gunkheadUgh, blackened wheels.
Not too big a deal for me. I actually prefer the consistency of blackening all the wheels. It's not too much of a chore to go through new acquisitions with a touch of acetone and clean them up later .
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
mlehman But often the blackening that's applied wears off and contributes to the gunk until they're polished nicely.
Ugh, blackened wheels. Best to polish the treads clean of the blackening ASAP, especially if they're pickup wheels on a loco. My Bachmann F9 spent some time running poorly until I figured out that the blackening on the wheel treads had degraded. Polished it away and BOOM - suddenly the loco was actually traveling down the track without having to be prodded.
Interiors and people figures make such a difference. Especially the people.
BRAKIEMike,I only clean track as needed and it may be days or weeks between cleaning but,I switch cars every day for 2-3 hours.
Ah, that may be it. There's always a daily deposit of dust unless you live in a clean room. If you operate over track that frequently, whatever is picked up by the wheels is going to be less on average per trip than a branch that's operated say, maybe once a week or less.
mlehman A layout that is regularly manually cleaned in its entirety is going to avoid the problems that plastic wheels contribute to, as well as those from any blackening wearing off of metal wheels.
Mike,I only clean track as needed and it may be days or weeks between cleaning but,I switch cars every day for 2-3 hours.
As far as plastic wheels. The first cars that was changed over to metal wheels was the cars I use at the club and around the 40th or so car I found a set of Athearn plastic wheels that had completely cracked and a tiny chunk of the flange was missing...I have no idea how this car manage to stay on the rails during the three day tractor show open house.
I will agree the shiny wheel thread and the smooth rollability bets plastic wheels any day.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
BigDaddy sfcouple In addition, Lacquer Thinner is very volatile and doesn't stay around long in the liquid form. Personally, I see that as a big problem using it indoors.
sfcouple In addition, Lacquer Thinner is very volatile and doesn't stay around long in the liquid form.
Personally, I see that as a big problem using it indoors.
That is an excellent point.
The only time the odor is noticeable is when the CMX car is being filled with lacquer thinner using the supplied tubing and syringe. And even then the exposure is minimal and only for about one minute. However, in all liklihood, if the air in the layout room was examined and tested some organic solvents would be momentarily detected in the low parts-per-million (ppm) or parts-per-trillion (ppt) level even though the odor is not noticeable by me.
My layout room has adequae ventilation and since the track cleaning car is infrequently used I'm willing to accept a very low 'time weighted average' of my exposure to what is probably a very low concentration of possible organic molecules.
However, I do take precautions, based upon my lifelong career as a chemist, whenever potentially harmful chemicals are used...as we all should. It is felt that driving on a congested 'freeway' is far more harmful to my overall health than a momentary use of lacquer thinner once every 3-4 months---hence I moved to a sparcly populated place in Montana where clean air is the norm.
Wayne
Modeling HO Freelance Logging Railroad.
BRAKIE mlehman I'm not 100% metal wheels yet, but am 99% there in narrowgauge (mostly because I have a few that need plastic wheels for insulation because of design/clearance issues. Mike,To be brutally honest I think there's way to much hand wringing over keeping track clean and plastic wheels. I didn't fully convert to metal wheels until about three years ago and I still don't see much difference since I clean my track as needed with 91% alcohol and a bright boy as needed. At slow DC or DCC speed switching I have no issues. Even my sound equipped locomotives seldom stalls.
mlehman I'm not 100% metal wheels yet, but am 99% there in narrowgauge (mostly because I have a few that need plastic wheels for insulation because of design/clearance issues.
Mike,To be brutally honest I think there's way to much hand wringing over keeping track clean and plastic wheels.
I didn't fully convert to metal wheels until about three years ago and I still don't see much difference since I clean my track as needed with 91% alcohol and a bright boy as needed. At slow DC or DCC speed switching I have no issues. Even my sound equipped locomotives seldom stalls.
