I use steel rail because thats what the real railroads use. When I first got my railroad up and running it was a pain keeping everything clean. I would wipe and wipe everything 2 or 3 times a week and was really getting fed up. Then I found Rail-Zip at my LHS and gave it a try. just a dab on the rails and the train will track it all over the layout. No wiping needed.
The first thing I noticed was a black ooze everywhere on the layout on top of the rails. Several people told me that the rail zip was melting my plastic wheels. Actually, it was the crud that had built up on my wheels over the years that the Rail-Zip cleaned off the wheels. I wiped the track once and I was good to go. Now I put a dab of Rail-Zip on my track once a month and it keeps the rail clean and rust free. It also keeps the wheels clean which is just as important.
Check out the Deming Sub by clicking on the pics:
I usually clean my track once a week if it needs it or not! I use a lint-free cloth with a little zippo lighter fluid on it and wipe down both rails. The lighter fluid is Naptha, and it evaporates rapidly, disolves any grease or oils, and does not leave any residue. You do need to have adequite ventilation. Not all my trackage is NS so this goes without saying that some areas need to be cleaned more often.
Current layout was started in 1988. Nickle Silver, DCC added in 1999, all metal wheels, basement is fully finished and has climate control, I run a work train with two CMX cars, one wet, one dry to pick up the residue. I have not cleaned the entire railroad since about 1998. I do not gleam or polish, and the layout sits idle at times, other times with operating sessions, it is busy. I keep engine wheels clean, the only real problem I have is natural dust and the work train takes care of that.
Bottom line, what and how depends on the location of the layout and the wheels and tracks you use. Oh, I have frequent feeders from the power bus to the tracks at all locations to minimize electrical problems.
I guess my location and climate control is probably the best thing I could have, followed by the other items.
Bob
i had a rather large layout for several years and i was constantly having a problem with keeping the track clean enough for good electrical conductivity with my locomotives. i ran a mixture of metal and plastic wheeled cars and after a couple of laps around the room the rail surface was contaminated with a black residue that would wipe off on my fingertips or a paper towel. i spent more time cleaning track than running trains. i tried a center line track cleaning gadget, an mdc rail cleaning car, dragging masonite pads under the cars and locomotives and a lot of hand wiping with goo gone and denatured alcohol. after all that, i was still pulling my hair out. my new layout is now partially operational and i am having no track cleaning problems at all. i think my troubles were a result of too much wiping of the rails with solvents which left them too dry. i believe this caused static and arcing which accounted for the ever present black crud.
now for a few things i do differently now. the old layout was in a building with a bare concrete floor. the new one is in a basement with a painted concrete floor. unsealed concrete generates a lot of fine dust and grit which can't be good for the model railroad. this home has hot water baseboard heat instead of forced air which cuts down on the airborne dust too. i NEVER cut wood in the layout area. always take the lumber and saw outside to avoid sawdust in the air. last thing, and i read this somewhere a while back. don't clean the track with any solvent that evaporates totally and leaves the rails bone dry, once in a great while i put a small amount of WD-40 on the rail tops (actually i use a product called LUB-E sold by ace hardware) same thing, run the locomotives and train right through the stuff and track it all over the layout. you will get a bit of wheel slippage at first and need to wipe up the excess after running the train a bit but the rail tops stay clean and don't seem to have the arcing and static problems like before. since i am now retired, i run the trains quite a bit these days and i go months without a dirty track problem. i can go anywhere on the layout and run my finger tip over the rail tops and it comes up clean.
grizlump
cudaken Mark, I will not say you are wrong, but I have a question. My C line is a loop with all left hand turns. When I run my track cleaning car the right side of the bad is all wise dirty but left side is normally has a 10th of the grim. My thinking is it is carbon from a weaker contact on the right side as the weight is transfered to the left? Cuda Ken
Mark, I will not say you are wrong, but I have a question. My C line is a loop with all left hand turns. When I run my track cleaning car the right side of the bad is all wise dirty but left side is normally has a 10th of the grim. My thinking is it is carbon from a weaker contact on the right side as the weight is transfered to the left?
Cuda Ken
Excessive wear on the right side due to all left hand turns ..... sounds more like a NASCAR question !
Seriously though .... even if your track was an 18 inch circle and you always ran your train full throttle, I would still be hard pressed to find any logic. Weight transfer in model trains is almost negligable unless extreme speeds are in effect.
I going to hazzard a guess that maybe you have some excess lubrication on the right side of one of your engines that is getting on the rail-head (doesn't have to be much), the train spreads it along the line and this causes dirt to accumulate on the wheel-sets and track more noticeably on that side. What about the wheel-sets on the cars .... noticeably dirtier on the right side as well ?
