Track Cleaners

[Anonymous]

I use a mixed bag of eight different track cleaners that all work for me. It depends upon how lazy I am, and the amount of time available to determine which product I use.

The products are: .99 cent rubbing alcohol, denatured alcohol, nail polish remover, Brite Boy, 11 oz aerosol QD electrical contact cleaner, $3.00 MAAS,and the expensive 8 oz., $7.00 Aero Loco Track Cleaner and the $99.00 Tony's clean machine.
I am an ex Centerline owner and an ex Goo Gone user.

The clean machine is a luxurious item for me and yes, I could do without it as well as the Centerline that I no longer own. For the benefit of the Newbies, if your layout is not too large, a
little elbow power and rubbing alcohol will get the job done.

www.centerline-products.com
www.http://ttx-dcc.com/technews/clean_machine.htm
MR Feb 02,Track cleaning
MR Mar 01,Clean wheels

[emdgp92]

I've had good luck using a piece of felt soaked with a little Goo Gone.

[greendiamond]

You could make your own cleaning car from a hopper car. Contact a Centerline dealer and purchase a replacement brass roller for the scale you model in. Should be about $8 - $10. Then cut out one bay of a hopper car to hold the roller. The Centerline cars just hold the roller in place. Wrap the roller with HandiWipes (Centerlines roller covers) and place on what ever cleaning solution you chose. You now have a $60.00 Centerline car for about $15.00.

I usually use two cars. ONe wet in front of a locomotive and one dry following the locomotive to pick up the stuff the cleaner fluid loosened off the rails.

Mike

[dwick]

Dirty tracks have plagued model railroaders since 1900 (the year Lionel was on the drawing board) If you get a chance, check out the January MR. On page 96, Glen Scholey had an article about he solved his dirty track problem. He used a metal polish on his tracks. Saints be praised! He removed crude and also retarded oxidation to boot. I tried it on my home layout and it works fantastic!!! My layout, wish is state of the art from the 1980's (soon to be dismantled and rebuilt with 21st Century DCC) showed that the track hasn't shown one sign of crude or oxidation in 5 weeks. The rails look like they are shiney plated. Old brss track looks like it's gold plated. (Brass track will be dicarded) The polish I used was FLITZ, which I purchased at my local True Value hardware. Think about it. Wouldn't it be great to run your layout for over 4-5 months without have dirty track. It also helps that you have clean wheels on your engines and rolling stock. Give the poli***reatment a try. Let us know in a few months if you had good performance on your layout.
Good Running,
Don Wick - West bend, WI [e-mail]

[Anonymous]

What effect does the metal polish have on traction. I would think there would be more slippage which I experienced with the Goo Gone. It took a long time to get that off my tracks.

[Anonymous]

That too was my initial question"Slippage" Surprisingly, there wasn't any up my grade with the MAAS.
Your reply to GG. Yes it took me a while to to get it off to avoid the slippage.

[Anonymous]

HELLO
Im with charles on that one i have a centerline car for N scale let me tell ya somthin IT SUCKS
big timei want somthin that i can pull arounmd the layout without derailing

[Anonymous]

I went out and bought some of the Flitz after reading an article in the Jan MRR. I have never seen so much crud come off the rails. And talk about shine!

What are your opinions about using Caig Labs cleaners like their DeOxit or Pro Gold for rails or wheels? What about the Flitz or Maas on wheels.

Terry Arlington, TX

[Anonymous]

Maas/Flitz should work just as well on the wheels but the application is not as easy.

Rub it into t-shirt material, lay across the rails
and throttle up.

[Anonymous]

MAAS has been rated #1 by magazines, newspapers and customers throughout the world.

Motorcycle Consumer News states..."Maas has no equals and is about half the price of Flitz".

MAAS restores metals, plexiglass, plastic and much more. MAAS retailers include Home Depot, WalMart, Walgreen Drugs, ACE Hardware and many more. Online at www.maaspolish.com.

Get a second tube for half price if you call the MAAS office for those not close to a retailer.

Good railin,

Billy

[Anonymous]

www.maasinc.com

630-654-4743

Mention Model Railroader for the special price.