Larry,
It's not something I obsess over, but metal wheels do make a difference. Plastic is not nearly so inert as is often believed. It sheds and deteriorates, contributing to gunk formation.
I'm not surprised that you see little difference in switching to metal wheels, though. A layout that is regularly manually cleaned in its entirety is going to avoid the problems that plastic wheels contribute to, as well as those from any blackening wearing off of metal wheels.
In my case, I don't regularly clean track layout-wide. In large part, that's because I do have extensive hidden track, so I do what I can to limit it getting dirty; I can reach it all, but it's just easier to do what I can to minimize gunk build-up. I clean sections of it when there's a need to, so taking steps to minimize gunk formation tends to limit the need for cleaning. The trains run fine, until they don't, then the track gets cleaned if there is reason to believe it's a track issue and not some thing else. In other words, I try to limit the effort needed for preventative maintenance to what's needed to give reliable operation.
There's also another aspect of metal wheels peculiar to narrowgauge that's unrelated to keeping track clean. NG rolling stock tends to be on the light side, so the easiest, best way to get some weight aboard and down low where it does the most good is to run metal wheels. Even if they had no effect on track conditions, I'd still be running as many metal weels as possible for that reason alone.
That said, I've also bought plenty of Blackstone RTR rolling stock. It all comes with blackened metal wheels. When I can find it available, I buy the weathered versions, which have some additional overspray in some case on the treads.It's been a few years, but over a ~5 year period the bulk of those releases were acquired and placed in service. Wearing the treads shiny did contribute to noticeably more gunk on the track, but it also subsided once that was accomplished. On recent acquisitions, I've taken to cleaning the wheel treads as part of the inservice inspection, but the numbers are so small I can't tell whether it's made a lot of difference now that the fleet as a whole has been broken in and is not longer shedding gunky stuff in large quantities. But the stuff has to go somewhere is you don't take if off first.
There is one final aspect to metal wheels that is helpful in keeping things clean. You can easily tell when a metal wheel tread is clean, because it's generally some version of shiny. A plastic wheel may be clean, but it's much more difficult to easily verify that it is than a shiny metal tread generally is.
Henry:
Remember that you are not using gallons of the stuff (lacquer thinner), so the actual amount that will eventually get into the air isn't that great. If you are in an enclosed space that is not easily ventilated, and you are sensitive to it then perhaps you shouldn't use it. However, I wouldn't describe it as a 'big problem' under normal circumstances. Its not like you are doing this all day every day, and you aren't likely to blow the house off the foundation
I can't bring myself to spend the money on the CMX or Centreline track cleaners. What I have is two old Ribbonrail track cleaning cars. One has a tank for whatever fluid you plan on using, and the other has three felt pads that will mop up the excess. The car with the three pads originally came with rather aggressive looking stone grinding pads which I replaced with 1/4" felt. Since I don't have a layout I haven't been able to test them, but just running the three pad car up and down my test track by hand a couple of times produced some noticable black marks on the pads.
Here is the car with the abrasive pads replaced with felt:
Here is the car with the fluid dispenser:
I hope they will work as intended. They certainly didn't cost anywhere near what the other track cleaning cars would have.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
sfcoupleIn addition, Lacquer Thinner is very volatile and doesn't stay around long in the liquid form.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
mlehmanI'm not 100% metal wheels yet, but am 99% there in narrowgauge (mostly because I have a few that need plastic wheels for insulation because of design/clearance issues.
Never used Rail Zip, but I doubt it is 2-26, which is a CRC proprietary product.
That said, sounds like the same thing happens with RZ as it does with 2-26, but only if you don't clean the track first. Probably anything that is an effective solvent may exhibit the same problem of dissolving and mobilizing gunk on the rails if you don't clean first.
I'm not 100% metal wheels yet, but am 99% there in narrowgauge (mostly because I have a few that need plastic wheels for insulation because of design/clearance issues. Standard gauge is ~95% metal, hindered only by my budget constraints . They do help a lot. But often the blackening that's applied wears off and contributes to the gunk until they're polished nicely.
