Last week here in Rockford IL, there was a flood. I just moved here from Denver CO and all of my trains were stilled boxed, so they all got water in them. Most of them are newer models (within the last seven years) and have decoders. I also have some old Athearns from the early eighties that got wet. I’m thinking I should let them dry out, lube and see if they still work. I’m looking for any help from someone that has gotten there trains wet and saved them, or some good suggestions. Theres about a 150 HO and N-Scale engines (a lot of time and money invested). PLEASE HELP.
Have you tried using a Hair Dryer on Warm not Hot ?., I have used this method to dry out radios that got flooded.
Hi Nexxxus7,
I bet you wish you never moved!
Since they’ve all been wet it won’t hurt any more to wash them in water. Use as clean a water as you can get. Distilled is best. Do this as soon as possible, clean out everything, motor, gears etc (you can leave the body for natural weathering if it looks good). Wipe down gears as the mud in the water will cause abrasion if it’s not removed and the gears regreased. Then spray any steel (axels, siderods, gearbox covers) You can use a magnet to find the steel parts, with an oily spray. WD40 is good, be careful not to get it on the plastic parts, but do it straight away as water and steel are a bad combination. It’s best to pull locos apart as much as you can to ensure all the mud is removed. Most of the steel parts were probably oiled before they got wet so you might be lucky. Axles on freight cars will need the WD40 treatment although you might be using non magnetic ones like I do.
The trick to drying it all out is a slow, low heat, with fan assistance, Hair dryer on lowest heat as Steamrail43 says (Hi Steamrail43) but still be careful. Of course just let the plastic dry in a breeze, any heat and you’ll end up with a wreck.
Back in 1974 there was a flood in my home town (Brisbane Queensland Australia) and we recovered about 90% of model train stuff that was under water for nearly a week. We also got most of the white goods and TVs we attempted to dry out working. Sure seemed strange hosing out the TV, VCR Tape deck and refrigerator, but with some water dispersant (CRC we call it) and the slow drying process I described above, most thing were working about 2 months later.
One last thing,
DON’T connect any power to the locos until they have had the full treatment and are completely dry!
Electricity and water will result in electrolysis (read corrosion) and that will easily destroy the small circuitry on the decoders. Wait until they are clean and dry and they should work as good as new.
cheers
Alan J
Disassemble everything. Wash all plastic parts with water and dish soap.(metal wheels and drive gear too) Clean all electronics and motors with electrical contact cleaner. Let dry and re-lube and reassemble. There’s no quick fix for this one. (don’t power anything thing up till completely cleaned and dry)
WOW! Your the second person this week that’s had his trains flooded. I feel for you! I was in a flood once. They SUCK! Be glad it’s not salt water or you would be throwing it all in the garbage.
I would not let things air dry. Electrolysis, if it is inclined, will happen as long as there is a medium for ion exchange, and that happens as a matter of course in humid and wet conditions. So, if you do as suggested and wash things yourself to rid them of fouled lubricants and grit, take the time to use a paper towel on them to get as much water off them as possible. Use the side of torn paper towel to jam the edges into nooks and crannies to get all the water you can. Then let it air dry, and the faster the better…set it out in the fresh air, even in the sun if it won’t be a blistering day…don’t want any distorted or gummy plastics.
Some things might stand up to gentle compressed air drying. Maybe an air gun, sans paint? If it speeds the drying, I think you will find that all your efforts will pay off after reassembly.
Just my [2c]
We lived in Rockford in 1996 and had a flash flood. Our duplex basement filled to the rafters with water. By the time I came home from work, there was no evidence outside that we had been in a flood, but the basement was still full. I never want to see another flood. The silt mud clings to everything. I empathize with you. I didn’t have any trains to worry about, but a lot of hand power tools. I agree that you have to get the mud washed out and then dry them out. You should be able to salvage most of them. I hope you don’t have the problem that we did. I set our washer and dryer out back to dry out before I began to disassemble them and clean them and someone came along and stole them.
Woodlandtoots
I didn’t know people moved to Illinois; I thought people only came from there.
Hey, nexxxus, Welcome to Illinois. I live up the road from you in Roscoe. I know the storm youre talking about. i don’t know about the newer stuff, but old Athearns are resilient. Dry them complety and quickly, as metal corrodes and rusts the second they hit the air. lube and get them running soon to where off any corrosion. a soft (very soft )abrassive will also help get any corrosion off. So how ya’ like the storm going on now?[:-,] Lost my dish a half hour ago. Man, I need to get cable back. Good luck. I’ve lost several models do to moving alot that over the last few years, from Aurora to eventually here, and any loss is always a real bummer[V].
Petoot, Lots of people continually move here. So many, infact, at current rate, we’ll be annexed into Mexico within my lifetime![banghead] But that’s another discussion that’s already been banned several times.[:-^]
Nobody has mentioned this but one thing you might consider washing the models in is isopropyl alcohol — univerally available in drugstores and in larger containers in some paint stores. It’s inexpensive. It is fully soluble with water, and so will rinse out any traces of water in/on the models and it dries more readily than water by evaporation. It is noncorrosive and doesn’t attack plastic. Since it is “rubbing alcohol” it is also not harmful to your skin although it is drying, so I reommend you use rubber gloves.
A treatment that sounds good to me is to wash the items is water and a mild detergent to get mud and dirt out, rinse throughly, then dunk them in isopropyl alcohol to get water off.
I have never had to try this, but I write it simply as someone who has a degree in Chemistry!
Yes, Tom, most/all? alcohols are water miscible; they mix nicely with water, essentially absorbing it as you say. I think your idea has merit, but I am not able to say for certain.
If you soak a model long enough be warned the paint will begin to fall off…
people are responding nexxxus7, why are you repeating the message? drythem out quickly(by now, it’s already too late, try scrubbing the parts with steel wool). you know what, it’s already to late. More rain is coming to our area, and rust is already setting in, I know!.
Have you given any thought to using an ultrasonic cleaner? I have used it on cars with sucess, but not on an engine.
Lots of luck.
Some had mentioned WD-40, but a thread awhile back warned against it because it has a tendency to gunk up electric motors. CRC 2-26, on ther other hand, is made for doing exactly what you want. Check out their website for information on recovering electric/electronic components that have been immersed in water.
http://www.crcindustries.com/ei/content/damage.aspx?PID=Panel2_4
Oddly enough nobody here seems to have mentioned that Jim Hediger’s Workshop column in Model Railroader addressed this very issue in the June 2006 issue of MR page 28.
To paraphrase his article: clean, sanitize, relubricate.
Dave Nelson
I haven’t posted this message more than once, and i didn’t pull them out of the box yet so they wouldn’t start to rust. I hope you guys in Dekalb, IL and other places close were prepared for this crazy weather, good luck.There are some great suggestions and i’m going to try them, because i love my trains.
Thanks Everyone,
Ron
p.s. The Milwaukee Road will survive!
Damn skippy, if it wasn’t for my wife’s family, i’d still be in wonderful Colorado. Downhill mountain biking, snowboarding and enjoying my trains. Also watching all those BNSF coal trains go past my old house down in Castle Rock, CO. I will return one day!
Thanks,
Ron
The Milwaukee Road Lives on!