Has anyone built their own track-cleaning car?

[FJ and G]

Indoors, I never used one, just occasional elbow grease; but since I've relocated my track outside, it basically requires cleaning every session (one of downsides to outside, not just me but G folks who use electric--esp. brass).

Anyways, in Feb 05 Garden RR mag, there's an article showing how to build a simple track cleaner, using any piece of rolling stock (they use a reefer).

The idea intrigues me and I'll try to describe it briefly.

Weights are placed inside the reefer so that the cleaning pad gets some "bite"

On the underside of the reefer are 4 screws inside plastic tubing that connect to a plywood base.

On the underside of the plywood base is a strip of velcro, on which is attached the cleaning pad; in this case synthetic steel wool (you wouldn't want to use real steel wool for obvious reasons).

Since the car is realively heavy, it's advisably to either push or pull the car with a locomotive with lots of tractive power (Williams comes to mind!).

I may add this to my list of projects.

[Dr. John]

Dave, I built one similar to what you describe in HO many years ago. I used a piece of masonite (rough side down) and part of a car weight epoxied to two common nails. I drilled two holes in the floor of a boxcar for the nails. I also beveled the ends of the masonite so that it would not catch on switch points. It worked well as long as I ran trains often. Not enough pressure for really dirty track (back to the Brite Boy for that).

[cnw1995]

I actually built one in N scale just like this - used a high cube box car with a block of wood filling the inside. One of these days I'd like to do this in O too.

[dwiemer]

I saw a article about this and don't remember where. The guy used an old stock car that had two nails that went through the board and then through two holes drilled in the bottom of the car. Thought about doing it myself, but never got to it. Besides, they advertise one for $70.00, and I may just go that route.
Dennis

[waltrapp]

Dave,

I'm not the promotional manager, yet [:D], but that's how the trackman 2000 got its start. Hank's brother had a garden RR and complained about bird droppings and you name it. So they came up with their track cleaning car for their personal outside use before they even considered marketing one.

Just a little tid bit of useless info.

I've read many articles on making your own. Plus, being as creative as you are I have no doubt that you won't have any trouble at all with doing it.

- walt

[prewardude]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dwiemer

I saw a article about this and don't remember where. The guy used an old stock car that had two nails that went through the board and then through two holes drilled in the bottom of the car. Thought about doing it myself, but never got to it. Besides, they advertise one for $70.00, and I may just go that route.
Dennis

I built one out of an old O gauge flatcar using almost exactly this same method. Saw it in an issue of CTT a few years back. I've been meaning to add a spring between the bottom of the car and the cleaning pad, but haven't gotten around to it yet. It does work, though, for general-purpose cleaning. Now I just need to build one for my Standard gauge track. That one's going to be scratch-built, though; I ain't sacrificing any of my Standard gauge cars for such a purpose! [:0]

Regards,
Clint

[mickey4479]

I have one of the "box car 2 nail masonite" track cleaners as well. It was effective, but on a fairly large layout, the masonite gets dirty quickly. I do not use that car now. I can clean most areas more quickly with a bright boy or just cloth and denatured alcohol. For the hard to get at areas, I bought one of those brass cars that uses small paint rollers to which you add goo gone. I run that around a dozen or so times. They are advertized in CTT. It really does work, and cleans the wheels of the loco and rolling stock as well.

[pbjwilson]

Dave,
I have a very simple way of cleaning my outdoor G scale layout. I started with a piece of heavy gauge wire, coat hanger would work also. Took a mini paint roller and fed the wire through the roller. Bent the wire 90 degrees on either side of the paint roller. Made another bend in the wire to insert into the coupler on my G scale engine. I then soak the roller in cleaning fluid, paint deglosser, and tow it around the track with the engine. Works very well on Brass LGB track. I'm sure the same would work for O gauge.

[FJ and G]

Paul,

Very good tip! most outdoorsmen use the drywall stick with pad on end but yours sounds like the cat's meow. I always knew my HEAVY GG-1 had a purpose in life on the Santa Fe; and now I know what it's for!

Man, you must be hard-core, using brass outside and powering trains via current! But I understand that brass is a good conductor when clean; and I like the color, which to me, looks like real rusty steel rails.

I never did understand why brass has never been used for toy train track. In HO conduction is a problem but in O, the trains are heavier and oxidation would pose less a problem.

BTW, does the paint roller rotate as the train moves or do you lock it into a static position?

[pbjwilson]

Dave,
The paint roller rotates some and drags some. After a few laps it's usually pretty black with crud. No, I'm not hardcore. This layout is as much for my kids as for me. It's just a loop with a couple sidings. But it's great to watch um run on a nice summer evening with a cool libation.

[fwright]

Dave

To answer your question about using brass for toy train track - I suspect it was a matter of price. Brass has historically been quite expensive compared to steel - even tin-plated steel. Also, brass would probably not be strong enough in tubular form. Brass rail has to be drawn through an expensive die (especially in the '20s and '30s) that takes some maintenance; tubular rail is made by folding sheet steel with an easy-to-find and run (and maintain) metal brake. Tubular track is easily mounted to stamped sheet metal ties. The cheapest way to make brass track from rail was the Atlas flex track which stapled rail to fiber ties - which was quite an invention for its time (in the late'40s?).

Also, brass was unobtainable during both WW2 and the Korean war ('50-'52?) when shortages for military use resulted in MR manufacturers being forbidden to use brass. Atlas had to make its track from steel rail during the Korean war. Seeing their production curtailed again after being shut down by WW2 would not have made Lionel happy, so I think they just stayed with steel.

Nowadays, most of the manufacturing issues of solid brass/nickel silver track have been resolved and it is readily available - but still more expensive than steel. Note that nickel silver is significantly harder than brass, and the draw dies do wear faster. Also, brass has been replaced by other materials in many military applications, reducing demand and cost.

yours in history
Fred Wright

[FJ and G]

Thanks, Fred,

Interesting, tho that Brass in G is some of the least expensive.