Track cleaning cars

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

How well do they work? are some brands better then others and are they worth the money?

Thanks, The “Harven”

2

Hi

I use this one from Bachmann.

I got it for 20$ in a Montreal hobby Shop, I bought two. You can replace the pad with very fine sandpaper pads and well, honestly it works quite nicely. It is not for heavy duty cleaning, but if you keep it running along, since it looks good too, you run trains and it cleans and you don’t really have to mind about it.

:slight_smile:

Have a good day!

Antoine

3

Harven,

There are many and there are also many ways to clean and maintain your track, from track gleaming, masonite drag cars you name it. Except for gleaming which I have not used, most others I have. Frommy experience and my opinion along with many others who use them. I consider the CMX Track cleaning car to be the best, a little pricey, but worth it. I have two, but I have a rather large layout.

Frank

4

Any HON3 cars avail? Or do I have to custom make 1.

5

Most track cleaning cars do a so so job. CMX is best but I find that you need to run the masonite type too unless you want to deal with the more volatile solvents. Irun the CMX with two cheap masonite cars for best results.

6

The thought occurs to me that HOn3 trucks could be put under a CMX car but I’m not certain it will fit. CMX IS the best I have found in HO at least.

Is your layout point to point or continuous run? The CMX works in both directions whereas some in only one.

You can also make your own of course. It is not too difficult.

7

Jack308gtsi,

N-scale, H0-scale, O-scale and:

Click on pic. for info. Shows and explains, CMX N-scale to HON3 scale when you click on pic.
Frank

8

You should check Centerline to see if they now have an HOn3 trackcleaning car.

I have two N scale Centerline cars that I converted to HOn3 by swapping out trucks and modifying the couplers to 714s. The older one is kind of wide-bodied, but when I went to buy a second one, it was discontinued in favor of a narrower version. It’s still usuable, though.

What I do with mine is use one wet and the other behind it dry, to pick up what the first leaves behind. I also have two standard gauge HO Centerlines and do the same thing with them. They can also be used with both wet for really bad build-ups, but not much need for that really. I put the loco in front in both cases.

9

I “gleamed” my HO track. I then added a CMX car, using it every 2-3 months, with denatured alcohol (I believe many prefer lacquer thinner). I added a “John Allen” masonite pad car I converted (ala a YouTube video included in the attached older thread) from an Athearn BB box car kit. I run the John Allen car routinely in a train going about and occasionally push/pull it to cover all the trackage.

http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/221146.aspx

I can tell you the John Allen car picks up lots of dust / dirt, and discovered just lately that I need to clean the pad occasionally or I’m just repositioning dirt. Folks use sand paper for that (getting it reasonably clean).

Oh, and when I run the CMX and John Allen car together the drag is significant, so I use a 2 loco consist to pull it.

I also have metal wheelsets on my freight cars, to minimize wheel accumulation of dirt I have not secured by cleaning. And I clean my loco driven wheels by spinning over an alcohol wet rag.

I think it all works together: gleaming helps track, two types of track cleaning car (wet and pad, pad run routinely), wheel considerations, etc.

I’d say if costs are important (the CMX car runs about $130 I recall), build a John Allen car and supplement that by wiping the rail occasionally with an alcohol wet rag. And I’d add gleaming as a cheap assist to the system, costing pennies but some time.

10

I have subway tunnels, so I always planned on having a CMX car. It really does the job. I use it with lacquer thinner. I do keep a window open when I run it, but I set the needle valve for a low flow rate and don’t really get much of an odor. I clean my track every 3-4 months.

Subway tunnels are restrictive, so I use my powered subway cars to haul around the CMX machine. It’s very tunnel-friendly, actually smaller than the subway cars so there’s no clearance problem. The car is very heavy. It comes with metal wheels and Kadee couplers (HO) and I’ve never had a problem with derailments. Between the weight and the cleaning pad, I need two powered subway cars to drag it around.

This is not designed to be run around all the time disguised as a regular freight car.

11

I made my own from an old AHM boxcar and a pair of brass flywheels for a roller. It works pretty well and cost me $10 for all the parts.

S&S

12

Did you have to modify the n gauge centerline cleaners besides couplers and trucks?

13

No, that’s it. I’ll try to grab a couple of pics of them and post so you can see. This pic shows how wide the first N Centerline car is. It’s is no longer available last I heard, but is better to make a conversion to HOn3. I made a sort of span bolster, with the truck’s king pin supporting the center and the coupler and car body on each end of it.

