I am trying to find a way to help my tracks stay cleaner with out having so much black coming off when I clean them does anyone know what the best solutions to use an how? Thanks I really do need some help with this and also what do I use to clean my wheels on my locomotives?
It might be you have brass rail?
It could be you’re over lubercating your engines and car axles.
I have Nickel silver rail and use acidtone on a clean rag ( Old T Shirt) and I only have to clean the track about once a year
I clean my wheels with and exact-o knife and a small brass brush.
I use a diabetic syringe to oil my gear trains and axles It is a very small needle.
I have 72 engines and over 400 cars so that takes a little bit of time but I’m in no hurry,
The classic cleaner for tracks is an abrasive rubber block sold in Model RR stores under the trade name “Bright Boy.” Rub it on the tracks to remove the copper oxide and the oil, dust and other crud that you end up with. Locomotive wheels are cleaned with a variety of ways. a small abmount solvent on a on a paper towel placed on a section of track and put power to the loco will soften and remove some of the crud as the wheels spin. There is a powered brass brush you can buy that atakes power from the tracks and runs the egine while brushing the crud off the wheels. Plastic wheels and plastic ties will melt if the solvent gets on them. Very bad. Plastic wheels also seem to attract crud like a magnet. If you can afford them swap them out for metal. Brass rail has lost popularity because nickel silver does not have the oxidizing feature. It oxidizes, but you can’t see it and the oxide is a conductor. I have used a pocket knife to clean crud from loco and car wheels, but you have to be careful and it is a pain to do a lot of them. Prevention is the best cure. The old procedure of cleaning with carbon tet is almost unheard of now days because the stuff is so dangerous to health and will spread throughout the whole house. It also likes to eat plastic.
Look for a product called MAAS metal polish. It is great stuff to to shine up the rails if they aren’t really bad. A Brite boy is great to get years of oxidation off of the rails but MAAS really protect the rails for a while.
Look at these areas:
1.) Dirty wheels on Locomotives and rolling stock
2.) Over Lubrication…Oil attracts dirt
3.) Plastic wheels on rolling stock…rumoured to put an oily residue on the rails.
4.) I hate to ask but how clean is the area where your layout is? Is dust and dirt perhaps from construction landing on your layout.
5.) The best way to keep them clean is…running trains the more the better [:D}
hope these things help.
DT
PS I found MAAS at Walmart.
Smooch;
To add to DT’s advice…
Get a couple rolls of Bounty, Q-tips, a can/bottle (metal bottle) of MAAS, and some 70% Isopropyl Alcohol (IPA) from Wal-Mart.
Next take all of your rolling stock with plastic wheels off your layout, and put them aside until you can get metal wheels for them (do a search on this forum on metal wheels; note that the axles are different lengths, there is no standard here).
Soak a paper towel with IPA, and put some in a cup, use this to clean all of your wheels, and when you get a new locomotive or car, do this BEFORE putting it on your layout. Same with visting equipment. keep the IPA away from painted surfaces. Then apply a small amount of MAAS, and wipe off.
Next clean the rails with IPA, the apply a small amount of MAAS and wipe off. One container of MAAS should last years.
And as Mike says, you may be over lubricating. Use only plastic compatible hobby lubricants, and a very very tiny amount, too much is worse than none at all.
Do NOT use acetone; it is very very flammable.
Agree with Nigil here (is that a first?)
the black crud is the byproduct of plastic wheels (what did you expect from an oil based product?), so removing them should dramatically reduce the amount of dirt and other contaminates stay on the rails.
Jay
Alcohol first, then MAAS…
It’s early nigil, i mis-typed [:p] correct as you posted [;)]
Jay
The black which is often reffered to as dirt could also be called O X I D A T I O N.
A chemical reaction that occures on metal surfaces. We all have a supply of it
I use a bright boy stone and an IHC track cleaning caboose filled with Goo Gone. For the hard to get to stuff I will use the Goo Gone or rubbing alcohol on a qtip. I have a Kadee wheel cleaner for the locos.
RMax
I no longer use mine in fear of scratching the thread.
Try to avoid using a brite boy or anything abrasive if at all possible. They do scratch the surface, opening it up to get dirty faster.
Buy or make a track cleaning car, put it in the train so it runs around the layout when operating. The ones homemade with a small piece of scrap masonite work well and are very simple to make.
Anything that will leave a residue on the track should be wiped off with a clean dry rag or pad. Again, the residue will only attract dirt faster.
I have several cars with masonite pads which are simply a part of the trains I run. When I find the track really dirty, after a summer of not doing much railroading, I wrap two small wooden blocks about the length of the track road bed with strips of blue shop towel, the same width. Then, I wet one of the towel blocks with Goo Gone. I rub this block over the rail heads of about a 3 foot length of track. Then I take the dry block and remove the residue left by the Goo Gone. After I’ve cleaned as much as I can get to, I put new towels on the blocks and wet them out with Wahl’s Clipper Oil. I haven’t tried the Flitz or Maas polish yet, but will some time. I would use this in lieu of the Wahl’s.
A Brite-Boy is stone which can leave microscopic scratches in the rail and cause it to accumulate even more dirt if you push down too hard, or have to clean too often with it… A better product is a Kato or Roco track cleaning block if you’re going to scour the dirt off the rail. Personally, I prefer MAAS, Goo-Gone with a Ceneterline track cleaning roller, or Magic Wadding Polish, which can be purchased at any automotive parts supply store. Wadding Polish does as good a job as MAAS, and is slightly lesswork since you don’t have to go back and rub it off. In addition to being highly flammable, Acetone will dissolve any and all plastic it touches, so you have to be extremely careful with it.
One problem is that most people clean the wheels of the loco but don’t bother with the rest of the rolling stock. A lot of dirt and grime gets to be put back on the rails by those still dirty wheels. See the March issue of the MRR magazine for an alternative to cleaning wheels with the LUX wheel cleaner. It cleans all wheels while you operate your layout.
Regards,
Art
http://www.mrsonline.net/
I agree with a previous reader don’t use the bright boy in less your track is very dirty it will leave very small scartches which will only attract dirt in the future. here’s a list of my cleaning routine.
- remove all rolling stock
- either rubbing alcohol or goo gone, the goo gone will leave behind a little residue so if you use to much just wipe the excess off with a clean cloth
- put a few drops of Rail-zip ( aviable at the hobby shop ) in front of the engine trucks and run the engine around the layout a few times, this will prevent oxidation from building up on the tarcks
- wait 9-12 hours and then get that railroad running again.
hope that helps
Jeremy
can I use DCC with my old brass track ??
B -
Hi all
I have allways used nylon kichen scourer and methelated spirit to clean the track.
do not use anything that is abrasive.
you could also invest in a Relco unit this will cut down on the amount of cleaning you have to do.
regards John
I just use an eraser to clean my track…