A couple of months ago a CMX track cleaning car was purchased, they are not cheap but when using Lacquer Thinner for the solvent the rails come out spotless.
When using Lacquer Thinner, which is a combination of several solvents, there is a possibility of the thinner attacking plastic ties; however my track and turnouts are hand built using wooden ties so this isn't a problem for me. However, the only thinner dispensed from the CMX car goes right onto an absorbent pad and I've never seen any of the solvent on the ties. In addition, Lacquer Thinner is very volatile and doesn't stay around long in the liquid form.
SWA737 I was wondering if it is OK to use plain old rubbing alcohol ( 70% isopropyl alcohol ) to clean track. I have a rather large railroad and have found the alcohol does a good job. I have only clearned about a 10 foot section and it works very well. My question is, before I clean the rest, does anyone see an issue with potential track damage? It immediately takes the black carbon right off the rail heads. Trains run great right after cleaning with this. Using code 83 nickel silver Thanks, Rob Cleaning just the top of the rail is only half the job, remember the wheels have flanges which transfer what is on top to the inner sides of the rail and back. Alcohol 90% or better is excellent, make the label says pure. Rubbing alcohol may contain added items which may causes gumming.
I was wondering if it is OK to use plain old rubbing alcohol ( 70% isopropyl alcohol ) to clean track. I have a rather large railroad and have found the alcohol does a good job. I have only clearned about a 10 foot section and it works very well. My question is, before I clean the rest, does anyone see an issue with potential track damage? It immediately takes the black carbon right off the rail heads. Trains run great right after cleaning with this. Using code 83 nickel silver Thanks, Rob
CNSFall metal wheels, over 50 cars were still running around on plastic wheelsets. Although some of the metal wheels were dirty it seemed to be mainly the plastic wheels which were the culprits here (they were older, harder to clean and in fact on another forum discussion here on MR some posters suggested that the plastic itself actually decays and softens over time, becoming a major source of the crud).
Actually that black crud is made up of several things including human and pet dandruff,electrical residual, dustmites, human skin flakes,bug droppings etc. Changing to metal wheelsets does help and will need less cleaning. This was covered in a MR article several years ago..
dmikeeCAUTION: do not use an abrasive track cleaner - it will leave tiny scratches on the rail head and attract dirt and grime.
I been using a Bright Boy for 60 years and those scratches you speak of you will need to zoom 10x with a microscope to see them according to a article in MR years ago.
If the track is very dirty, use the 90% alcohol to give it a basic cleaning. CAUTION: do not use an abrasive track cleaner - it will leave tiny scratches on the rail head and attract dirt and grime. For repeated cleaning nothing works like the masonite track cleaning cars. CRC 2-26 (from Home Depot's electric dept.) is then applied SPARINGLY at times, especially on switches and track joints. As an added bonus, CRC 2-26 does an outstanding job cleaning wheels and contacts.
mlehman kasskaboose Should I return the 2-26 or use it with the rubbing alcohol? I wasn't sure whether the alcohol and 2-26 combination is necessary. What I do is get the track clean with alcohol, then apply the 2-26 very sparingly to aid contact. You can also think of alcohol as your everyday, go-to cleaner, while the 2-26 is your annual tune-up. With track treated with 2-26, I only clean with alcohol when something gets it dirty. This could be due to ballasting, other scenicking, dust and other deposits from the air, etc. If the track needs a thorough cleaning for some reason, then I will re-apply the 2-26 to freshen it. Just running equipment spreads the 2-26 enough from the limited areas I reapply it to so that reapplying it more generally isn't really necessary.
kasskaboose Should I return the 2-26 or use it with the rubbing alcohol? I wasn't sure whether the alcohol and 2-26 combination is necessary.
Should I return the 2-26 or use it with the rubbing alcohol? I wasn't sure whether the alcohol and 2-26 combination is necessary.
What I do is get the track clean with alcohol, then apply the 2-26 very sparingly to aid contact. You can also think of alcohol as your everyday, go-to cleaner, while the 2-26 is your annual tune-up.
