Medina1128Thanks, Tom!
Marlon:
You're very welcome. Believe me, if my garage were insulated and I could USE a 'wet' track cleaner, that would be the one I'd be using. I've seen them in action at my LHS and they really do the job!
Tom
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!
Been using the CMX cars on my Santa Fe for a few years now, I have two, run both in a worktrain on the railroad. First car is liquid, then a couple of weighted gondolas and another CMX running dry. The train goes around all three decks before an op session and I never have to clean up.
Bob
I use the same car CudaKen does. It works just fine. I occasionally clean the pad with alcohol and a tooth brush.
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
twhiteOh, before I forget--little detail here--it's got a motor in it, so if you're DCC, you need to get a Decoder for it. I'm DC, so I just put it on the track in front of one of my locos and let her rip.
Or perhaps a bridge rectifier and a couple of 5 watt zener diodes to adjust the voltage ?
The mind is like a parachute. It works better when it's open. www.stremy.net
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR
semaforeHello from Semafore,my handle, usually pokin' around in the 'layouts' section. If I may, perhaps you may look into an inexpensive solution, rather than ongoing band-aids to the problem? Please check out 'gleam' in the forum search box to see what I mean. Thanks for the time. Semafore
Hello from Semafore,my handle, usually pokin' around in the 'layouts' section. If I may, perhaps you may look into an inexpensive solution, rather than ongoing band-aids to the problem? Please check out 'gleam' in the forum search box to see what I mean.
Thanks for the time. Semafore
Been there done that. I STILL need to clean my tracks now and then even though I used the "gleam" method. So I use the CMX Clean machine.
Medina1128 Driline Hmmmm..... Does it look like this? If so, forget what those other yahoo's are saying. You have the "creme de la creme" of cleaning cars. You just don't know how to operate it yet. 1) The filler screw is on the right. Do NOT tighten it all the way down when operating the car. You need it loose to provide air pressure for the needle valve on the left to operate correctly. 2) Adjust the needle valve to 10 to 15 drips per minute. 3) I use Lacquer thinner as prescribed in the manual. It works fantastic. Since neither of you mention who makes this car, I'm asking.
Driline Hmmmm..... Does it look like this? If so, forget what those other yahoo's are saying. You have the "creme de la creme" of cleaning cars. You just don't know how to operate it yet. 1) The filler screw is on the right. Do NOT tighten it all the way down when operating the car. You need it loose to provide air pressure for the needle valve on the left to operate correctly. 2) Adjust the needle valve to 10 to 15 drips per minute. 3) I use Lacquer thinner as prescribed in the manual. It works fantastic.
Hmmmm.....
Does it look like this?
If so, forget what those other yahoo's are saying. You have the "creme de la creme" of cleaning cars. You just don't know how to operate it yet.
1) The filler screw is on the right. Do NOT tighten it all the way down when operating the car. You need it loose to provide air pressure for the needle valve on the left to operate correctly.
2) Adjust the needle valve to 10 to 15 drips per minute.
3) I use Lacquer thinner as prescribed in the manual. It works fantastic.
Since neither of you mention who makes this car, I'm asking.
It's made by CMX. Should be available either in stock or by order at your LHS. I've heard terrific things about it from other modelers.
Driline Hmmmm.....Does it look like this?If so, forget what those other yahoo's are saying. You have the "creme de la creme" of cleaning cars. You just don't know how to operate it yet.1) The filler screw is on the right. Do NOT tighten it all the way down when operating the car. You need it loose to provide air pressure for the needle valve on the left to operate correctly. 2) Adjust the needle valve to 10 to 15 drips per minute.3) I use Lacquer thinner as prescribed in the manual. It works fantastic.
Just made a track cleaning car with the four 3 inch nails, cut off of course, through to floor of the boxcar glued to 1/4 inch hardboard. It's working as slick as goose poop. This is an idea that I think was originally put forth by Shamusy (now deceased) in AMR (All Model Railroading) forum.
I really like the glove idea as well Will be trying that out this week.
For being cheap, I cannot fault my Trainline box car track cleaner. They are $16.00 each and I use 3. They have a cleaning stone that rides the rails. I push 1 and drag 2 and it helps a lot. Have not used a bright boy for over 3 years. I have a round 25 feet of tunnels.
Cuda Ken
I hate Rust
mkepler954Would Shamwow work?
Probably, but you'd need to hire Vince to do the work. That commercial just cracks me up!
But seriously, folks, I've had some pretty darned good luck with the new Atlas track cleaning car, however in my particular case I have to 'dry-clean' the track instead of using solvent (uninsulated garage layout smack in the middle of California's "Pollen Belt".). It's got an abrasive pad (but finer than a Brite Boy), a vacuum cleaner and buffer pads. Just change them out as you need while you clean the track. It's worked for me really well. I find myself cleaning track far less often than I used to.
It also has a tank and pad for holding solvent, but as I say, using solvent on my MR is like using a Gunk Attractor. But for dry cleaning, it's pretty darned good.
Oh, before I forget--little detail here--it's got a motor in it, so if you're DCC, you need to get a Decoder for it. I'm DC, so I just put it on the track in front of one of my locos and let her rip.
we've been down this road before but here i go again.
if you can reach all the track on your layout, just get a cheap work glove. the kind with the suede like palm and fingers. it is easy to keep your track clean by just a gentle wipe with the fingers of the glove. when it gets loaded up with crud, you can clean it with a wire brush.
if you want to use solvent of some kind then wet a cloth or paper towel with it and wipe the track before you use the glove.
sometimes the simplest and cheapest things work best.
i have tried several different track cleaning cars though the years and they were all about as useful as air brakes on a turtle.
grizlump
You are correct, one bolt caps the filler and the other one usually has a needle point to meter the amount of fluid fed to the pad. I didn't have much luck with the fluid and after a couple of runs just left the pad dry. J.R.
I have a track cleaning car but I don't know how to use it. It has 2 bolts on the roof threaded into the cleaner fluid holding tank. I'm assuming one is for refilling the tank and the other is to stop the fluid from escaping the tank to the cleaning pad below. My questions are how long do I keep the bolt open for soaking the pad (do I keep it open while running the car around the track?) and how many laps should I do with the wet pad?