John Allen Track Cleaning Car, a reminder.

["JaBear"]

In the 20 -22 November edition of Weekend Photo Fun one of my photos depicted a track cleaning car I made for the local club and Allen of the Black River Valley RR asked what method I used.

I was going to quickly reply but then wondered how many newer Model Railroaders knew about the “John Allen Track Cleaning Car” let alone how to make one.

 

on Flickr

 

For those with access to the Model Railroader Archives on page 104 of the April 1988 issue there is an article by Lou Sassi on how he made his.

 

Mine are slightly different from Mr Sassi’s in the following respects.

-I use clout nails, 1 inch long, slightly thinner than 1/8” with about a 3/8” flat head, one because they are cheap, and two because the larger head offers more bonding surface.

-I use a Gel CA to bond the nail to the 1 ¾ “long by 1” wide “Masonite” pad. (As an aside “Masonite” is not known by that name here in NZ, and in the pre internet days we had trouble identifying what it actually was).

-I bond the nails longitudinally instead of side by side.

 

I use HO Athearn BB box cars as I like the idea of the nails locating in the steel weight strip, I am lead to believe that some builders have fitted metal bearings into plastic floored cars; and I also paint the top and side of the pads with rattle can flat black.

Because I’m making a few and am encouraging club members to make their own, I’ve made a jig that not only locates the drill holes in the car but also holds the nails in position while the glue dries.

Others have fitted springs between the pad and freight car floor or placed a small weight on the pad but believing in the KISS principle I find they do a good job as they are. The car at the top of the photo shows a pad that ran for about 6 hours on supposedly clean nickel silver track, Hydrogen sulphide!!!(Mumble mumble!!!!)

 

, on Flickr

 

Of course there are variations to what I’ve done and I make no claim that mine is better, it’s just that it works well for me.

 

Cheers, the Bear.

 

[hon30critter]

Bear:

Thanks for the tutorial. I'll put a couple of those on my to do list.

I'm not familiar with the term 'clout' nails. They look like roofing nails to me. Is that what they are?

Just out of curiousity, what is the purpose of the yellow and green paint on the trucks?

Dave

[RR_Mel]

I made one of the John Allen cleaners but in an Athearn bay window caboose.

 

I used it for years as the caboose on my freights.  After I bought my first track cleaner, CMX, I put the caboose behind the CMX as a mop up.  The extra cleaning from the mini pad doesn’t hurt either.

 

I tweaked a box car shell to drop over the CMX tank car just to change it's look and remind me of the Great John Allen.

 

Mel

 

Modeling the early to mid 1950s SP in HO scale since 1951

 

My Model Railroad   

http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/

 

Bakersfield, California

 

I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.

[gmpullman]

hon30critter

Just out of curiousity, what is the purpose of the yellow and green paint on the trucks?

Anyone who has been a member of a model railroad club soon realized that a way was needed to identify ones' own equipment.

A few dabs from a paint stick or marker would do the trick. Larger clubs soon needed additional colors, or combinations thereof to accommodate the growing number of members. A list of these color codes was maintained so that owners could be mated with their equipment when necessary.

At least that is my take on the color codes, maybe Bear has a different scenario?

Regards, Ed

[Mark R.]

My "maintenance train" consists of three of the masonite pad cars. I spray the first one with some contact cleaner so it's damp and run the second and third dry. 

A quick scrub on a piece of 40 grit sandpaper cleans them quickly after a few laps.

Have used them for so many years, I actually had to replace the masonite pads due do being worn down so thin !

Mark.

[mlehman]

Bear,

Yes, a very useful writeup. Good to have the occassional reminder about basics like this that make life easier.

