A question. I have used Mother’s and nail polish remover and a lot of other stuff including Bright Boy. Mother’s seems to be the best for me. But. The black never seems to stop coming off. No matter what I use, I can rub the same place over and over, ( I’ve counted a dozen times), and still get black on the cloth. The trains run fine but the rail still gives off a black residue. My question, finally, is: Is this normal?
Thanks;
John
Rather than paying the premium price for the nail polish remover, I would suggest getting some acetone at your local HD or Loews. Careful, though, too much of either will distort or even melt plastic ties.
bobspf
If you have lost pulling ability as you have stated on your system, I am wondering if the Flitz is leaving an oily coating on the track?
On my layout I am using Blue Magic liquid metal polish (bought at Wal-Mart). And I have a lot of 3% plus grades (actually closer to 4%) and have seen no loss of pulling power since I went with the polish! Or if there has been any loss it is so slight that I and any of my operators have not noticed. We still seem to have the trains stall on the hills in the same places if the operators do not put the helpers on to assist the trains up the grades.
I have purposely put steeper grades on my layout to make the crews actually have to use the helper service during heavy Ops!
Now to address the black crud thing!
Yes it is there and NO it does not hurt anything. You can keep wiping the rails after using the polish until there is nothing left and the black will still be there, as I know! My operators keep telling me that the track is dirty as they check it by rubbing their fingers on the rail heads! I then ask are the trains still running? If they are then it must be OK!
With my layout now into its third year and not having had to clean the track I really don’t care what color the stuff on the rails is, as long as the trains keep on running and the sound engines do not have the sound drop outs!
If others want to continue cleaning their track week after week then keep on doing what you have done in the past. BUT I will not be doing anything but running my trains and THEY won’t have any dumb Masonite block dragging around under and car. We have moved into a new age and the old ways are being replaced better materials or better ways of doing things. I am just glad I finally saw the light and went with the metal polish as my layout probably would not be operated as much as it is now if I had to spend hours cleaning the track each week to get ready for Ops.
Obs
Tracklayer, I don’t know which track cleaning car you are using. I have a track cleaning car from Tony’s Train Exchange for about 2 years now. Very easy and effective. Fill it with acetone, run it aroud the layout twice, track’s clean . It’s about $100.00 but well worth the money.
I clean my track periodically with an extremely fine abrasive block, such as a Bright Boy, and then place a small drop of Clipper oil (for lubricating hair clippers) on the top of each rail - but not too much - at a couple of random spots on my layout. I then clean my loco wheels by holding and powering the loco, one set of wheels at a time, on a paper towel sprayed with GooGone and layed across the rails. I then run trains, and the loco / rolling stock wheels pick up the Clipper oil and spread it around the rest of the layout. This helps keep the rails clean with good electrical contact. Since going to this method, my track cleaning time has been reduced to almost zero. Just make sure you periodically clean your loco wheels - and run lots of trains! Frequent running is really the best way to keep those rails shiny!
On this track cleaning car thing, does everyone run the track cleaning car into every siding or do you just do the mainline and hope the stalling in the sidings won’t be so noticeable.
With 1000ft of mainline the cleaning cars I USED to use did an OK job. But the sidings and industry spurs were still dirty and with 1700 feet of track in those areas I still had to hand clean them. So what was the real savings in time?
No one ever talks about cleaning the sidings and Industry tracks so I have to ASSume then you never do any real switching!
The mainline is run a lot more than the industry tracks and this is where the dirt seemed to be all the time and I know it is a real pain to run the cleaning car into every spur, so they never get cleaned do they?
Inquiring minds want to know!
BOB H – Clarion, PA
Running the trucks of your cars over a piece of cloth soaked with goo gone, over a section of track will clean the plastic wheels of the crud on them.
Cleaning the track once like bob suggests and running trains frequiently does keep the rails clean for years. I try to run at least 2 times a week. Mostly more. Will set a train moving and do other jobs while it is running.
