I use a dremmel on a lot of stuff including wheels. If your wheel are nickel plated, I use Oven cleaner. Don’t use it on brass as it will make it rust. Goo Gone is ok too, it just takes longer to get the dirt off. As stated eariler, be careful about using a dremmel on wheels because you could make the wheel go out of scale. Spray the wheels with some oven cleaner and let it sit for 5-10 min and then wash with hot water. Works for me !
Kadee at one time made a “speedy driver cleaner” designed for these problems. Occasionally they will turn up on eBay. My only caution is to avoid friction systems if cleaning a nickeled wheel on a brass engine – taking the nickel off in this way, even a little, can lessen the resale value of the model by as much as 25 per cent.
I use a pocket knife. I turn the wheels slowly and hold the knife lightly against the wheel tread at the same angle as the tread. Hold it at a reverse angle so that it scrapes (drags) and doesn’t cut. Wipe the blade off often as crud will build up quickly.
Wow, just like I’ve seen footage of in 1:1 practice! [:D]
(I’ve done that before with my 1:87 locos, too.)
-Dave
Trix has a plastic assembly that you set on the track and is sort
of like a kadee wheel cleaner. Brass wires contact the track and the wheels
and clean very well. they are fine for any thing up to x-6-x wheel bases. However
they can slot together to make a longer unit. They are about 5 inches long and
at my club two of the units connected clean everything in the house. At the time we
bougnt them they were $19.95 each. May have increased since then
I gave up on Goo-Gone–it seems to have some residual “oil” which lead to more gunk build-up (which lead to more frequent uses of Goo-Gone, etc). I’m experimenting with a product called Krud Kutter (have concerns various solvents doing bad things to wheels and track as well as long term cleaning effectiveness).