Mark.
¡ uʍop ǝpısdn sı ǝɹnʇɐuƃıs ʎɯ 'dlǝɥ
I hate Rust
GLEAM for me, too.(2 years ago?)
Haven't done a thing all summer on the RR, read this, went down to do a very un-scientific test.No track wiping. Fired up the Digitrax and away we went.No problems.
Terry
Terry in NW Wisconsin
Queenbogey715 is my Youtube channel
Certainly explains why I haven't to clean my track for several years. Just an occasional quick wipe with a dry cloth is all it needs. I used the GLEAM process back in 2005. It works if done properly.
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
Unless it's sealed from exposure to air, ANY metal oxidizes from the moment it's made. Rub your fingers on the rail of the new stuff in the store - I bet you get some black on your fingers !!! The more porous a metal is, the faster it's natural oxide will form. Scratches, pits and any additional roughness (from any abrasive cleaning) will accelaerate this oxidizing process. That's why burnishing the rails to eliminate these imperfections drastically slows down the oxidation process.
A prime experiment to show this .... sit two pieces of sheet-metal out in the rain, one is smooth natural finish and the other is sand-blasted. The smooth sheet may show some signs of rust, but the sand-blasted piece will show rust almost as soon as the rain hits it !!! The rust is a natural process of steel oxidizing .... the rough surface just accelerates this process, just like the rougher surface of our rails oxidizes faster. A burnished railhead will oxidize at a much slower rate ..... and that black oxide will not show up nearly as bad or as often.
I don't "gleam" my rails. I've got a mixture of metal and plastic wheels. I find that I need to clean my track about twice a year.
I've got one of the CMX track cleaning cars. That's one of the best. I use lacquer thinner as the solvent, which the CMX people recommend. I tried it with alcohol, as a "less aggessive" solvent. It didn't do as good a job. When I switched to lacquer thinner, I found that the vapor odor I was afraid of simply didn't happen. Yeah, I could smell the stuff when I filled the tank in the car, but I did that outside so the smell wouldn't get into the train room. Once I put it on the tracks and pulled it around, there was no problem at all.
I have subways, incidentally. Even with a number of liftoffs, there are parts of the track which are basically impossible to clean by hand. The CMX machine solves that problem nicely.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Mark R.the black you may experience is the oxide naturally produced by NS rail.
Really? That's quite odd as I used to get that black stuff with new steel rail.
jeffrey-wimberly .... As for the black stuff you get on your fingers, that's carbon disposited by your locos as they go around the layout, a by-product of an electrical arc following a moving target.
.... As for the black stuff you get on your fingers, that's carbon disposited by your locos as they go around the layout, a by-product of an electrical arc following a moving target.
Not even close .... the black you may experience is the oxide naturally produced by NS rail. This will occur even if a train never runs on the rails ! This oxide is electrically conductive, so doesn't create much of a problem unless it goes untreated for long periods of time. If you are experiencing electrical arcing between wheels and rail, you are in need of some serious maintenance !!!
Thanks for the quick response. I will search about gleam or burnish. See what I can come up with.
"Rust, whats not to love?"
Do a search for "gleam" or "burnish" .... the topic has been beaten to death a few times.
I've burnished my rails over two years ago and haven't had to clean them since. I run my trains maybe twice / month in the winter and not at all through the summer months ! .... turn the power on and go.
Track cleaning cars work OK if you want to go that route. I have an old IHC track cleaning caboose that I keep around as a joke. Prior to Sept 2005 I used it to help keep my track clean which seemed like a never-ending battle. After Rita came stomping through I cleaned my track with metal polish (Blue Magic cream paste metal polish) and I haven't had to clean it since except for an occasional quick wipe with a dry cloth. Changing to all metal wheels helps a lot too. As for the black stuff you get on your fingers, that's carbon disposited by your locos as they go around the layout, a by-product of an electrical arc following a moving target.
Track cleaning isn't just a time dependant task. Several factors need to be considered:
1. How dusty is your train room?
2. Is the train room heated (winter) and air conditioned (summer) or have a dehumidifier if it's a basement layout?
3. Do you have brass or Nickel-Silver rail?
The main thing to consider is how well your locomotives run after sitting unused for a period of time. Erratic running can be an indication of dirty track or dirty pickup wheels on the locomotive(s).
Since I work 4 - 10 hour days, and honestly don't run my train much......how many times do I need to clean mine (track). Maybe right before I start some running, or a few times a week? I haven't moved any trains in a week or so, and ran my finger down some track and it came up blackish. So, I am guessing maybe each time to plan on running some cars.
Also how many times a week do you clean yours?
Well maybe 3 questions. Are those track cleaning cars worht it, or just stick with cleaning by hand?