I am anxious to get started and am currently undecided in selecting a Garden or N scale approach. I very much like the Garden layout because of the opportunity to be improving my backyard area with use of real live scenery , water falls etc. What bothers me alot is that the available area is covered by hemlocks which leave residue each season. I have read some of the track cleaning threads but dont recall anything related to this type of residue. I will be 70 soon and probably could not adapt well to a lot of serious cleaning. Has anyone delt with this type of cleaning question. Is it a problem?
Many Thanks
Track cleaning for me varies a great deal with the seasons. It's never a big problem--I just run a track cleaning car around a few times. But at some seasons I have to do it more often than others. Part of my layout runs under a holly and that seems to need cleaning slightly more often.People talk about track cleaning like it's some kind of huge chore--a couple laps with a track cleanign car and I'm done.
Do the hemlocks drop sap, or just pollen? If it's hardened sap, I think any of the commercial track cleaning cars would knock it off. If it's sticky, then you'd want some kind of solvent.
I've never tried it, but the CMX "clean machine" would be pretty hard to beat for overall, whatever the problem cleaning. If I had a big problem with sticky sap. I'm maybe try that, but it's very pricey.
Stainless steel track can also make track cleaning easier--I don't notice a huge difference between the stainless on my layout and the brass, but some people report a really big improvement with stainless. I think track cleaning needs vary A LOT depending on where you are.
If you really don't want to ever do cleaning, then battery is the way to go. You'll still have to sweep debris off the track, and I assume sap would be a problem even on battery locos, but maybe not.
trim ur hemlocks or get rid of them they can cause a lot of problems. u might try covering track when not in use.
I have a big 60' pine over one section of my layout. I sometimes get a bit of pine sap in the spring. My track is Aristo stainless steel. I usually use a bit of CRC2-26 on a paper towel and wipe it off. If its a big area I would use a scotch brite pad on a pole sander and use some Simple Green (or something similar not WD-40!) on the pad.
-Brian
I have 2 pole sanders, one with 800 grit wet/dry sandpaper. The second has a scotch-brite pad and a spray bottle of "dawn" dishwashing soap. I get eucalyptus sap, and chicken deposits on the rails, dish soap and scotch-brite pad make quick work of the task. Occasionally I will run a cheap-o "New Brite" battery powered engine to pull a sanding car around the rail. In my case "rail cleaning task" consumes about 15 minutes every 90 days, rock and dirt removal (from all the digging from the chickens) is about half hour weekly.
Tom Trigg
First off, welcome aboard you’ll get a lot of suggestions on this site, most of them good. I’m a senior and left HO because of eye sight and I like the outdoors. Like Brian we have a big pine tree in our yard our garden railroad meanders around the yard through a lot of Bitter bush, Sage and snow. I use Aristo and USAT brass track with Aristo Trainengineer track power. I have an Aristo track cleaning car with the cleaning block removed, modified it to use 3” square 3M green cleaning pads. I spray the pad with WD40 and run the cleaning car around the railroad to begin each days running. When the pad get gunked up I turn it 90 degrees or replace it.
For backup track cleaning, after our dog had to be put down I started using his rake for cleaning up pine needles and heavy debris on the tracks. I also use a wallboard sander with a 3m pad.
Good luck, Rob
When I have to clean my track I use sand paper or sanding blocks. But if the track is really dirty I grab my Black and Decker "Mouse." It's a mechanical/electrical sander available at home depot. I just lightly go around the dirty areas of track- in a second or two it's clean.
It might be helpful here to discriminate between "dirty" and "oxidized". Dirt and contamination can be cleaned by solvents, soaps, and mild abrasion.
Oxidation will take either a chemical (like tarn-x) or more often abrasion (sandpaper or rubberized abrasives like a brite boy). Mild oxidation can be abraded by scotch-brite, but heavy stuff really needs sandpaper.
I would not use sandpaper to remove tree sap, for example.
Regards, Greg
Visit my site: http://www.elmassian.com - lots of tips on locos, rolling stock and more.
Click here for Greg's web site
I am track powered with mostly brass Aristocraft track. I have a plum tree that drips a sticky sap on the track when flowering. WD-40 takes it off when it is still sticky. If the sun hits it then it crystallizes. Then an Ice scraper takes it off. I haven't any Hemlocks near the tracks; however. I have a dwarf arborvitae and that doesn't drop any sap.
I'm with the folks indicating that 14 gauge wire should be the minimum. One test you can run to convince yourself that you have a problem with the light gauge wire is measure the voltage at the track with no engine. See what the voltage is. Put 1 engine on and measure again. If the voltage drops significantly, you have a problem. I would think with 1 GP40 your voltage should drop only a 1/2 volt if everything is ok. With the smaller wire, under the load of an operating engine, you can't get enough current flow to keep the engine running smoothly. Think of the wire size like a pipe. The small the pipe, the small flow of water can be drawn at the faucet. You might have the faucet open all the way and still can't get enough flow.
Depending on your situation, you might find it easier to just double or triple up on your current wire. Running extra sets of wire in parallel to what's already there is like running a new set of 14 gauge wire. Either way will get you where you need to be.
I just sent both my GP40 trucks back to get rebuilt under warranty. I have had them for 2 years now and they were noisy. No problem with the motor, just noisier than my other engines.
Good luck.
Mark
M. Gilger - President and Chief Engineer MM&G web
Web Site: http://mmg-garden-rr.webs.com/
Good suggestions Mark, but I re-read all the posts, no one was talking about wire gauge on this thread.
On the motor noise, the motor(s) is/are probably misaligned. Ray Manley found a solution for this, but getting new trucks is not a bad insurance policy, hopefully you will get the new motors.
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