The side view below gives more details on the construction. The second, narrower car was current production when I bought it some time ago. It’s barely wide enough for HOn3, but it does work. I added a coupler on one end only, since it’s typically last and run with a dry roller. It’s also much lighter than the first, so I added some weight up top to give it heft. With the rollers different widths, I have to keep two different widths of the Handi-Wipes for the cleaning material on the rollers.

I used the no longer produced MDC HOn3 trucks, because they are plastic and help avoid needing to insulate the weighted car body from the tracks.

14

If anyone is interested, this is the ‘‘How To’’ for coverting CMX N-scale Track Cleaning car to HOn3. Pic is finished Model of Author:

http://tonystrains.com/technews/cmxn_mod_to_hon3.htm

Frank

15

While all of the Track Cleaning Cars will do what they are supposed to do - CLEAN THE TRACK

The problem is that YOU have to KEEP doing it over and over!

This was the problem I faced back in 2003 and trying to keep 1000 feet of track clean so my crew could do Operations without all of the engines stalling (I NOW have over 4000 feet of track down)!

I tried everything and while thay all worked - I had to keep recleaning the rails every 2 weeks!

I was spending more time cleaning the track than I was running trains!

Something had to give!

Then Model Railroader Magazine had an article about Metal Polishing the track!

I never figured it would work but I was getting desperate!

So I tried it on a section and it worked Great - I did not have to clean that area - so I did another area and it also stayed clean.

SO I stopped the OPs Session that night and my crew helped me Metal Polish the 1000 feet of track!

I have NEVER cleaned the track again and it is now over 11 years since I first Polished the track!

I may have had to scrape paint off the rail heads when doing scenery but that is it!

SO - using Metal Polish might be something to consider!

UNLESS !

YOU like to Clean track - or running the Track Cleaning Car is the only reason YOU can find to run trains!

I much prefer to Do Operations and my crew of 20 Thnks me every OPs Session!

BOB H - Clarion, PA

16

Bob H:

Hi there.

I am assuming that when you refer to “polishing” you are speaking of a different process from “gleaming”. In other words you are using a liquid polish as opposed to a stainless steel washer. Is that correct?

If so, could you elaborate a bit on your track polishing method?

  • What polish(s) did you use?

  • What material(s) did you use to apply the polish?

  • How much time did you spend on each section of track?

  • Did you do any prep work before polishing?

Also, do you happen to remember which MR issue you saw the polishing article in?

Thanks

Dave

17

**** - What polish(s) did you use?

I use Mothers Mag Wheel Polish - ANY paste type of Metal polish - or silver polish will work Ftiz & MAAS are other brands

**** - What material(s) did you use to apply the polish?

I use a piece of HO Cork (as that is the Scale I Model in) and had pieces laying around.

It is stiff enough to run flat on the rail heads and hold the Polish!

I made wood handles and counter sunk a screw though 2 pieces of cork glued together so the screw head would not scratch the track.

**** - How much time did you spend on each section of track?

I place some of the Metal Polish paste in the lid of the continer - I then take the HO Cork and rub the cork on the paste in the lid - I want just a thin costing of paste on the cork!

This way I do not get a lot of the paste down on the sides of the rails - I then run the cork on the rails for about 5 to 6 feet - you can feel the cork getting dry as the paste is used up.

I use a back and forth movement.

I then take another piece of clean cork and buff the rail heads.

YOU ARE DONE with that section!

Apply more polish to the cork and do another section - then buff

**** - Did you do any

18

Hey Bob!

Thanks for the prompt and very detailed response!![bow]

I have yet to start my layout but I am convinced by experiences like yours that polishing the track is a neccessity. In fact, I think I will polish the track before installing it so there will be a minimum amount of finish polishing required after it is down.

Dave

19

Big ops, multiple motive power users, lots of track…I really can’t compare my situation directly. But my recent run of the Centerlines was actually the first time in at least two years they’ve been off the shelf and on the layout. I recently converted a bunch of passenger cars to lighting, so wanted to optimize things for them. I also have part of a loop that runs under a stairway, so crud filters down over time and it’s just easier to run them through than reach from underneath.

A narrowgauge colleague, Laurie McLean, taught me the wonders of CRC 2-26. Gotta get your track clean first. Then you use a cork that is dampened with CRC to wipe the rails. Let it dry overnight. The rails don’t appear shiny afterwards, another advantage, but look more like rails typically do. It’s really a blessing with NG and very low maintenance. I used the Centerlines to clean things up well on all my SG and NG hidden track and the CRC does most of the rest. Every once in awhile, a Bright Boy swipe or two is handy, but that’s about it.

20

How do you use a stainless steel washer to polish track?