After I have done scenery or ballasting work, I use a sanding pad that is made to hold a piece of sandpaper like a “mouse pad”. You can get 220 grit for pad and if you cut pad into four pieces they are just the right size for rail cleaning.
After the use of pad I go over that area with the poli***o take away any little scratches.
Remember cleanliness is next to good running>>>>> Barry
I have the same problem as relentless, it seems the black never stops coming off.
Don’t worrk about the black crud on the rails! I have had it on my rails now for 2 plus years and it causes no problems. This is the wax/polish doing the job!
Just keep on running your trains and when they quit just clean the engine wheels and keep on running!
BOB H - Clarion, PA
Does anyone have a source for either the large Peco PL-41 or the Roco 10002 track cleaning blocks? Mine is beginning to wear out.
Jim
The success is in the application whether you use Flitz, MAAS or Mothers Mag Wheel cleaner.
As I have said many times over & over again take a piece of 100% cotton t-shirt material and cut it
into 5" or 6" strips, 2 " wide and wrap it around a retired brite boy.
Apply the cleaner to the longest edge and drag across the rail heads. This way the BB fits between the forefinger & thumb( a good fit) and doesn’t mess up your ballast & scenery.
Let slighty dry and then with an un-treated piece of t-shirt material, again wrapped around the BB,
wipe off… Its simple.
I also use MAAS to clean my loco pick-up wheels, steam & diesel but a different application process.
THANKS MR JAN. 2003
Metal wheels promote greater free rolling ability & longer trains BUT be painfully aware that all
metal axle wheels sets are NOT created equal, they vary in axle length. One brand doesn’t fit all.
My LHS reccomended smoke fluid so that is what i use it is made by crest[^]
I routinely run 2 units MUed on my N-scale layout. Speed-matched as closely as possible, there is still some difference, so the faster loco tends to slip and my mainline rails get continuously burnished by wheel slippage. I taped a short length of cork roadbed to a paint stir-stick, slimmed down to a little wider than track width and cut to a convenient length. If an engine balks on a seldom-used siding, a quick rub along the rails with the stick-mounted cork cleans without leaving a residue or abrading the railheads. When dirty, I just discard the roadbed cork and tape on another scrap piece. Cheap and effective. Erasers, I’ve found, leave a rubber residue. Abrasive blocks score the railheads, leaving microscopic grooves which catch and hold dirt and tarnish, aggravating the problem. Solvents can attact plastic ties and wheels. Track cleaning cars are a pain in the butt, except for hidden or inaccessible track. Just as important is routinely cleaning the loco pickup wheels. I frequentyly use a bronze brush wheel cleaner powered by sitting on the rails. Steam loco tender pick-up wheels are worst because they have to be cleaned individually and manually rotated, but need help. For those, I use the thin, wooden, pointed oriental skewers found in packages in supermarkets. The medium size works best (about 1/8" diameter and 9-3/4" long). They also have a myriad of modeling, glueing, and soldering uses, work as uncoupling tools, too – and are cheap!
I’m at the point where I need to seriously clean my track. Up to this point, all I have been doing is simply running a vacuum hose with a brush attachment over my rails. (I placed a piece of nylon stocking over the vacuum hose so that any loose parts are captured for repatriation.) I vacuumed the track at least once a week, which quite frankly, is a pain when cleaning my yards, considering that I have to move ALL of the rolling stock around just to get to the tracks. And when you do that, those cars pick up that dirt/dust that fell in between the cars. And the thought of picking up every single car up off of the track just to clean under it isn’t very appealing, either.
A track cleaning car would be very beneficial in cleaning those hard-to-reach places like far-away curves or tunnels or helixes. One of my friends here in Omaha got ahold of one of those brass CMX cleaning cars. They look just like a normal tank car with a cleaning pad down under, but they cost around $100 and are no longer available from Walthers. He uses Goo-Gone liquid (that you can get from any retail department store) in that car and I have to admit that the cleaning results are astounding.
