The club thinks anything on the rails is bad juju, so polishing was omitted.
Plastic wheels are strictly verboten.
Steve
If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough!
What type of HVAC system do you have? If it's forced air, what kind of filter is in the system? If it's one of the el-cheapo angle hair types, you are just blowing the dust and dirt around the room. You need one that cleans down to allergin level, the best you can get. You might want to look inside the ductwork to see how dirty it is.
The environment the layout is in has to be clean or you are just wasting your time cleaning the layout.
It's a combination of window units and portable units.
NWP SWP It's a combination of window units and portable units.
Is it more of a problem when those portable AC units are being used? That in itself can be movind the dust about the room. Humidity/ temerature changes within the space also can contribute to dust "sticking" on the rails and everything else. Don't know the space or the climate control in that trainroom. Early on before we had decent climate control, we had "fits"with benchwork/ backdrop expansion and some minor buckling as well during extreme humidity changes in the room. Now climate controlled and have very few issues.
Modeling B&O- Chessie Bob K. www.ssmrc.org
My opinion, based on ACTUAL EXPERIENCE, is that simply running trains frequently is the best method of track cleaning.And putting Tomar track pickups on a few locomotives will make contact troubles simply disappear, and the phosphor bronze shoes will keep track clean. This is again from experience, on a layout where some of the track is over 50 years old and has been in continuous use on a weekly basis."Track gleaming" is a LOT of unnecessary fuss and work to solve issues that have been more easily solved long ago.If you really, really want to help your club, convince them to install Tomar track shoes on some engines.
Disclaimer: This post may contain humor, sarcasm, and/or flatulence.
Michael Mornard
Bringing the North Woods to South Dakota!
SouthPenn What type of HVAC system do you have? If it's forced air, what kind of filter is in the system? If it's one of the el-cheapo angle hair types, you are just blowing the dust and dirt around the room. You need one that cleans down to allergin level, the best you can get. You might want to look inside the ductwork to see how dirty it is. The environment the layout is in has to be clean or you are just wasting your time cleaning the layout.
We put a high-end air cleaner on a new furnace eight years ago. With six Golden Retrievers, we needed it. Since we have had it the dust level in the house and thus the layout is next to nothing, well worth the investment. Made my wife's allergies all but disappear as well. I have four components of it to clean using the compressor every two months and the amount of dirt it collects is amazing. I just inspected our ducts as well and after eight years they are spotless.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Bayfield Transfer RailwayMy opinion, based on ACTUAL EXPERIENCE, is that simply running trains frequently is the best method of track cleaning.
I fully agree. I switch cars on my ISL daily and use a Bright Boy as needed which isn't to often.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
Window units are notorious for having extremely poor filtering systems. You can improve them by using cut to fit filter material. Most of this material is washable and is available in big box stores.
Gleamed with 600 grit, burnished and polished in 2006. touched up a few areas in 2015, Run DCC, masonite pads and steel wheels. Love it.
Different strokes for different folks though. Hard to see how this experiment, as described, will provide reliable results. Odd that none of the club members had never heard of gleaming.
yes, heard of gleaming before, never tried it ..
prefer no-ox, once every five years or so, just vacumn in between
All I know is, every train club I've ever been a member of would be grateful to have an energetic young member who showed an interest in cleaning track.
None of you are members of his club, so none of you have a dog in this fight. Let's stop trying to discourage the lad, shall we? I'm locking this thread so you all can move along.
--Steven Otte, Model Railroader senior associate editorsotte@kalmbach.com