Track cleaning

[hardcoalcase]

Ummm, you did lay the track "rails side up", right? 

Jim

[robert sylvester]

 I have tried them all and have had some success with some and not so much with others. Several years ago I was visiting a club in Jackson, Tennessee and asked the owner how he managed to keep his track clean. He reached under the counter and brought out a bottle of Automatic Transmission Fluid, and said, "With this."

Taking a Q-Tip and dipping it in the fluid he runs the Q-Tip over the track and on the whees of his engines and it works. I have done the same thing now for 7 years and never use abraisives, (it removes the nickle plating), no bright boys, no other chemicals, then I place several drops of Labelle 101 oil around the layout on the track, I do not have to really clean the track for up to a year or more. I will sometimes wipe a clean rag to remove deposits once a  year then just replenish the Labelle 101.

According to the experts including Chuck Hitchcock, the oil along with the ATF increase the conductivity of the track making better contact electrically. I have been doing this for years and it works, no slippage, the trains roll right on through without stalling. Some of my engines are over 40 years old and run as smooth today as they did when I bought them. Some believe it gums up the works but I can tell you from experience that that is not the case. I ran my Atlas GP 30 ICG this morning for an hour-non stop, (it's 44 year old),  while I worked on something else and it never hesitated-even at slow speeds. Howard is right, you gotta run trains, and that is the best way to keep it clean and running, with a little 101 on the treads.

Robert Sylvester

Newberry to Columbia Line

[RR_Mel]

My first and second layouts were in west Texas and southern New Mexico where they have hurendous sand storms several times every year.  The sand wasn’t a problem with track but was very bad on the scenery.  I rarely needed to clean the track, vacuuming worked for sand on the scenery.

 

My next layout was in northern Utah next to the Great Salt Lake, the moisture in the air (humidity) was full of salt and that is bad news on almost any metal.  Vacuuming the dried salt was easy, cleaning any corrosion was manually cleaning the wheels and track with mild abrasion blocks every couple of months during the winters.

 

My forth and final layout is in the southern end of the California San Joaquin Valley, the dried Bay Area SMOG is by far the worst dirt or grime to get rid of as far as I'm concerned.  It sticks to everything.  Vacuuming only helps on the scenery but does nothing for the track.  I purchased a CMX track cleaning car and use ACT-6006 Track Cleaner and it was the answer for the dried SMOG on the rails.

 

About once a month I push the CMX with ACT-6006 at a fairly high drip rate followed by a caboose with a scrubber pad around my layout twice and the track is super clean.  It will stay clean for two to three months but I decided to do it monthly because it keeps all my wheels looking out of the box new.

 

The combination of the CMX track cleaning car with ACT-6006 followed by a scrubber works great for getting rid of the worst gunk I’ve ever had to deal with in my 67 years of HO Model Railroading, it should work anywhere on any layout.   

 

 

Mel

 

 

My Model Railroad   

http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/

 

Bakersfield, California

 

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

 

[wblock]

I do have a lot of plastic wheels.

[wblock]

I started using one about 3-4 weeks ago, but was out of town for abut 9 days when I couldn't use it.

[doctorwayne]

I'd guess that layout environment is the biggest factor in the need for track cleaning:  clean layout room, clean track, and minimal track cleaning required.

My layout is in its own basement room, with finished walls, a suspended ceiling, and a door.  The floor is concrete, and never swept, although vacuumed regularly.  The room requires neither heating nor cooling, so no duct work to introduce forced air from other areas, and no windows. 

I clean track, using a mildly abrasive block meant for cleaning electrical contact points, only after ballasting or adding scenery adjacent to the tracks.  Any further "maintenance cleaning" involves a shop vac, with either the brush or crevice attachment.

Most of my rolling stock is equipped with plastic wheels - I prefer them both for their innocuous appearance (no bright treads to draw attention to their overly wide wheel treads) and their quieter operation.  Metal model wheels do not sound like real steel wheels on steel rails, no matter how hard you may try to convince yourself.
Locomotive wheels are cleaned only after painting has been completed - running the locomotives keeps their wheels clean.

