CMX track cleaner

[C&O Fan]

My Christmas present came in the mail today

Any last minute tips before I put it to use ?

[cacole]

The best track cleaning fluid to use with it that I have found is lacquer thinner.  I also run a Centerline track cleaning car dry immediately behind the CMX to mop up any residue.  Don't use Goo-Gone.  With the CMX and lacquer thinner we clean our large HO scale club layout only twice a year.  Before we were having to clean just about every week.  Enjoy.

 

[jrbernier]

  You just got one of the best investments in the hobby.  I use lacquer thinner in mine.  You can adjust the 'drip' so that you do not have to clean up after the car(the lacquer thinner dries with NO film anyway).  I bought a $1's worth of corded material at a fabric store and made my own pads.  I run mine with a pair of P2K GP9's and a masonite scraper car I built.  I just let it orbit the layout, and keep changing the route so that I clean all of the sidings and yard tracks.  Once cleaned, I am good for the entire winter season!  This is so much better than the Centerline car(no wrapping small strings around the pad), and I can run the cleaning train in either direction.  The pads last much longer also.  The only track I 'gleam' are stub spurs for the industries.  Have fun with this one...

Jim

[richhotrain]

Two questions about lacquer thinner: (1) is there a strong odor and (2) if the layout is in the basement, as mine is, do you need to take special precautions to ventilate the area.  My big fear is fumes being ignited by the gas pilot light on my water heater.

[MisterBeasley]

I've got one of these also, a new purchase a couple of months back.  I'm also very happy with it, particularly since I have a lot of tunnels to clean.

I use 90% isopropyl alcohol.  It's not as "aggressive" as lacquer thinner, but I have it around, and it doesn't smell or produce worrisome lingering vapors.  For me, it works fine.  It will not be as effective on plastic residues as lacquer thinner would be, though.  If you run all metal-wheeled rolling stock, this shouldn't be a problem anyway.

I have subways on my layout, hence all the tunnels.  The roof clearance in subways isn't as high as NMRA standards, so my surface freight engines won't fit down there.  Consequently, I ran the CMX around with two powered subway units for propulsion.  (I may be the first modeller to MU together 2 subway engines - can anyone else make that claim?)  Anyway, as was mentioned above, you will probably need 2 engines to drag this guy around your layout, even on level track, and particularly up hills.  It's heavy (as you have noticed by now) and there is considerable friction  between the pad and the rails.

I've also got several grade crossings.  For the space between the rails, I use styrene painted the same color as the road, using cheap acrylic paint.  After running the CMX, I found that the paint had been taken off of the leading and trailing edges of the styrene strip.  I guess that means the styrene is a bit too high, although not high enough to interfere with trains.  It also tells you something about how well the CMX does its job.

[jamnest]

I have one.  Great investment.  I have used Goo Gone in the past with no problems.  I primarily use alcohol and run a centerline car behind the CMX to wipe the rails.  Considering how dirty the centerline roller gets. I think it is necessary.

JIM

[BlueHillsCPR]

Two questions about lacquer thinner: (1) is there a strong odor and (2) if the layout is in the basement, as mine is, do you need to take special precautions to ventilate the area.  My big fear is fumes being ignited by the gas pilot light on my water heater.

 

YES to both questions.  Lacquer thinner has a very strong odor that if inhaled in any concentration will have your "head in the clouds" and it is without a doubt very bad for your health.  Also the fumes in any concentration are explosive.  Ventilation would be a requirement.  A mask may be a good idea too if there is much smell while you are working with it. 

[cacole]

Two questions about lacquer thinner: (1) is there a strong odor and (2) if the layout is in the basement, as mine is, do you need to take special precautions to ventilate the area.  My big fear is fumes being ignited by the gas pilot light on my water heater.

I haven't noticed much fumes when the car is running because the lacquer thinner drip rate onto the pad is not that heavy.  You can't even smell it until you get up close to the car during use.

Filling the tank is the most dangerous time because you're going to have both the lacquer thinner can and the CMX tank opened up and exposed to the open air.  Filling it outdoors can avoid this problem.

Whether there would be enough buildup of fumes to be ignited by a water heater pilot light is doubtful because you're not going to be running the CMX very long.  How close your layout is to the water heater must also be taken into consideration, however.  If in doubt, use something that is not as flammable as lacquer thinner.

 

[jrbernier]

  The CMX has a precision valve that allows you to adjust the drip(I have mine set to about every 3 seconds).  My layout is in the basement, and I have had no problems with fumes or attacking the plastic ties.  With the controlled drip rate, the lacquer thinner evaporates fast enough to not cause a problem.

