Outdoors and Humidity

[Anonymous]

Almost all of the layouts featured in Garden Railway are outdoors in Calfironia or some other dry area. I live where we get rain in summer and sleet/snow in winter. How do you suggest keep the track clean and clear for 12 months out of the year?

[markperr]

Keep it inside (heh heh).  Sorry, had to say it.

In all seriousness, use a track cleaning car in the summer or go battery.  Then you won't have to clean the track.  As for the winter, a plow does the job, but battery power is a must as you get no electrical contact between the rails and the wheels/sliders due to the compressed snow freezing under the locos wheels.  Ice makes for a fairly good insulator to low voltage DC.

 

Mark

 

[Tom The Brat]

There are lots of us in colder, wetter climates!

Here's Cozad's Mallet last winter:

[kstrong]

There have been quite a few railroads from wet climates--the Pacific Northwest, mid-atlantic, etc. The current issue's feature RR is in England. Definitely not a dry climate there.

Remember also that railroads in drier climates are far more prone to have irrigation systems which create the same dirt and debris problems that rain does. My current "irrigation system" consists of me going out in the evening with the garden hose. Colorado is very dry, but I'm after a very lush setting for my eastern-based Tuscarora RR (the subject of the current construction series). That requires ample water to keep things happy.

Basically, the trick to keeping the track clear is to go out and clear it before each run. I use a Swiffer dust sweeper to go over the rails to knock off the dirt and debris, then go through and clean each switch with a stiff brush. (I'm not running track power, so that's not an issue.) In the winter, I'd need only clear the snow off the track with a plow of some kind.

If you're running track power, the most common trick is to use a drywall sander with a green scotchbrite pad on it. (The drywall sander is--in function--identical to the Swiffer sweeper I use.) That's it, really. Once the track has had a once-over with the sweeper, you should be all set.

There are electric sweeper cars sold by Earl Martin that will sweep your track for you as well. You simply push it with a locomotive, and the spinning brush clears the debris for you. Alternatively, you can fit small brushes to the front of a locomotive to sweep the rails. I have a friend in Washington DC who attached toothbrush heads to his locos to sweep the ants off the railheads. Works like a charm.

Don't let the moisture get in the way. It makes no difference what kind of climate you're in, we all have to clean our track the same way.

Later,

K

[Marty Cozad]

I see your new here.
 Its great if you fill in your profile so we know where you live.
 I live in Nebraska, that IS the midwest.
On-board battRC  helps us to run your round as Tom has shared one of my photo.
 In the hot ,Humid summer days like now I run  trains in the buff, ( We live in the country) thus I don't worry about keeping the rail clear.
 I do have a pair of GRYs speedo's with Kevin Strongs picture on the back.
And of course a cold one in my hand

[tangerine-jack]

Ewe gross, Marty!  TOO MUCH INFORMATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I live in Virginia near the shore.  We are 3H just about year round (Hazy Hot and Humid).  I run track power most of the time ( I do have one batt/RC I've been playing with) and I clean my track maybe once or twice a year.  Outdoor track is made to withstand the effects of humidity and other weather related hardships and I've certainly experienced no difficulties related to humidity. 

Then again, if you are humid in the shade you may be experiencing a mold problem, that is more difficult to deal with.  My DDSL is mostly in the sun so I don't have that issue, but behind my garage I've noticed the mold growing happily on trees and fences and fiberglass and plastic and anything else laying out there.  I don't really know what to do for that except an occasional spray with diluted chlorine bleach to kill the mold.

[mgilger]

Only one way to go, when it’s time to clear leaves or grass clippings. The MM&G maintenance crew uses a high power blower car.

 

Mark

[Anonymous]

Anozira RR is a Garden O with 100%, GarGraves, 3 rails stainless steel track in Tucson, AZ.  Only stainless steel as anything else in O track will rust in a flash out doors.  Our biggest problem is dust and bird poo.  Understandably, we do not have lingering snow problems (though Tucson does receive snow at times, but its gone in less than a day).  So, as this thread began with concerns for colder latatudes, we can't offer much.  However, there are some other track maintenance concerns that are universal of which we might add some insight; ants and bird do-do.  In the summer we only run in the evening due to heat.  Water is a problem with O, so we irrigate in late afternoon which gives enough time for residual water to evaporate and usually gets rid of the dust on the rails and melts most of the bird poo.  Still, since the birds OWN the garden, their calling cards appear after any irrigation.  Dove poop is the most hazardous for our model trains as they leave a rather large pile on top of the rails.  Before any train running, we walk the track and knock off the obvious leaves, twigs, do-do, and prune any invasive plant intrusions.  THEN, as experience has taught us, we run a track cleaning car in front of an engine just to make sure.  The track cleaning cars have mid-ship, rotating Brillo pads.  This does a very good job.

Ants, the little-bitty ones, use to like using the rails as their highway.  During the Fall, Winter, and Spring months we run trains day and night as the weather is GREAT!  But the ants liked using the rails as the rails are cool.  Mashed ants made for more rail and wheel cleanning.  In the summer the rails get too hot to leave one's fingers on them for more than a few seconds.  That's too hot for the ants also, so they use the track support, side rails (HDPE Flexible Roadbed --- http://www.btcomm.com/trains/primer/roadbed/ladder1.htm.)  No problem as we aren't using the track anyway until evening and by sun down, the ants are in bed.  Daytime train running in cooler weather is an ant conflict until they begin hibernation.  We noticed that the ants avoided travel over track connections; why is that?  We spray WD-40 on all track connections to control corrosion of the pins.  So, we began spraying WD-40 on the all of the rails.  Now the ants use the support rails as their highway.  Perhaps they just realized that getting to rails was more work and the WD-40 (which is refined fish oil and additives) is not an ant deturrent after all.  Well okay, but they aren't using the rails any more regardless .  The found side effect of WD-40 on the rails and ties is the aged appearance as dust sticks to the WD-40.  Now the rails and ties look more proto-typical, not all shinny.  Since the wheels only need good contact with rail top, running is not hampered.  After spraying WD-40, we just wipe the rail top with denatured alcohol a couple of times.  Then later after the oil has had time to creep up onto the rail tops, we wipe again.

We haven't found anything to combat the birds' tendency to crap on the rails  -- and we never will; that's a given and we live with it.