout is located in a non-climate controlled garage (It’s a code thing. Gas water heater = vents open to the outside that CAN’T be sealed.) Thanks to some health issues, there have been a couple of extended periods of non-use. Even with that, I’ve never had to use any kind of solvent cleaner on my present layout.
Once I start covering up my netherworld of hidden track, I’ll probably start running cars with John Allen-style masonite cleaning pads. I figure, as long as I remove the crud from the pads every week or so, they should keep things clean enough to operate over.
My layout sits dormant for 6 to 8 months out of the year in the summer/fall months. I cover it with plastic sheets but dirt and dust still find their way onto it. To get it going for the winter months I give it a quick dusting and clean the track with a track cleaning car, a CMX Clean Machine using alcohol. After the tracks clean I will very sparingly drop a few drops of Wahl’s clipper oil on a few sections of track and run a train through it for an hour or so.
Agree with tomikawaTT, I gleamed my track at installation 3.5 years ago, give it a wipe after scenery work and use 3 masonite pads running most of the time . I use a file to clean the pads every so often and things run great. Abrasives scare me.
I wouldn’t use nail polish remover around plastic or paint. Sure way to soften or eat into it. I do use paint thinner (mineral spirits) for 20 years and it works fine. With old cut up tee shirts you can see what is coming off.
When using alcohol…strongly recommend you steer clear of the 70% stuff commonly found in drugstores…go for the 91%…which has far less water…and therefore far less oxidation residue when it drys!
I’ve used it with my finger and a small bit of cloth… in a track cleaning car with a roller… and in a track cleaning car with a small tank, that “dribbles” through a pad…they all work well…
I don’t use abrasives such as brite boys or fine sandpaper as they leave small scratches(dirt collectors)on railhead somewhat like the cracks in your kitchen floor when you go to mop .tDenatured alcohol is the way to go.
I just went through a similar situation after returning from a year long deployment, and I realized that a fresh bright boy and elbow grease, followed by lots of train running. Some members of this forum will probably pelt me for advocating the use of a bright boy pad, but when you’ve got a year’s worth of oxidation to contend with, it does the trick. Also, don’t forget to clean loco wheels as well, mine were amazingly cruddy.
Good luck!