These track sections are brand new out of the pack. The section on the left has been cleaned with the GLEAM process while the section on the right has been cleaned with leading liquid track cleaner and wiped down with a terry cloth. Night and day difference. Which would you rather have?
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h80/jeffrey-wimberly/gleam.jpg
I dont see a difference…
The section on the right is duller and grayer than that on the left. The left one is so shiny it blinded my scanner. It’s like a mirror.
the section on the left looks like there is a coat of grim on it.
I can see the difference ,can you!
Yah there’s a difference as stated above.
Fergie
Yeah. The section on the left is so shiny, I can use it as a shaving mirror. GLEAMing works! I tried Mother’s mag wheel polish and Blue Magic metal polish. The Blue Magic is the winner, hands down. The bad thing about it is, it has ammonia in it. It sure cleared my sinuses. Use it in a well ventelated area. A word of advice. You don’t want this stuff on your skin. I used latex gloves. You can get them at Wal-mart. They’re in the first aid supplies.
May I ask, what is the GLEAM process? And the one on the right looks cleaner.
The one on the right looks the way it does because it’s not reflecting a lot of light back. The section on the left is reflecting so much that it’s blinding the scanner. There is a simple way that you can test it for yourself. Gte two sections of track. Clean one with the leading model railroad track cleaner. Now do this with the other one. Sand the railheads with 400 grit wet-dry sandpaper then sand it again with 600 grit or even better 800 grit. Get a stainless steel spoon and burni***he railheads with the stainless steel handle of the spoon. For the next step, you’ll need Blue Magic metal polish and some cork roadbed. Put some of the metal polish on a peice of cork and then carefully rub the metal polish onto the railheads. Rub it around a bit then let it dry. When the polish is dry, use a clean peice of cork to rub the railheads. You are going to be amazed at the amount of black gunk that you get off the track. If after doing this, you still can’t tell the difference, you might consider putting on dark glasses and selling pencils on a street corner. I showed them to my father and he noticed the difference immediatly, and he’s almost blind!
how long does it last? how fast does it get dirty again, how often do you have to do this process?
Sean
I did mine may 17th. Since then I haven’t had to touch the track except to dust it off when it got some plaster dust on it. I haven’t had to “clean” even one spot since I used the GLEAM process. It’s fantastic. I’ll tell you one thing right now. When you start buffing the polish off, You are going to be absolutely amazed at the amount of black crap that comes off the track. What will be left is a shine that you can see yourself in.
On your last question, I have it on good authority that you only have to do this ONCE.
I don’t see much difference myself. Must be these old eyes I guess. As I assume you aren’t kidding about the below process, I guess I won’t be doing it as I probably won’t live long enough to do all that for 570 feet of track (that’s 1140 FEET OF RAIL). My God, that would take a lifetime or two to do. Is that shine prototypical? I don’t believe I’ve ever seen real rail shine like a mirror. Oh well, what counts is that you like it and feel it’s worth while doing which is what this hobby is all about.
I did my entire layout in 2 hours and it’s 7’8" by 10’. It’s not hard to do. And yes, the shine is prototypical. I live near a mainline that has traffic every day. The railheads are so shiny you can see the sky reflected in them.
Has anyone tried an old method of using a piece of hardboard under a flatcar that rubs on the rails? I have done it and it makes them all shiny too. Also much less work too. [:D]
Just a thought.
Pardon my doubt but do we have here someone with an accomplice who is trying to promote a product? Take and ad and don’t be so obvious in the future. If you aren’t careful Mike of MTH will sue you claiming he invented the stuff.
I don’t see an appreciable (sp) difference !
Since metal polishes leave a coating (wax?) when the polishing residue is removed, how does that ‘improve’ electrical contact?
There used to be a a conductive plastic called ‘Ten’ that was 1. expensive 2. wore off with use. 3. It’s no longer available - end of success story.
The “Black stuff” is indeed carbon (from electrical track/wheel arcing). Is it your claim that metal ‘polish’ prevents arcing? - or is it the reduction of pits & scratches that allows more electrical continuity?
I’m not trying to throw cold water on the ‘Gleaming’ process. It’s just that I’m naturally sceptical. Some modelers still swear by ‘conducting oils’ from brass track days. Time will tell.
Don’t metal wheels ‘polish’ the track - like real railroads?
Most of the time I see prototype rail half polished, the other half is greased, weathered on the outside rail. I also read comments to clean the inner rail, not the top. I put railzip on the track. No matter what you are going to end up cleaning track
periodically, and the wheels of equipment as grime builds.
I have scraped off plenty of gime buildup off treads.
Sounds cool now, but down the road your doing it again. I always ran a designed track cleaning train before a run session to clean rails before a session.
If you run a museum line with continuous trains, trqack dirt might not be so much an issue as the trains will keep polishing the track. Let it sit to let dust settle, its cleanup time. No matter what, your gonna clean track.
dinwitty
I have not cleaned my 2800 feet of track since July of 2003. That is almost 3 years now. And I have only used metal polish once when I first polished the track in July of 2003.
You can believe what you want (and it seems that you are a skeptic) as quite a number of others are but if you LIKE to keep cleaning your track, wasting your time or this is the only reason you can find to run your trains then be my guest.
But I don’t have to clean my track anymore and my sound engines don’t cut out ever.
I used Blue Magic and Mothers Mag Wheel polish on my rails both at home and at our club. At the club we have used it on our Lionel track, N scale track, G scale Brass track and the HO layout. We don’t clean track no more.
Just remember the next time you are wasting time cleaning your track using the old way and having to do it over and over again, we will be having fun just running our trains.
BOB H – Clarion, PA
not being skeptic, being realistic. after that long of time of not cleaning anything, you should inspect your wheels for built up dirt.
Thats just being operational smart.
On another note I have seen rail after many (many) operations, worn down, just from wear. I couldnt believe it when I saw it, but there was a thinned rail. more on curves.
Right now I don’t have much of any layout at all in the building phase so its not a problem for me right now 8-P
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