With track treated with 2-26, I only clean with alcohol when something gets it dirty. This could be due to ballasting, other scenicking, dust and other deposits from the air, etc. If the track needs a thorough cleaning for some reason, then I will re-apply the 2-26 to freshen it. Just running equipment spreads the 2-26 enough from the limited areas I reapply it to so that reapplying it more generally isn't really necessary.
Nice explanation. Thanks! I'll use both the alcohol and 2-26, per your suggestion. I need to get the loco running after it's been sitting dormant for a few months while I was working on other matters.
[quote user="Marty C"]
Earlier in this thread someone mentioned using a masonite car in each train. My layout is in two bays of a three car garage. Keeping the track clean was always a chore. I bought one of the masonite kits and used it as a template to make four or five of my own. mounted to 40ft box cars they do a good job keeping the grunge down and the rails polished. A couple of penny nails and a small piece of masonite mounted rough side down has significantly reduced my need to do extensive cleaning and is very inexpensive. Mostly now I only need to spot clean around the switch points.
Marty C
[Buho]
ricktrains4824I will be trying the ACT-6006 when I get some, but have never used CRC 2-26. I have also tried other various "track cleaners" that have been made by various manufacturers, but the Isopropyl works just as good, and is cheaper. (And easy to get!) Many really like ACT-6006 though, so to be fair, I need to try it out before I say Isopropyl works just as well as it.
I do use ACT-6006, mostly on the rare ocassions when I run my Centerlines to clean hidden track. It doesn't evaporate as quickly as alcohol. It doesn't seem to be quite as effective or persistent as 2-26 in promoting contact. So for some situations it works better than the other two.
I currently use just plain Isopropyl alcohol myself, in a track cleaning train, has a CMX car, a centerline car (run dry as a mop-up car) and a slider car. (Excuse to run a caboose, as a work train on my railroad requires a caboose...)
I run it "backwards", with the caboose leading, then the CMX, then the centerline, then the slider car, then locomotives. (Hence the rule requiring a caboose, aka "shoving platform"...)
I will be trying the ACT-6006 when I get some, but have never used CRC 2-26.
I have also tried other various "track cleaners" that have been made by various manufacturers, but the Isopropyl works just as good, and is cheaper. (And easy to get!) Many really like ACT-6006 though, so to be fair, I need to try it out before I say Isopropyl works just as well as it. I have found only very slight diffeence in the 70% Vs 90% debate, the 90% works just a slight bit quicker, as it is just a slight bit stronger. The warning on paint however is a good one... If your CMX car is set properly, no issues, just be careful when refilling!
When extremely bad, I do have the WS "TIDY-TRACK" track cleaner, but will only use the felt pads with it, nothing abrasive. And, I will wet the pads with Isopropyl.
Ricky W.
HO scale Proto-freelancer.
My Railroad rules:
1: It's my railroad, my rules.
2: It's for having fun and enjoyment.
3: Any objections, consult above rules.
LenS Just be careful as the alcohol could take the paint off the sides of your rails. We use the masonite glued to a wood block at our club. Len S
Just be careful as the alcohol could take the paint off the sides of your rails. We use the masonite glued to a wood block at our club.
Len S
And if accidentally dripped onto your models it will leave spots where it removed the paint.
You only need very little 2-26 and it is persistent. I wouldn't use it to clean track. In fact, if you apply it to dirty track it tends to mobilize the grunge on it by acting as a solvent. Best to clean with alcohol first, as it evaporates and doesn't persist, then sparingly apply the 2-26 to the clean rail.
My experience is that you then only need to spot clean track, as the 2-26 tends to keep it clean.
I use just tiny bit of the CRC 2-26 on the pivit points of turn outs, and I also use it on my Kato SD45's, where the axles make contact with the pick-up strips. It's more of a lubricant for electrical connections.
I never tried it for track cleaning. I use the alcohol.
Mike.
My You Tube