  I also run a homemade masonite block car.  It has drywall screen glued to the tapered masonite block and does a good job of picking up the 'crud' after it has been dissolved by the lacquer thinner in the CMX car.  As I mentioned, I run a P2K GP9 on each end of the cleaning train, with the CMX  and the masonite cars in between.  I had some reservations about the drywall screen scratching the top of the rail, but have seen no problems over the past 3 seasons of track cleaning.

  BTW, all of my wheel sets are metal, and I clean them by popping them out and washing them in the dishwasher!  I bought one of those zippered mesh bags at Walmart, fill it with wheel sets and hang it in the dishwasher on the upper level - works great.  After the track has been cleaned in the fall, I do all of the rolling stock/engines and nothing touches the clean rails unless it has clean metal wheels.  This usually gets me through the normal winter season of running.  Summer means 'yard work'(the outdoor residential kind) and the trains sort of take a back seat until September.

Jim

[C&O Fan]

I Cleaned track for about 20 minutes cleaning the mainline about 60 ft

I started by using alcohol then the last 2 pads I ran dry

 

I think it would work faster if i were towing a Center Line car behind the CMX

Still this method sure beats doing it by hand

Since my layout is about complete I have to move alot of structors when I clean by hand

and now my tunnel and bridges are much cleaner

[SilverSpike]

I ordered a CMX HO scale rail cleaner from Tony's and it arrived in the mail yesterday, so now I am looking forward to putting it to good use on my layout.

Cleaning the track by hand every other week has gotten to be quite a chore, so I hope to streamline my track cleaning with the CMX rail cleaning system addition. I will also most likely run my John Allen slider car behind it too.

I saw some of that drywall screen stuff at Lowe's HI the other day and it sure is pricy. I have not yet sprung for that purchase yet, but I can see why it would work so well on the rails. It has a nice fine grit for smooth out floated drywall surfaces, I suppose pulling up the dirt on rails would be an easy task too for this material.

Cheers,

Ryan

[PHARMD98233]

We have had one on our club layout since the CMX first was available (must be about 6 years now).  We use a fabric belt material  or cordoroy from a fabric shop.  The belt material looks alot like the old Boy Scout belts.  We use 70% isopropyl alcohol for our cleaning solution.   The CMX with this combo works great.  We have stayed away from anything more volatile than the 70% isopropyl, since we have two furnace pilot lights within a few feet of the tracks.

[da_kraut]

Great subject.  Will have to go and get one of those as well.

Frank 

[hobo9941]

Technically, laquer thinner is explosive. But it needs to be in suffient concentration to explode. And the required concentration to explode would probably have your head spinning first. A household fan blowing over the layout would keep the fumes dispersed more than enough to prevent any fire risk. And I would be more concerned about the small sparks and arcing from the locos motor brushes a couple inches away, than any water heater.

Now I have a question. Does the CMX cleaner snag on frogs and turnouts?

[PHARMD98233]

We have no significant trouble with snags on frogs/turnouts on our club layout.  Sometimes the CMX will stall on our station platforms, but not always.  The brass pad which secures the fabric pad floats over the rail heads nicely.   We clean about 600 ft of mainline with very little need for intervention.  For us, it is not quite "set it and forget it", but close.  I often use a BLI E7A to pull it.  A couple of Atlas FP-7's are also good pullers.

[pastorbob]

I have two of them, one runs dry behind the wet one.  However, I did spray both of them MofW gray, lettered them with decals for work train equipment and they run in a work train with a gondola between.  The gondola, a Trainman type, carries a briteboy, some spikes, a screwdriver (small) and some other articles, so it is indeed a worktrain.  I have a HallMark brass ATSF drover car behind it.  Makes quite a sight on the railroad.

Bob 

 

[C&O Fan]

I have two of them, one runs dry behind the wet one.  However, I did spray both of them MofW gray, lettered them with decals for work train equipment and they run in a work train with a gondola between.  The gondola, a Trainman type, carries a briteboy, some spikes, a screwdriver (small) and some other articles, so it is indeed a worktrain.  I have a HallMark brass ATSF drover car behind it.  Makes quite a sight on the railroad.

Bob 

 

I too use a gondola to haul extra pads spikes and a bright boy but i fastened a magnet to the bottom of mine

Took it to a friends layout and picked up 6 track spikes 2 small pieces of wire from the cut off ends for switch machines and one teeny weeny screw we have yet to identify !

[Tilden]

Actually, I find sound loco's with the speakers installed in the fuel tank do an excellent job of finding and picking up metal objects from the track! 

tilden 

[C&O Fan]

Actually, I find sound loco's with the speakers installed in the fuel tank do an excellent job of finding and picking up metal objects from the track! 

tilden 

Yes you're right

I'm trying to avoid punching a hole in a speaker with a lost track spike

[trainwrekd]

forgive me as I have never seen this unit before, is it as heavy as it looks?....is that the appeal?

it appears to do a great job of cleaning......is it worth the $$?

