Didn’t I see a discussion on one of these forums within the past few days where someone suggested cleaning the track with WD-40? I can’t find it today, but I wanted to say that I tried it this evening and it seemed to work really well. I noticed lots of black crud wiping off the rails, and my sound engines ran much better after that. Less headlamp flickering too. Worked much better than the alcohol I had been trying. Whoever it was, thanks for the tip!
Jim
wd40 huh?
[8]
Jim,
I think it was Jeffrey Wimberly’s suggestion.
Tom
Thanks, I didn’t think I was making it up. A search did find plenty of opinions on any type of oil on the rails. Some said there would be traction problems. I don’t have any grades on my layout, but I didn’t notice any wheel slip. I sprayed a small amount of WD-40 on a strip of paper towel wrapped around a small block of wood and scrubbed the rails with it. Even more crud came off after it sat for a few minutes. I don’t think I left enough oil on the rail to affect the traction of the locomotives. We’ll see how long it lasts or if it attracts any sort of goo.
Jim
the issue is plastic compatibility. test it on some some stray plastic. If it doesnt soften, your okay.
I use Rail Zip.
Nope, wasn’t my suggestion. I prefer Blue Magic metal polish.
Contrary to popular belief, there’s very little oil in WD-40, even though the can claims that it can be used as a lubricant. It is a solvent, not a lubricant. The WD in the name stands for Water Displacement and the 40 allegedly means that it was the 40th formula they tried. It was originally developed for the military to protect weapons and other metals against rust during long term storage, or to chemically dry out items that had been submerged in water. The can says it contains petroleum distillates, but I don’t think they are strong enough to harm plastic.
A modeler here also swore by WD-40 as a track cleaner. He wrapped some rags around the end of a wooden yardstick, and covered them with an old sock held on with rubber bands. He would spray WD-40 on this and wipe down his entire layout with it. Other people who claim to have extensive experience with WD-40 as military armorers and mechanics say you should never use it as a track cleaner, but they can offer no specific reasons why you shouldn’t.
WD-40 will clean track fine. The petroleum distillates ensure that.
The draw back is the leftover deposit left when the stuff evaporates.
Alky works just fine. No residue.
Try to get the highest percentage alcohol you can get. You can get denatured alky at Home Depot, etc, by the gallon. Way cheaper than the drug store variety, or WD-40.
Rotor
I’ve never used WD-40 to clean track, however I’ve used it to clean the points on my Sinohara turnouts, and it works like a champ.
Tom [:)]
I’d be willing to try anything at this point![banghead]
Found it, Jim! It was gandydancer19. Here’s the link to the thread:
http://cs.trains.com/forums/1381379/ShowPost.aspx
Tom
The drawback to WD40 is it is an insulator, not conductive. Years ago, a friend had a wet motorcycle engine and sprayed WD40 in the distributor. We pushed that thing all over the parking lot trying to start it. After we got too tired to push, someone went and got alcohol to spray and finally it started. If you get it all wiped off, I guess it might be OK except long term I think it might attract dirt as is does have an oily feel to it.
We usually use alcohol (isopropyl) at our club–but there have been several mentions of using silver/metal polish by many who have experienced/tried other solvents claiming that the polish is the most effective and easiest solvent to work with for track cleaning.
Jim
I don’t actually know whether or not it is an insulator, but the motorcycle symptoms you describe actually sound more like it is a conductor that was shorting out the distributor. It would take a pretty strong insulator to stop the high energy of an ignition spark with the thickness of a liquid residue, but not much conduction to allow the spark to arc to the adjoining contacts.
I too have considered using WD40 for cleaning track.
The best method I have found is cleaning with Alcohol and then applying a small amount of Flitz metal polish. I Just had to do an annual track cleaning and found that the can of Flitz I had was dried up so I just did the alcohol cleaning, it is not as good just by itself.
No problems with Flitz affecting traction on grades.
I think the answer to good track cleaning is, from a corrosion build up point of view, get the track clean and then apply something to prevent / slowdown corrosion. Is there a magic product that does both steps? I am not sure, WD40 maybe an answer.
Does use of metal wheels prevent crud from building up on the rails?
Someone recently mentioned using a product called “Sheila Shine” to clean/polish track. I haven’t seen any feedback on this.
Joe
The oily component of WD40 is fish oil. It does have some lubricating capability, but probably not as much as the Wahl clipper oil that used to be recommended for rail cleaning.
Personally, I’ve gotten good, “Do it once and forget it,” results with Mother’s Magnesium Wheel Cleaner. For details, stick “gleaming rails” in the search box.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Both the LK&R club and I use paint thinner/mineral spirits (Not lacquerthinner) to clean the track. Seems to work just fine in the Centreline Products track cleaner.
We used to use Goo-Gone but it left a residue that attracted dirt and actually made the problem of dirty track worse.
I use flitz. Before I moved I had a 17 x 12 n scale layout to completly clean all the rail it took me 4 hours of track cleaning.
I have read that if you flitz the track, and keep the area sort fo dust free, the cleaning lasts for 3 months. Your useage my differ, depending on variables of humidity, dust, and other acts of nature.
Some people swear that unitrack never gets dirty, But the majority say, just run trains to keep track clean!!!
Adios Wyatt
The issue that’s being addressed with WD40 to clean track is the fact that squeaky-clean track (like you get when you use a fast evaporating solvent like rubbing alchohol or laquer thinner) is bone dry.
This means the wheels will spark more, causing micropitting of the track and wheels, and generating fine black oxide dust quickly, making the track get dirty again faster. If you can “lubricate” the track slightly, like with WD40 or mineral spirits, the wheel to track contact seems to be more reliable, and the track stays cleaner longer.
But this must be a very fine film on the railheads, not sloppy wet with the stuff.
I use mineral spirits to clean the track and I don’t try to wipe the track bone dry, but leave a mineral spirits film on the track. It seems to help.