[hornblower]

I built one of these but with one or two subtle changes.  I didn't have any Masonite so I made my cleaning pad from a rectangle of sheet aluminum.  I bent the leading and trailing edges up slightly so they wouldn't snag on any track work.  Obviously, the aluminum rectangle would cause a direct short across the rails so I faced it with a piece of Creatology Fun Foam.  This product is an approximately 2mm thick craft foam sheet material that I was already using for roadway paving surfaces and other uses.  I attached the nails to the aluminum rectangle using CA and drilled matching holes in the floor of an Athearn Blue Box 40 ft boxcar. This allows the cleaning pad to float under the boxcar but I thought it might clean better with a little more pressure on the rails. However, I didn't want to use springs as that could affect the tracking of the boxcar. Instead, I cut a piece of hardwood to fit inside the boxcar with about 1/4" clearance on all sides.  I then drilled holes in the botom of the wood block to match the nails on the cleaning pad.  I removed the body of the boxcar from the floor, passed the tips of the cleaning pad nails throught the holes in the floor, then pressed the wood block onto the tips of the nails but only far enough to ensure the cleaning pad would contact the rails before the wood block would contact the boxcar floor.  I replaced the car body and it was ready to go.  I have run this car regularly over the past four years and it works quite well.  The original piece of Fun Foam is still going strong with very little wear.  Best of all, since it is absorbent, I can "charge" the Fun Foam pad with a little alcohol if I need a little extra cleaning power.  I clean the pad by wiping it with a paper towel wetted with alcohol and it is amazing how much black gunk comes off on the paper towel.

[davidmurray]

hon30critter

I'm not familiar with the term 'clout' nails. They look like roofing nails to me. Is that what they are?

Dave: I googled clout nails, and they were listed as roofing felt nails, with prices quoted in US dollars.

Like you, I always called them roofing nails.  They even come in copper.

Dave

["JaBear"]

hon30critter

I'm not familiar with the term 'clout' nails. They look like roofing nails to me. Is that what they are?

Gidday Dave, ah the joys of colloquialisms and or products being known by their specific brand names.   Had I been writing just for New Zealand readers I would have put, “Gib board Clouts”, so I used the term clout nail which I mistakenly thought would be more universal.

To answer your query I did further research and my translation of “Gib Board Clouts” would, as far as I can see, be “Drywall Nails”. However looking at the Lowes website, (no we don’t have Lowes here), I see drywall nails are serrated right along the shank. The closest I can relate to, on the Lowes site are “Roof” nails. 

https://www.lowes.ca/nails/tree-island-10-gauge-hot-dipped-galvanized-smooth-roofing-nails_g1841465.html

Edit: I see DavdMurray has come to the same conclusion.

hon30critter

Just out of curiousity, what is the purpose of the yellow and green paint on the trucks?

Yes Ed is correct, who owns which of the half dozen or so identically numbered Athearn BB Santa Fe Boxcars, on the Club layout at one time can be problematic at the best of times.

It comes as no real surprise but it is good to confirm that others have had similar satisfaction with what is a simple but clever item.

Cheers, the Bear.

[SouthPenn]

I made mine in a gondola car using a Wathers cleaning pad. I made a 1/2" hole in the gondola car right above the pad. I add weight through the hole to the top of the pad. The weight can be adjusted without removing the car from the track.

South Penn

[G Paine]

Gidday Dave, ah the joys of colloquialisms and or products being known by their specific brand names

As Sir Winston Churchill said, referring to British and American English, "We are two peoples separated by a common language."

[G Paine]

I built one of these track cleaners a few months ago for our HOn30 narrow gauge. I started with a Micro Trains N scale boxcar, and added a Masonite slider glued to a couple of nails similar to what was described above. Sorry, no pictures.

[BRVRR]

Bear,

Thanks for the pictures and the tutorial.The idea appears simple enough.

 I have a bunch of Athearn BB box cars so I'm sure two or three of them will soon be 'track cleaning' cars.

Thanks again.

[hon30critter]

Ed and Bear:

Thanks for the explanation of the colours. I can certainly see the need.

Dave

[C&O Fan]

I have a fleet of track cleaning cars even made a slider pad for a dummy loco

and a few roller type cars

The roller in the caboose is an old round electric motor wrapped with a strip of paper towel

You can see them in action here>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oz0DDzRXGE

[WSOR 3801]

For HO scale, A-Line has a kit for a slider.

http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/116-10003

I have one mounted in a MDC 40 foot boxcar, one with the plastic floor to avoid hassles drilling through the metal weight.  I added weight to the car over the trucks, as these cars are a bit light.  I end up using very often, just set it on the track and go, no fluid to add or fiddle with, no roller to futz with.  Sand off the dirt once in a while.