[D&HRR]

forgive me as I have never seen this unit before, is it as heavy as it looks?....is that the appeal?

it appears to do a great job of cleaning......is it worth the $$?

1) Yes

2) Well worth the $

[Tilden]

Tilden

[SilverSpike]

I unboxed and installed the cloth to the pad of the CMX car, cleaned out the holding tank and filled it up with some cleaning solution. Then I ran it along with my John Allen slider car and cleaned up just about the entire lower deck tracks on the layout in about 30-40 minutes time.

The CMX track cleaning car is worth every penny! Not sure how much it weights, but it is heavy for it's size and makes for a steady cleaning too.

 

[tradupj]

Got mine in the mail today, my christmas present to me arrived on x-mas eve. How fitting.

It appears to be a very well built product with good instructions and reviews. The instructions state that Acetone and nail polish remover are recommended, all things considered. My wife has plenty of the polish remover, and I'm curious if anyone has used that and had good results. Or, are the more industrial type solvents better ???

Thanks, Joel

 

[mondotrains]

forgive me as I have never seen this unit before, is it as heavy as it looks?....is that the appeal?

it appears to do a great job of cleaning......is it worth the $$?

 

Merry Christmas, Guys!

To answer your question, the CMX machine is very heavy but that's because the cleaning pad mount has springs in each corner which push it down on the track.  The machine needs the heavy weight to counteract the springs and that's good, because it's like you pressing down a pad with your hands.  If the machine was lighter, it wouldn't rub the rails as clean as it does.

Someone asked if the cleaning pad has a problem with frogs and points.  I've been using my CMX machine for several years and out of my 75 turnouts on the layout, only one had points which caught the machine's pad and I had to replace the turnout.  My thinking is that the turnout was the problem, not the cleaning machine, especially because the other 74 turnouts have never had a problem.

 

Hope this helps.

Mondo

 

[bogp40]

  The CMX has a precision valve that allows you to adjust the drip(I have mine set to about every 3 seconds).  My layout is in the basement, and I have had no problems with fumes or attacking the plastic ties.  With the controlled drip rate, the lacquer thinner evaporates fast enough to not cause a problem.

  I also run a homemade masonite block car.  It has drywall screen glued to the tapered masonite block and does a good job of picking up the 'crud' after it has been dissolved by the lacquer thinner in the CMX car.  As I mentioned, I run a P2K GP9 on each end of the cleaning train, with the CMX  and the masonite cars in between.  I had some reservations about the drywall screen scratching the top of the rail, but have seen no problems over the past 3 seasons of track cleaning.

  BTW, all of my wheel sets are metal, and I clean them by popping them out and washing them in the dishwasher!  I bought one of those zippered mesh bags at Walmart, fill it with wheel sets and hang it in the dishwasher on the upper level - works great.  After the track has been cleaned in the fall, I do all of the rolling stock/engines and nothing touches the clean rails unless it has clean metal wheels.  This usually gets me through the normal winter season of running.  Summer means 'yard work'(the outdoor residential kind) and the trains sort of take a back seat until September.

Jim

Jim,

I too would have had some reservations about the use of the DW screen. The screen most likely wore rather quickly and now is burnishing the railhead instead of scratching. As long as it keeps working and the rails stay clean. That's all that matters.

[Flashwave]

Here's a bizzare question:

IS there a reccommended "speed" at which it'll work? Fast enough to do a larger layout, but still do it efficently, and not so fast the pad just skims?

[mondotrains]

Here's a bizzare question:

IS there a reccommended "speed" at which it'll work? Fast enough to do a larger layout, but still do it efficently, and not so fast the pad just skims?

 

Your question is a good one...not "bizzare" at all.  I looked at the enclosed instructions and they say the CMX cleaning machine works best at a speed of about 1-2 feet per second.  You don't want to run it much faster than that and too slow doesn't work either.  It's real easy to get the right speed with a little practice.

Regarding the cost....it's a little pricey at $99.00 but I have to say that it used to take me around 2 hours with a cloth wrapped around my finger and some cleaner and of course, it was next to impossible to get into my tunnels and hidden staging properly.  Now, when guys are coming over, I whip out the CMX machine....a few times around the whole layout, both mainlines, and we're good to go.

 

Hope this helps.

Mondo

 

[mondotrains]

By the way, one problem I've had is with the syringes that you get with the clean machine to fill the tank.  The plunger kept coming apart inside the syringe.  When I talked to Tony, he said after using the syringe, I should remove the plunger rather than leave it in the syringe.  And, talk about service, he mailed me 2 new syringes at no cost....not even shipping.

 

Mondo

 

[Flashwave]

Sounds good. After a year or two's worth of saving, and a layout, HO&N may just be getting a "weedwhacker tank"