Just wondering for those who use the walthers track cleaning brick aka “the bright boy” how effective is this thing at keeping the rails clean? I have used one for a few years and it seems to only keep my rails clean for a very short time. Is there a better way that will keep my tracks cleaner for longer?
I use 91% alcohol on a rag and a Bright Boy as needed.
On my pass layouts I clean my track as needed and didn’t and still don’t fuss over it…
There’s way to much worry over keeping track clean.
Well, there’s track cleaning and then there’s track cleaning. Part of the problem relates to the environment of the railroad. If you are fortunate enough to have the railroad in a nice air conditioned/heated room dedicated to the railroad, you will have a lot easier time keeping out the dirt that will settle on the tracks and elsewhere. On the other hand if your railroad is located in the basement like mine and many others, and the table saw and other dust making tools are close by, you life will be made more difficult.
The other part of the problem concerns the wheels on your engines and rolling stock. If the wheels have been neglected and have a coating of grunge, they will want to tranfer that stuff to the newly cleaned rails. Of course, if you clean the wheels and don’t clean the track the transfer of dirt will be in the other direction.
Of course the best way to keep track clean is to run your trains.
Of course the best way to keep track clean is to run your trains.
I just put some trains on the layout for the weekend as Im home for the weekend from engineering school. Layout isnt in a basement or anything so its not exposed to too much dirt but dust has been an issue. I cleaned the rails after running tonight and the trains seemed to run somewhat better but there was still some rough areas where the locos hesitated that I need to clean better. Maybe it will improve with a few more days runnning/cleaning?
Check/clean the wheels on the engine. Sometimes they are dirty even though they might look clean.
How effective is the Bright Boy at keeping the rails clean?
Or, how effective is the Bright Boy at cleaning the rails?
The Bright Boy is very effective at cleaning the rails, removing stuff like matte medium, grime, etc.
As far as keeping the rails clean, the Bright Boy has no special forumulation or ingredients that would do that. If the rails are getting dirty for environmental or operational reasons, you are just going to have to clean them again.
Rich
As a side note that build up of grunge will also cut down the roll ability of the cars and in turn that cuts down on your locomotives tractive effort and will cause your locomotives to pull less cars.
AND if your rolling stock has wheels with RP-25 profiles, enough buildup of that grunge will cause derailments. It’s been my observation that metal wheels don’t build up as much as plastic wheels.
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Use the “gleaming” process that has been described in numerous posts (use the search option on right of main page).
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Make an inexpensive track cleaning car such as in this attachment and run it daily in front of your train before running other trains.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqRda0DR-bg&feature=related
- As a final step, I have rigged the track cleaning car to carry a small pad soaked in isopropyl alcohol for the final step in daily cleaning.
While many will scoff at my method-ed I run one of theses in a train.
http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/Walthers-Trainline-HO-1755-40-Track-Cleaning-Box-p/931-1756.htm
While I don’t care for the way they look, I maybe uses my bright boy every few months if that!
Ken
to remove paint, glue, tarnish, etc. I prefer to use a large emery board like those sold at beauty supply stores for women to use on their heels and elbows. they come with 4 different grits and the finest one is best for use on the rails.
any abrasive object is going to scratch the rails somewhat and lead to more accumulation of dirt on the rail head.
best cleaning method i have found is a cheap suede palm and finger tip work glove. the sued leather does an great job of cleaning the rail head and you can moisten one finger tip with your favorite solvent, (alcohol, paint thinner, the like) then dry the rail with another finger tip. when the glove gets dirty, just hit it a few licks with a fine wire brush.
charlie
Bright Boys actually scratch the rails which causes dirt to build up in the tiny scratches. This leads to problems later on with poor running and track that tends to get dirty quickly. I use to use a bright Boy years ago but stopped. I only use my CMX Clean Machine a couple times a year and Wahls Clipper oil.
Those scratches are microscopic and one needs to zoom 10x with a microscope to see them…You can research this forum’s topic archive for the complete topic.
Also that article in MR was around the same time some of the high dollar track cleaning gimmicks hit the street so,it should be viewed as a infomercial.
Probably every one of us could write a book on maintenance - what works and what doesn’t. It almost seems that frequency of maintenance is tied directly to frequency of running trains as well the location of the layout, humidity, materials and a ton of other factors.
I don’t have the luxury of a dedicated room so my layout is in the lower level (basement) and gets subjected to everyday dust and grime. I use a bright boy for really gunked up sections of rail along with alcohol and a soft cloth everwhere else The other thing is an annual cleaning for all the wheels on every loco and car. Cleaning is one of those ugly maintenance jobs that needs to be done to keep everything running.
Amen Harold!
If I had it to do all over again I would try Gleaming! But, by the time I heard about it I all ready had 300 feet of track laid and much of it in very hard to reach areas.
Far as the high prices tank cleaning cars? I saw a few sitting around my LHS 60’ X 80’ foot layout out and I asked him could he order me one? Told me not to waste my money, and showed me the cheap Walther’s cleaning car I posted a link to on the other page.
After I got the Walther’s car (I now have 4) I clean engine wheels, oh maybe every 100 hours or so. Reason I have 4, I have 2 mainlines, one trunk line and keep one in the yard.
It works for me, micro scratches and all. Heck, I even have some brass track (DCC) and do not have a problem with them!
Cuda Ken
The track cleaning block (or bright boy) that I have is like a very hard pencil eraser (kind of like the ink erasers that used to be sold). I use one to remove adhesives and paint that gets on the tops of the rails. I don’t believe it causes microscratches, because its a much softer material than the rails. I’ve been using one for years and never had these mythological buildups from these mythological microscratches.
That said, my standard cleaning technique is to run a rag dipped in denatured alcohol over the rails once every 4-6 weeks. I clean the wheels of my locomotives at the same time, either with a Trix wheel cleaner or by simply running them over the rag.
I have never looked at my rails under a magnifying glass or something even stronger, but from my experience with the Bright Boy, I agree with CTValleyRR.
If it leaves scratches and other imperfections in the rails, I don’t see any adverse effects. Once I clean dried matte medium off my rails after ballasting, I rarely have any need to clean off the rails. And the use of metal wheels on all rolling stock really helps to keep the rails clean.
Rich
I like eaglescout use the gleaming process. did it 5 years ago and hqven’t had to do it since. I do run a couple masonite pads under freight cars to remove any standing dirt but other than that the one time gleam has done the trick.