I got first MRR-related birthday present–my parents gave me a Trix Wheel Cleaning Brush. I immediately came home and gave it a try and it works like a champ. My question is this: How often does one need to clean their locomotive wheels?
That depends on how clean you keep track. The first car behind my locos is a Bachmann track cleaner car that drags a dry non-abrasive pad under it. I also used the GLEAM track polishing method on my track. I don’t HAVE to clean the loco wheels but I do it anyway once every four to six months.
Assume, for a moment, that I am just starting out. I do not have a track-cleaning car so I clean the track periodically by hand*, and the thought of gleaming the track scares the begeebers out of me. Given this, how often would you recommend cleaning the wheels?
Which begs the question, how often should I clean the track?*
**Which begs the question, can I use rubbing alcohol and a lint-free pad to clean the track?
(I am such a novice.)
As needed…That’s what I tell all new modelers along with these words of warning:Do Not fall into the trap of over worrying about cleaning track or think you need to put chemicals on your track or need a hundred dollar cleaning car…You don’t need any of that…
Assuming the above it’s going to depend a lot on the conditions of your layout space. If it’s an unfinished room like a basement or attic with exposed beams/rafters and exposed sheet-rock/plaster there’s going to be a lot of problems with dust so you’ll likely have to clean the track before each session. If on the other hand it’s a clean finished room with minimal dust you could probably get away with doing it once every month under ideal conditions. That calls for excellent air filtration to remove as much dust as possible. Keep the wheels of your rolling stock clean. Your Trix wheel cleaner won’t help with that. The easiest way would be to set up a short length of track so you can put a piece of alcohol dampened cloth or shop towel across it and roll the rolling stock across it to clean the crud off the wheels. On the subject of your wheel cleaning brush, let the weight of the loco do the work. Don’t press down on it. Pressing down will result in the wheels getting scratched and then you will have a severe dirty wheel problem as the scratches will trap and hold dirt. The same with your track. Use a soft lint free cloth dampened with alcohol to wipe the rails. If more severe cleaning is required you could use a Brite-Boy cleaning pad or if you feel you must use sand paper get a fine automotive grade like 800 grit to 1200 grit. On alcohol, you can use 70% or higher. The higher the percentage the less water and chemicals it contains. Isopropyl alcohol contains only isopropyl alcohol and water. 70% is 30% water and 91% is just 9% water. I prefer the 91%. It’s readily available and doesn’t
Jeff,I gotta disagree…The Bucyrus club layout sits in a unheated building 6 out of 7 days and this building has cracks in the wall and we use a fuel oil furnace on meeting days during the winter…The layout can sit idle for weeks without a train being ran and when a train is ran nobody cleans the track and the train run flawlessly…
The only time we clean track(some times its a lick and a promise) is during the week of the fair and other open houses…In other words the track can go months without cleaning.
We use rags,91% alcohol and a bright boy when needed to clean track.
I have stopped everything else and simply dribble a couple drops of Goop onto a shop towel and run one end of the loco onto the wetted towel and hold the loco, so the wheels spin on the towel, then “end for end” the loco to clean the other end. This doesn’t work on steam engines, which get cleaned by hand with a Q-tip dipped in Goop. This seems to work well. I run home made track cleaning cars in my trains that have Masonite cleaning pads under them, so once cleaned in the fall, I don’t worry about wheel; or, track cleaning again until the next fall. However, working on the scenery can cause dirty track, so consider this when doing scenery.
I have considered Gleaming Track, it was my understanding that once Gleamed, I would never need to clean the track again. However, opinions on Gleaming Track, seem mixed; so, I have not don so, yet.
There are exceptions to every rule. That being said I’ve seen some layouts in spotlessly clean rooms that seemingly need cleaning every few days with or without operation. High humidity can be a big factor as well. Here right now it’s 100% humidity outside and 71% inside. It’s been my experience that a layout in an area with low humidity does better than one in an area with high humidity.
Worked for me. I did some experimentation beforehand to see what would be the best way to do it. A very small amount of polish carefully dabbed on seems to be the best way to go.
If your track is clean, you should never have to clean the wheels on your locos.
As for the frequency of cleaning the track, the answer is: as often as it needs it.
If you eliminate plastic wheels on your rolling stock in favor of metal wheels, the need to clean track will drop dramatically.
Rich
Jeff,I forgot to mention I clean locomotive wheels as needed which is usually before the train show open house in April and maybe once during the week of the county fair by letting my train run over a paper towel with alcohol on it.
As far as gleaming track I don’t see any reason too just as long as 91% alcohol,rags and a bright boy works.
Great question and by asking it, it’s obvious you want to take care of things. Lots of opinions on this, mine is just one of them. The following aren’t hard and fast rules.
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Inspect the loco wheels monthly or when things aren’t running right. If they’re dirty, clean them.
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Inspect your car wheels yearly and clean them if they need it. I have found good machined metal wheels stay clean much longer.
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Wipe your track when you have time, for me, it’s about once or twice a year and doesn’t take long even with 300’ of track.
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I use synthetic automatic transmission fluid (mobil 1) applied about twice a year and it makes a BIG difference. One time we had several people over and some locos that they wanted to see run hadn’t yet been cleaned, nor that section of track wiped for over a year. The loco was hesitating over that section of track, so I put down about 6" of railhead worth of ATF and things worked great running the loco back and forth. NO cleaning. BUT, too much and you’re wheels slip. One quart will be a lifetime supply for us.
Enjoy the hobby!!
Richard
Richard,Wouldn’t tranny fluid spread over the wheels of the engines and freight cars or is the oil wipe on then wiped off?
I never seen it used and often wondered about that…
Brakie,
It will VIA the wheels-- very good reason to use sparingly.
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Just a little wipe of it off of my finger on each rail goes a long ways, spread by the loco and cars.
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Since the train keeps spreading it, it helps. Some have said that it collects dust, but I’m not sure they have tried it when they say that. I thought it might too, but read about it in a MRR article a few years back and the article said it didn’t. It does not on my layout, I think because it’s such a thin coating. Synthetic ATF has significant detergent agents and won’t hurt plastic.
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Again, too much and the locos will spin too easily going upgrade. So, I start with very little and then add some at a different location if I don’t think it’s spread well enough.
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Wiping the rails with a cloth is very easy once you start using it. I’ve not tested it/measured it, but as I’m writing this, I think the wheels stay cleaner longer—just makes sense too.
Richard
Thank you sir! Now I know.