I coupled my Walthers track cleaning car (hard abrasive pad underneath), along with about 8 other metal wheeled cars, onto my GP-9 this morning and noticed that it had a little trouble making a 10 foot straight 2% grade, in fact it spun the wheels once. That got me to wondering just how much drag the cleaning car equals by itself. Would it be the same as pulling say… 25 cars?
JaRRell
I don’t have the answer to your question about the amount of drag created, but based on my experience I’d throw it away and use metal polish. The stone quickly clogs up with dirt and just spreads it around. If the stone is clean, it can cause minute scratches in the rail, which results in more dirt retention. Removal of the dirt instead of spreading it around is the best solution.
Over the years, we have tried practically every HO-scale track cleaning car there is on our club layout. The only one we have found that really works is the CMX Clean Machine from Tony’s Train Exchange, filled with lacquer thinner.
just a random thought about track cleaning cars - lets say you have 1 (or 2) with said metal polish, and then further away (i dunno, maybe 8-10 car lengths) have “dry” ones to buff off the polish?
Jarrell, I have recently weathered my rails using Floquil “rust” (get some…it is fantastic). When it dried, I tried to use a 600-grit to polish the rail tops, but it was ssslllllooooooowwww and tedious. I switched to 250 grit, and the job went much more quickly. In the process, during which I took pains to scrub sideways (transversely across the rail axis) on the steeper portions of my grades, I seem to have helped my formerly anemic P2K Heritage 0-6-0 to double its train towing weight. Rails are beautifully weathered, railtops conduct electricity to the locos, and the grip has improved.
Now, I know that sanding and other abrasives is a problem over time. So, this would be the only time I will do it, and perhaps once more if slippage gets bad in the years ahead. However, the improved traction beats the heck out of relying on traction wheels, IMO, and the dirty micro-grooves left by the sand/garnet can be cleaned with metal polish, and then rinsed with isopropyl alcohol as a final process. Even then, if it turns out I have problems, I intend to resort to the gleam process, expecially using the metal washer to buff the rail tops into a shiny surface. For now, though, I have great operations.
I just drag a John Allen track cleaning car around the layout as part of a train (it’s a reefer). Works great!
Sounds like this particular car isn’t very popular. I’ve seen a couple of threads here about using metal polish but don’t remember any of the brand names favored. Every now and then I’ll use GooGone on a soft cloth, followed by a wipe-it-up with a second clean, dry cloth and it really gets the dirt up, but like most methods it has to be repeated often.
Thanks for the answers and suggestions.
JaRRell
I have used this car for a long time, got it back when Roco sold it. I like it a lot as it seems to do a good job. Use alcohol to clean the pad and the drag should be reduced.
Jim
Mother’s Mag Wheel Polish, Black Diamond, etc., in the auto section.
Just for the record - I have still not had to clean the track of my fairly large HO layout.
I used the metal polish on the rail back in July of 2003 and have not had to do anything to the rails since (it is now 4 months over 3 years).
The sound units (which I now have 10 of) never miss a beat. I do have to clean the engine wheels once in a while but not every operating session.
This past summer I had shut down the layout for 3 months as I was making some major track revisions and when I began OPs in the fall I neve told any of my operators that I had still not cleaned the track.
Every one had a good operating session that night and no one complained about engines stalling (which my crew will in a second if it did!).
I only had one engine that I saw giving problems (ran jerky but was not stalling) and it turned out to be an old Walthers unit with the copper plated wheels. Cleaned the wheels and it was back running smooth again.
So I really feel that everyone should at least try the metal polish. You may be surprized!
It ended track cleaning (which I had to do previously every OPs session - 2600 feet of track - took hours)! And I had every type of trak cleaning car ever made and some that I had built myself.
BOB H - Clarion, PA
Who builds the track cleaning car that has the roller in the center? I see it once in a while at train shows. Do they work well?
Lee
That would be Centerline, if you buy it you will be very satisfied. I have one and they work great. I am going to buy a second one to run in the same train but at the end for dry pick up. They don’t derail and there is no missed spots. There is no labor involved, just let them run with Goo-Gone or Rail Zip. I like to run it with Goo Gone for a while then I let that sit overnight. I then run Rail Zip and let that sit. I can go months without ever cleaning again.
I will give a thumbs up to the Centerline cleaning unit. I bought one for my N gauge layout at the National Convention in July and it works better than any of the other cleaning cars I have tried. I use GooGone with the unit. In fact, at the convention, that was the cleaning product they were selling with their car (it’s not actually a “car”, it’s a brass frame with the roller in the center, on wheels). The unit comes with pre-cut handi-wipe strips that you put around the roller, puts some drops of GooGone on the cloth and let er rip.
The abrasive block track cleaning cars like the Walthers/Roco car do have a lot of drag. I have a home-made one and run a GP9 with it - no train. Mine has a sheet of ‘dry wall’ screen glued to the block and this allows the build up of ‘crud’ to be reduced. The screen is a plastic material and appears to not scratch the track. My track cleaning ‘train’ consists of the abrasive car, a CMX car loaded with solvent, and a GP9 on either end. I usually run it maybe twice a year.
Other track cleaning methods are:
All of these methods will work, just make sure the wheels on your frt cars are clean - the crud on them will just undo all the work you have done!
Jim Bernier