Recipe For Track Cleaning Fluid

[Anonymous]

Hey Ya'll

Are you tired of buy gallon after gallon of exepnsive track fluid, do you want to make your own, well, I have the solution. I have to had those problems and after testing many, many mixtures of ordinary, everyday cleaning chemiclas, I have the solution. The recipe you are about to read works with all scales from Z to G. It works great too. Here is the recipe:

1. 2 parts Rubbing Alchol (To kill germs and disenfect the rails)
2. 2 parts Windex or Stronger (To give your rails that brand new clean shine)
3. 1/2 part water (To dilute and wash off dirt on rails)

I have conducted various tests with the following track scales: N,HO,O(2 and 3 rail), and G (LGB and Aristo Craft code 332). It workswith all brands and sizes, not just the ones I tested.

I recomend it strongly

Nick

[daan]

Something apart from your recipy but for others trying to make brews; be carefull with mixing different kinds of cleaningstuff. Lot's of chemicals can get very harmfull when mixed together (chlorine-gas, highly flamable stuff etc)
Dynamite has been discovered the same way[:D][:D]

[ben10ben]

That's probably not a good idea for 3 rail track because it contains too much water. Most of the three rail track on the market is steel, and you don't want to add too much water to that. Windex is ammonia, which can etch and cause other harm to your track, as well as containing a lot of water(very, very dilute ammonia). I don't see any possible chemical reactions between alcohol(C3H7OH) and Ammonia(NH3). I'm also sure that it works very well for other scales, as well as working well for nickel silver track in O gauge.

[Bob Keller]

I use Goo Gone. Cleans the track and leave a nice Orange scent!

[highrailjon]

Jose Cuevo Gold with lemons!!![:D] (my track might look like crap, but who cares)!!!!!!![;)]

[dougdagrump]

No Jose !!!!
Mescal, but watch out for the worm. [swg]

[Back2Trains]

Goo Gone works for me.
Jim

[Anonymous]

[:o)] If you have enough Jose Cuervo you'd forget the windex and the water in the mixture use the alcohol and make a really cool track fire.

Never tried any of them always use lionel cleaner.

[garyseven]

Sauza Hornitos Tequila! Cuervo is for smaller scales.

[highrailjon]

Por qui? True hombre's prefer quantity to quality.[:D]

[Dave Farquhar]

That reminds me. Some years back I was fixing a computer for my former grade-school science teacher. I got out a circuit board and was cleaning it with rubbing alcohol. He asked why I didn't use Everclear, because it's purer alcohol than anything you get at the drugstore. I had to remind him that I wasn't 21 yet, so I couldn't buy the stuff.

I don't have that excuse anymore. Now my only excuse is that I'm a cheapskate and a bottle of the 91% pure stuff sells for 75 cents and lasts me a year.

[brianel027]

I use the straight 91% isopropyl alcohol and it works fine for me and has for years and years. The more commonly available diluted versions of isopropyl alcohol (50% and 71%) do not work as well. Use one of the watered down versions, then the 91% and you will see they don't work as well.

Dave, must be New York State... we do have the highest paid governor in the nation (possibly least worth his salary too) but 91% isopropyl alcohol here is 99 cents at a discount and typically around $1.39. I think the I (heart logo) NY logo should stand for "I Love Neil Young" and the state motto should be "The Roman Empire State." Too bad... shouldn't be the way it is. And I think the state bird has already migrated to South Carolina.

[Anonymous]

With locomotives with traction tires you may find a problem using isopropyl alcohol and goo gone. To be safe with traction tires sleep comes easy using DENATURED ALCOHOL. Easy to find in Walmart, Home Depo and the like in the paint section. A metal can very reasonable in price and oh watch your engines climb those rails easily.
Sophia

[ben10ben]

I use 91% rubbing alcohol as well. As for traction tires, I performed an experiment and left a K-line tire in 99% rubbing alcohol for 24 hours, and, again, discovered no ill effects.
When in use on your rails, the alcohol, or at least the more potent concentrations of it, evaporates completely within a few seconds of being applied, so it shouldn't cause any trouble. Remember, smaller alcohols are very volatile liquids that won't stay liquids for very long when applied to the rails.

[Anonymous]

I am sure if we run out...
water, sugar, and yeast mixed the right way...
and we get as much pure alcohol as we want [;)]

[Anonymous]

Hey Ya'll

I have just concocted the mixture (with help from my science teacher. He is a 3 railer himself) We applied it to Lionel and K-line tubular, K-line shadow rail and snap track, and MTH real track.

We also had an old peice of Super "O" track, it was all rusty and dirty and it shines like new.

If you are worried about your track, don't worry. Just turn off the power while you are cleaning the track and let it dry ( less than 5 minutes or whatever you feel suits you) Then look at the track to see it is perfectly dry. The it is safe to trun the power back on.

Be sure you do not clean it while trains are running or on the track. THE TRAINS MUST BE OFF THE TRACK BEFORE YOU CLEAN IT. Do not run any trains before the track dries or it will cause damage to traction tires and will decrease the power in your postwar Magne-traction locomotives.

DO NOT OVER ADD THE WATER. That will decrease the over all power of the chemicals and it will take longer to dry. It might even sqeeze into rail joints and cause damage.



Nick

If you have any more questions, don't heseitate to ask. I'm here to help in any way my 13 year old self can do.

[Anonymous]

Hey Ya'll

You are right. My teacher and I just tried it with water on another old rusty dirty peice of Super "O" and It looks even better. However, we used a dropper and dropped in 6 drops of water.

For this mixture you must have at least 6 drops of water.

Directions for use are simple and are as follows:

Step one: Collect all mateirials
Step two: Pour Rubbing Alchohol in to the container first
Step three: Add the 6 or more drops of water
Step four: Add the windex or stronger
Step five: Mix and stirr the chemicals
Step six (optional): Add 3 drops of food dye as not to mistake the mixture with water and take a sip of it
Step seven: Take a plastic or old spoon and scoop up some of the mixture
Step eight: Pour onto a sponge, papertowel, or rag (Your choice)
Step nine: Repeat until satisfied (NOTE: DO NOT DRENCH THE CLOTH,SPONE,PAPER TOWEL,OR RAG. JUST MILDY DAMPEN)
Step ten: Rub ttrack until satisfied
Step eleven: When you ae fininshed, let the track dry for a satisfiing peiriod of time.
Step twelve: Put the trains and cars back on the tracks, turn the power on, and have fun.

Nick

By the way, It is perfectly safe for 3 rail track. why I have seen a garden railroad made out of 3 rail track before.

[Anonymous]

Armour All Cleaner (not Protectant) cleans the track thoroughly-removes all the oil, grease, and smoke fluid, and does not attack the rubber traction tires. I have been using this for about two years now. Cheap, no mixing and it works great.