I once asked Stephen Priest from Kansas City what he used to clean his layout with. He informed me that he uses Wahl Clipper Oil. Someone else, above, mentioned using a light oil, as well. It would seem to me that if you are going to run short trains (which Stephen does), then an oil application would be ok. But if you are pulling mile-long trains as I am, I would think that that would be like committing traction-suicide.
I like the idea of the Mag Wheel Cleaner and I think I will give that a try.
Regarding plastic wheels, I have noticed on my 700+ rolling stock that the plastic wheels do seem to attract the dirt more severly than metal wheels do. Also, metal wheel sets seem to run so much more smoother and efficiently than the plastic ones do. The trains seem to pull so much more easie
One thing I forgot to mention----
For cleaning wheels, whether on locomotives or cars, I found a really slick trick that is working far better than enything else. I just use a wire-wheel brush attachment on my Dremel Moto-Tool (set to the slower speed, if you have speed control) and apply it LIGHTLY to the wheel surface. It takes all that black crud off in seconds and does not harm the wheel surface in any way.
For powered locomotives, I just apply electricity to the motor via alligator clips and apply the moto-tool, as above.
I can completely and effortlessly clean a car or locomotive in less than a minute’s time. It should be noted that I do not apply any type of cleaning solution whatsoever in this process. It’s not needed.
I use a brite boy which I velcro to the bottom of a box car and run it around the layout. works for me.
well all i do is pour some goo gone onto a paper towel and wipe the rail heads with it. it seems to work fine because being beside my dad’s wood shop, i have to clean it alot!
OK>>
This is a Great Recipe for your layout. I’ve used this method on a Custom-Store 55’ Oval-Layout I built for them and here we go…
*#1> Get a Snow-Plow Cleaning Car for approx. $25 or thereabouts from ‘Vinson’s Custom Electronics.’
The pad on the bottom is ‘Sprung-loaded’ so it ‘Menuvers’ on crossovers of all types, curves & straights.
He has replacement pads for very inexpensive cost.
#2>>Clean the track with Peco Track Eraser…Softer than Bright-Boy and Does’ the Job.~!!
#3>>>At the very least, vacume-up the eraser-pieces from Crossovers, turnouts.
#4>>>>NOW, with the Snow-Plow Cleaning Car, which is very-nice.
He placed a BRIGHT-Blue-White L.E.D. on the top of the Plow to See the area Much Better.
Put a 50% -to-50% Ratio Mix of Alcohol & WD40 on the two-areas the pads ride the rails.
#5>>>>>Ok, use a Heavy Loco <such as 4-8-2 or better if using Steam> ~or~ <Using Diesel, which I
HIGHLY-RECOMMEND…such as F-3 or F-7, SD40 or better, Proto Erie-built.
The BEST LOCO HERE IS ONE THAT IS USED 'P-R-I-M-A-R-I-L-L-Y Cleaning-Engine-ONLY!
#6>>>>>>Run that across 2-3 times on your ‘Main/Passing-tracks’ & a couple of times on yards/industrial tracks.
This will seam Wierd at first and when this Modeler told me this, I thought he was crazy.
Guess what?? It REALLY WORKS~!!
WD40 , after the Alcohol cleans-up any other impurities on the track left from erasing & the WD40 will
semi-dry-up with a ‘RESIDUE’ .
After a few passes of ‘Just-Cleaned-Locomotive(s) Wheels’, the track & wheels will get DIRTY.
And, I-MEAN-DIRTY.
DON’T WORRY.
Here’s the Miracle.
The Train keeps going & going & going & goin
Relentless and others - if the track looks clean but your metal polish keeps removing black stuff - the black is probably track metal being removed by the polish. I have had the same result with “Brasso” metal polish. I don’t know how much metal is removed each time - it can’t be much, but too many repeat cleanings mightn’t be a good idea!