In my experience, proper room preparation is the first and most important step in minimising the need for track cleaning.  I should note that my layout is DC-powered, and may not be as finicky as some DCC-powered layouts.
I realise that not everyone can dedicate a room to just their trains, but I've seen too many layouts where the owner was in a rush to get trains running, and payed little or no attention to room preparation.  It's difficult (and unlikely) that most will go back to rectify that situation later, apparently preferring to spend a disproportionate amount of their hobby time cleaning track.

Wayne

[Track fiddler]

I agree with Lion. Plastic wheels rolling on the rails actually create static electricity that attract dust and other foreign contaminants like a magnet.

Don't learn the hard way like I did! Changing out your plastic wheels to metal. Make sure you pick the right axle widths for your trucks. There are different length axles.... Yikes!

[BroadwayLion]

Ahem... hem hem (As Delores Umbridge would say)

Cleaning the tracks is noly HALF of the problem. It will do nothing for you if you do not keep the wheels clean.

Locomotive wheals should be obvious, LION is astounded that no noe had mentioned that, but als ALL OF YOUR ROLLONG STOCK.

Them plastick wheels wheely pick up krud like you woodent believe. Gotta clean the with a knife of skrewdriver.

 

Of course 48 wheel pickup does not hurt either.

 

ROARING

[saronaterry]

chorister

Gleaming is the key!!!

 

Plus 1.

Terry

[chorister]

Gleaming is the key!!!

[Howard Zane]

If you look at actual rail when it is used frequently, the tops are shiny. With sparse use...not so.  A model pike is really not much different....just run trains as often as possible.

Also I use to run pike with analog Dynatrol 30 years ago with a 25 amp power supply. On one occasion I had to re-do a yard with new rail painting and ballast. I sprayed rails with Floquil rust, applied new ballast, and fixed surrounding scenery. The next day was video day and began with running a WM H9 2-8-0 with 10 or so hoppers in trail...not a problem as all ran great............but wait a minute! I had forgot to clean new rust paint from rail tops. How could this train run? It was the huge amperage which I do not recommend for today's digial everythings. This was a huge surprise for me and of course for Keller and crew. A year later a Central Valley wheel set gave up it's insulated side on a turnout. After scraping melted black plastic from surface and from the floor, I downgraded the amperage.

I'm still a fan of soft cleaning blocks in the very standard parrellogram (spelling?) shape. I've used various cleaning cars....even one with a spining pad, various solvents, and hair clipper oil. I still find the best solution is to run trains often and cleaning pads powered with elbow grease.

HZ

If some of you have Allen Keller's video #12, this was the opening scene.

[PED]

I have N scale Unitrack and here is what works for me. I have a two part cleaning strategy.... dry vacuum and wet chemical.

First step - I have a Tomix track cleaning car. Although it is made to do do dry vaccum as well as wet chemical cleaning, I only use the vaccum function. The first time I ran it around my track, I was amazed at the crud it picked up despite the fact that I had vaccumed the whole layout about one week earlier. I have installed a Digitrax DZ126 decoder in it so I can control the motor on/off/speed. 

Second step - chemical cleaning. Up to now, I have been doing this by hand but I just purchased a CMX Cleaning car to use. I don't have any first hand experience to report on it yet but it has great reviews.

The biggest challange I have is moving cars out of the way to do the cleaning. I don't have as much yard space as I would like to park trains (I like long trains) so I have to shuffel them around to do a 100% track cleaning. As a result, the mainline gets cleaned a lot more than the yard areas.

[j. c.]

have you tried a under car masonite track cleaner as wind born fine dust in az is a problem even in a house .my layout is in a steel building and often lays dorment for extended time.so the first train i run pushes two weighted box cars with masonite pads lead one is soaked with wahl oil.

[wblock]

  Also, I am using the Woodland Scenics Tidy Track rail cleaner and the Tidy Track wheel cleaner as well.

