Cleaning track with Goo Gone?

[gpharo]

One quick question about cleaning track with Goo Gone.

I spray Goo Gone onto a soft clean cloth and then I wipe the tracks clean with the damp cloth.  However, do I need to get rid of the Goo Gone residue left on the track or not? 

Thanks

 

 

 

[PB&J RR]

I personally do not recommend using goo gone, its a solvent and can dissolve the glue and paints ussed to apply weathering and ballast.

[fifedog]

It should disapate on it's own.  Save them old sweat socks and turn them inside out; I've found they work best with GOO-GONE.

[gpharo]

At this point on my layout I have no ballast or weathering on my track, but good to know in the future.  I just want to spend an hour or two to clean negleted track this weekend.

 

 

[D&HRR]

  I have used Goo Gone on several occasion's with a centerline car and I liked the results but, you need to clean more often due to the residue left behind. I did see that no matter how much you try there is always residue left behind. I since started to use carb. cleaner and it works great, no residue and it eats the crud without a problem. You must be careful with this method because it is very flammable, the fumes are nasty and if you have plastic frogs it can eat them as well but not too bad if you use it in moderation.

[loathar]

I take a heavy duty paper towel cut into strips about 1.5" wide. I rap it around a piece of paint stir stick or roadbed. Squirt the Goo Gone or Goof Off on that and wipe it over the rail heads. That way it doesn't get down onto the paint or weathering. It's a good idea to go back over it with rubbing alcohol to get up ant residue.

[mondotrains]

I have used Goo Gone also but like Loathar said, be absolutely sure to go back with 70% rubbing alcohol to remove the residue left by the Goo Gone.

 

Hope this helps.

Mondo

 

[canazar]

Rubbing alcohol....nothing better.

David B

 

Agreed.  Haveing 400 feet of track out in the garage in Phoenix, I have to clean regulary, much more so than most.   I have found 70% alcohol to be the best, over all cleaner.   Easy, cheap, safe.

 Also, my modualr club as found that works the best as well.   Goo-Gone does tend to leave a residue.   it can be good if you want to/or need to do a heavy cleaning.  But, would hurt to do onelast wipe with alcohol

[Wdlgln005]

The best way to use GooGone may be to follow a wet car with a dry one.

[selector]

For some odd reason, I never have to clean my track.  I occasionally have to rub off some black gunk near a gap, say at a frog, but I just use isopropyl alcohol.  It does a good job dissolving whatever that crud is, and it leaves nothing behind.

If I ever decide to tackle a full cleaning, and I probably will, I will try the gleam method.

[loathar]

For some odd reason, I never have to clean my track.  I occasionally have to rub off some black gunk near a gap, say at a frog, but I just use isopropyl alcohol.  It does a good job dissolving whatever that crud is, and it leaves nothing behind.

If I ever decide to tackle a full cleaning, and I probably will, I will try the gleam method.

Must be nice!

[selector]

Well, darn it, it is nice! 

But I feel a bit sensitive when I make this type of comment because I absolutely trust the fellows who say they have to clean a whole bunch of track every hour or so....what the heck are they living in?!!  Or, what are they using that leaves enough organic matter behind that the tiny sparks the wheels generate here and there create more electron-banishing crud? 

My message to them is....try two consecutive cleanings with isopropyl alcohol and see if that doesn't help to prolong their operating time between cleanings.  Don't forget, though, to be meticulous about placing only clean tires on the rails after that, or you are simply not doing yourselves any favours.

[tatans]

Now I'm assumimg the track you are trying to clean is BRASS, right ? ? because as we all know nickle silver  is SO much better than brass, ! ! so all these hints on cleaning can only be for brass track. All the hype we hear of the wonders of N/S track and how wonderful it is and how awful brass track is, I find it  incomprehensible you could be referring to cleaning the wonder-track N/S--- a previous forum on a bunch of us brass track users certainly reinforced the use of brass track, it's not the evil metal that you would have us believe, ALL track has to be cleaned,   you bought into the manufacturers propaganda hype and there you are cleaning track. Send me all the brass track you have been throwing out.

[jacon12]

I use Goo Gone on my home layout and so does the club I'm a member of.  One thing for sure, if you do use it be sure to wipe down the rail afterwards with a CLEAN cloth to remove as much residue as possible.  It's a lotta work to do it twice but the Goo Gone does remove 'thingys' from track other methods have problems with, although I've yet to try the alcohol method.

JaRRell

[Flashwave]

The Naptown ind White River used Goo Gone recently and hted it, so they're gonna probably go with CRC. (?) you can get it in Lowes I know and probably other hardware stores. it comes in a spray can

[riogrande5761]

user="PB&J RR"]  personally do not recommend using goo gone, its a solvent and can dissolve the glue and paints ussed to apply weathering and ballast.

Seems intuitive that you wouldn't want to apply GG to the ties or ballast etc.  Just the rail.  ;-)

[Gandy Dancer]

Now I'm assumimg the track you are trying to clean is BRASS, right ? ? because as we all know nickle silver  is SO much better than brass, ! ! so all these hints on cleaning can only be for brass track. All the hype we hear of the wonders of N/S track and how wonderful it is and how awful brass track is, I find it  incomprehensible you could be referring to cleaning the wonder-track N/S--- a previous forum on a bunch of us brass track users certainly reinforced the use of brass track, it's not the evil metal that you would have us believe, ALL track has to be cleaned,   you bought into the manufacturers propaganda hype and there you are cleaning track. Send me all the brass track you have been throwing out.

Sometimes satire is wonderful.

[ProtoWeathering]

Now I'm assumimg the track you are trying to clean is BRASS, right ? ? because as we all know nickle silver  is SO much better than brass, ! ! so all these hints on cleaning can only be for brass track. All the hype we hear of the wonders of N/S track and how wonderful it is and how awful brass track is, I find it  incomprehensible you could be referring to cleaning the wonder-track N/S--- a previous forum on a bunch of us brass track users certainly reinforced the use of brass track, it's not the evil metal that you would have us believe, ALL track has to be cleaned,   you bought into the manufacturers propaganda hype and there you are cleaning track. Send me all the brass track you have been throwing out.

Sometimes satire is wonderful.

Then again, sometimes it's not. 

[SteamFreak]

I don't know about all manufacturers, but I believe the ties on most track are made from styrene, which doesn't mix well with a solvent like Goo Gone. Loathar's method is the safest, since there's no danger of applying too much, but the smell alone is enough to keep me away from it for this purpose. I start feeling sick after breathing it too long, even with proper ventilation.

I had some brass track on the layout I had as a kid, and it was in a basement that was far from dry, but it never corroded. Held up just fine.

[fifedog]

All this talk of solvent odor and residue...isn't GOO-GONE citrus based?  Buddy and I've been using it for years, and all we've ever experience was--->clean track.

[SteamFreak]

All this talk of solvent odor and residue...isn't GOO-GONE citrus based?  Buddy and I've been using it for years, and all we've ever experience was--->clean track.

D'oh! It was late and I was thinking of Goof Off, which I wouldn't let near my models. I've never used Goo Gone, but if it is citrus based, it should be safer. I have seen citrus products capable of melting plastic, though.

 

[loathar]

Yep. Goof Off is really strong and solvent based. Works a lot better but WILL melt plastic. Goo Gone is the citrus based stuff. Using these is another reason I don't use acrylics to paint and weather my track. These cleaners won't affect enamel.