Track cleaning car

[CascadeBob]

Is the CMX car available in N scale?  Anybody have a website address for it?

Bob

[mgruber]

And if you paint the Masonite pads top and sides flat black you won't notice it. Well, at least I don't. Mike

[cudaken]

 I have had great luck with the Walthers Trainline cleaing cars. They cost around $13.00 each and I like to run 3 of them. On a normal day I will running a cleaning train on each line at the start of ops. I will use all 3 as pullers unless I open a passing spur that has not been used for a while. In that case I use one as a pusher and drag the other 2. Next to my 8 amp booster best money I have spent to date.

 I really don't need to run them each day, but I enjoy doing it? I all most never use my bright boy, maybe ever few weeks on the auto rerailers where the cleaing stones cannot reach.

 Reaon I use 3? That is how my LHS run there and there track works great.

                   Cuda Ken

[gandydancer19]

RedSkin's car is the same as what I use.  One difference though.  I didn't drill the masonite pad for the nails.  I just super-glued them to the smooth top.  Epoxy will work as well.  I am trying to run two to a train.  I also am working on setting up a dummy GP-9 with a pad so I can put it in front of a powered loco to use when the layout hasn't been run for a week or so.  Or you could make up a snow plow with one.

Edit:

I have used the centerline car also.  It is good for heavy cleaning.  What I did with it was to soak the roller with a cleaner, (I like Micro-Marks) push it with a loco, then behind the loco pull a car with a cloth wiper on it.  In this case, the wetter the roller, the better.  I kept wetting it using an eye droper as it went around.  Once everything was cleaned good, then just run the John Allen type cars.

[shayfan84325]

This is the Centerline Car:

I have one and I like it a lot.  It uses strips of Handi-Wipes and fluid to clean the track.  Here's their URL:

http://www.centerline-products.com/info.htm

[RedSkin]

Well I already Posted this picture on the Weekend Photo Fun, But this is what I did to make a John Allen style track cleaning car.  I took an old RTR Box car from a set I had gotten as a kid.  I changed the Couplers from horn hook to Kadees and drilled two holes in the floor of the car and the weight.  Then grabbed a piece of Masonite and put to nails through it.  I'll see how it works out over time.

Hope this helps

Brad

[SleeperN06]

You may want to consider installing a masonite wiper pad on some boxcars and just running them in a regular train. John Allen used them very successfully on his large empire. I am using them also and they work very well for me. They also cost next to nothing. Cut the pads in a rectangular shape to fit between the trucks, and about as wide as the car. Glue two small nails to the smooth side of the pad on the centerline about 1-1/2 inches apart. You will have to drill two holes in the floor of the car so the nails extend through it. Slightly oversize holes work best so the pad can 'float' on the track as the car is running in the train. Sand the bottom of the ends up slightly. If the pads are an eyesore to you, you can paint the tops and sides a roof brown color and they will be harder to see. You can clean them by sanding the bottoms on a flat piece of sandpaper.

Elmer, do you have a photo of this? I have a very small layout and don't want to shell out the 100 bucks just yet. I have some long tunnels that are a pain-in-the-butt. 

JohnnyB 

[loathar]

  I use the CMX and find it is so quick and easy to use, I can run it around the layout a couple of times as a preventive measure, no problem.  I really don't wait for problems to come up anymore.  I also use alcohol (91% isopropl) but when I do a "complete" cleaning I wipe the cleaned rails with a cloth dampened with CRC 2-26.  This seems to extend cleaning even further.

Tilden

I've got to second that 2-26 cleaner! I was pulling my hair out from the dirt. That stuff solved my problem.

[Tilden]

  I use the CMX and find it is so quick and easy to use, I can run it around the layout a couple of times as a preventive measure, no problem.  I really don't wait for problems to come up anymore.  I also use alcohol (91% isopropl) but when I do a "complete" cleaning I wipe the cleaned rails with a cloth dampened with CRC 2-26.  This seems to extend cleaning even further.

Tilden

[MisterBeasley]

Here's a CMX in real life.  I posed it between a subway car and a reefer to give people an idea of its size.

Yes, these are probably the most expensive cars you can get, but they work great.  I used alcohol in mine back about 6 months ago, and I'm just now getting an indication that my tracks need cleaning again.  If I can clean tracks only twice a year, I'm a happy model railroader.

I have subways, by the way, so cleaning track is a real pain in some parts of the system, and dang near impossible in others.  This was always in the plans, and when I finally bought it I discovered what others had been raving about.  The low profile fits in my tunnels nicely (subways have lower clearance than most tunnels) and the trains run great afterwards.

[gandydancer19]

You may want to consider installing a masonite wiper pad on some boxcars and just running them in a regular train. John Allen used them very successfully on his large empire. I am using them also and they work very well for me. They also cost next to nothing. Cut the pads in a rectangular shape to fit between the trucks, and about as wide as the car. Glue two small nails to the smooth side of the pad on the centerline about 1-1/2 inches apart. You will have to drill two holes in the floor of the car so the nails extend through it. Slightly oversize holes work best so the pad can 'float' on the track as the car is running in the train. Sand the bottom of the ends up slightly. If the pads are an eyesore to you, you can paint the tops and sides a roof brown color and they will be harder to see. You can clean them by sanding the bottoms on a flat piece of sandpaper.

[Lillen]

The one cleaning car that always come up and is loved by all who have it is the CMX clean machine. I've never heard anyone complaining about it.

 

It's the best 100+ dollars you will ever spend in this hobby.

 

Magnus

[dadret]

I want to buy some kind of track cleaning car as my layout is getting a little big for the old bright boy.  I know there are several different kinds out there and the price range is pretty broad.  Any recommendations on which is a good one?  Are the electronic ones any better than the ones that use pads and fluid?  I know Mintronics makes an electronic one but I seem to remember seeing one that had rollers mounted to a flat car.  Would appreiciate any ideas.