[wblock]

  You guys are right, I should have provided more info. 

  I am modeling in N scale with Kato Unitrack and DCC. When I say I have never had this problem before I am referrng to half a dozen layouts I have had over the years, but the most frustrating is a previous one in the same room under the exact conditions, in fact, with much of the same track. 

  At first I thought it might involve my engines, most of which are at least three years old, but I just got a brand new Kato Amtrak P42 and it is having some of the same problems, just not quite as bad.

  The layout is in a finished, air conditioned room, really just an extra bedroom. One variable could be that I live in Arizona, but I have been here for seven years, including that previous layout in the same room.

  I will look into the suggestions already made, but would appreciate any others.

[GNMT76]

I bought the pricey - but well-worth-it - CMX Clean Machine from Steve's Depot. It beats any other method I've used by a country mile.

http://www.stevesdepot.com/?nav=allcmxclean-machine-n

[gmpullman]

What are the environmental conditions? Is the room finished? The floor and ceiling?

wblock

I have never had this problem before.

As Ed mentions above, something changed. Humidity?

Would an air purification system help? https://tinyurl.com/ybzjprfw  Dehumidifier?

Tell us more about the room conditions, please.

Regards, Ed

 

[cudaken]

Wblock I was having the same if not worst problem. I am running HO scale DCC with Nickel Siliver track. I tryed some ATF on the rails and it worked great. Here is my orginal post about ATF on the rails.

 http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/263149.aspx

 It has been well over a year now. No extra crude has bulit up on the rolling stock wheels, no strange derailment problems and hardly have cleaned any engines wheels! I guessing I have cleaned may be 10 engine wheels in 17 months? I have had to spot clean a few spots but not often.

 Only down side is I have lost some pulling power. My BLI Rolling Thunder Bessiemer SD 7 can only pull 15 cars. But it was never a great puller. On the other hand my BLI B&O F7a and b still drag 35 cars with no problem.

 Later, Cuda Ken

[peahrens]

Please also advise on your scale, DC or DCC (and sound?), type of rail (nickle silver?), the layout environment (garage, in home, smokers, etc.), the type of wheels (plastic, metal) on your cars.  And how you typically clean your track and loco wheels. 

Are your locos stalling or only minor DCC sound hiccups from minor, quick contact interruptions?  Typical locos; e.g., 4 or 6 axle diesels, 0-4-0 steamers (can be difficult), etc.?

My example:  I have HO, DCC (w/sound), nickle silver track, metal wheels on nearly all rolling stock.  Layout is in upstairs of climate controlled home, windows virtually never opened (and no smokers).  I "gleamed" my track when the layout was built 6 years ago.  I run a CMX car with denatured alcohol about 3 times per year.  I routinely run a "John Allen" track cleaning (masonite pad) car in my freight train, using denatured alcohol (though lacquer thinner I think is more recommended).  I clean loco wheels just on occasion, spinning the powered wheels on an alcohol wet piece of paper towel held across the track.

There are many factors involved IMHO.  

Suggest also that you read some older threads for more insight, though folks here can help if you offer more specific info.  

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS759US759&ei=B_VQW4fBM5DysQWVoZOwCw&q=site%3Acs.trains.com+track+cleaning&oq=site%3Acs.trains.com+track+cleaning&gs_l=psy-ab.3...3215.6654.0.8282.15.15.0.0.0.0.186.1069.13j2.15.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..0.0.0....0.Q1kkHkjKJzk

 

[7j43k]

"I have never had this problem before."

Need more info:

This implies a "before" and a "now".  What date did the former change to the latter?  And what kinds of physical changes happened on or about that date?

 

Ed

[wblock]

  I've written about this before, but I am getting more and more frustrated. I literally cannot go more than two days without running trains before the track needs cleaning. I have never had this problem before. I can even see the dirt on the rails. Luckily I don't have a very big layout, but having to clean it several times a week is getting really old. Any suggestions?