Track Cleaning - Again

[Scott1984]

No problems Chris!! I can see this is a topic that has a lot of conflict in it. I watched that video, makes sense to me. Thanks!!

[peteski]

Alcohol is a polar solvent so it attracts dust.

Ah, so this YouTube expert chemist said that. Seen it online. Gotta be true. 

EDIT:
Thanks for the down-vote whoever you are. 

Seriously guys.  Whether IPA is polar or non-polar is irrelevant. Remember, when the IPA (and any water in it, which BTW  is also a polar solvent) evaporates from the rail, it is gone!  As in "no longer present" If it is no longer present, why does it matter whether polar solvent attracts dust.  Remember? It has evaporated.  There is no "polar residue" when the polar liquid evaporates.  All you have to do is some critical thinking. 

BTW, you can take my explanation to be as accurate as the guy who says that polar solvents attract dust.  After all, you are reading in on the Interwebs. 

[Chris333]

Who knows what really works. People say that Kato Unitrak never needs cleaning. I'd guess that is because it is polished very good at the factory.

After painting my track I sand it down with 400 grit    but that is just to get the paint off. As scenery and glue gets finished I will start polishing those rails. Maybe 800 grit next. And keep going finer.

It is like when you prep something for paint, you rough it up so the paint will stick. The rougher the rail is the more dirt will stick.

Tried NO-OX and it seems fine, but is a pain to apply. I use graphite sticks, but I think the effect goes down the smoother the rails are.

Once my rails are the way I like I do use IPA to get the black crud off.    Then I spray CRC 2-26 onto a balsawood block and rub it on the rails.

[Scott1984]

WOW!!! This is some topic. Who would ever think that trying to keep model train track clean would be such a problematic subject. Chris your method makes sense to me and looks like it probably works well for you. I think that's is what it all comes down to. What works for you is the way you should do it. It is obvious that everyone has a different way of doing this. I think we need to remember that this is just a hobby, that is all it is. Something to take your mind off of everyday stuff and perhaps learn something about the history of railroads long the way. 

[MetroRedLine]

I also use DeoxIT, but a different formula. I use the more common D5 contact cleaner spray, which is available at a lot of electronic parts stores (I bought mine from All Electronics' (R.I.P.) brick and mortar store when they were in business, but I also have other local sources).

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I don't spray it directly on the rails; that would be a total mess. But I do use it for spot-cleaning - I'll spray some on a chunk of scrap cork roadbed and rub that over the rails on problem spots. For cleaning locomotive wheels, I do spray DeoxIT D5 on a paper towel, put that over a section of track and have one locomotive truck spin on it while the other truck rests on the uncovered rails while holding the loco as I apply power. Then I turn the loco around and clean the other trucks. I've also done the same with CRC, with the same kind of results.

I use the GLEAM method of using 600 and 1200-grit sandpaper on the rail tops, followed by a burnishing with a stainless steel washer. I never have to clean my tracks aside from vacuuming up a layer of dust on the tracks after 2+ months of inactivity and spot-cleaning problem areas like I described above. Last year I didn't run any trains between May and November and after the vacuuming the tracks and spot-cleaning one turnout, it's almost as if my layout never went on hiatus.

[Chris333]

Now we need to find out what's in DeoxIT D5 and CRC 2-26 to see if they are the same thing.

[MetroRedLine]

Now we need to find out what's in DeoxIT D5 and CRC 2-26 to see if they are the same thing.

If you really wanna know...

DeoxIT D5: DeoxIT D Series D100L (the pink concentrate formula used in the Larry Puckett video), Odorless Mineral Spirits 64742-47-8, Diflouroethane 75-37-6

CRC 2-26: Petroleum Distillate 64742-48-9, White Mineral Oil 8042-47-5, Butyl Stearate 123-95-5, Fatty Acid Ester 1338-43-8 and Carbon Dioxide 124-38-9

(Source: Product labeling on the cans)

If anyone is curious about those numbers, I chatted with my dad, who has a degree in Chemical Engineering, who explained to me that they correspond to specific laboratory formula batch numbers for those contents. He said an example is WD-40, which is a Water Displacement formula #40. There might be a WD-39 classified somewhere that might have a specific use for another application, but it's not used for the product that's known as "WD-40."

[peteski]

Interesting. Diflouroethane 75-37-6 (and Carbon Dioxide 124-38-9 in the other one) are just propellant gasses.
If all the ingredients are disclosed in the DeoxIT D5: DeoxIT D Series D100L, then the actual liquid is simply Odorless Mineral Spirits 64742-47-8.

[Chris333]

Used Odorless Mineral Spirits at work and it was called Stoddard Solvent. 

[jagged ben]

Ah, so this YouTube expert chemist said that. Seen it online. Gotta be true. 

EDIT:
Thanks for the down-vote whoever you are. 

Seriously guys.  Whether IPA is polar or non-polar is irrelevant. Remember, when the IPA (and any water in it, which BTW  is also a polar solvent) evaporates from the rail, it is gone!  As in "no longer present" If it is no longer present, why does it matter whether polar solvent attracts dust.  Remember? It has evaporated.  There is no "polar residue" when the polar liquid evaporates.  All you have to do is some critical thinking. 

BTW, you can take my explanation to be as accurate as the guy who says that polar solvents attract dust.  After all, you are reading in on the Interwebs. 

It's basically a certainty that some amount of the IPA and water doesn't evaporate quickly, or ever, although I very much doubt anyone has quantified that. And it would depend on humidity. 

That said, polarity isn't a problem because of dust.  It's a problem because the polar cleaning agent itself oxidizes the rail (or catalyzes oxidation) before it evaporates, especially in the case of the water in IPA.   And, because to the extent it doesn't evaporate or oxidize the rail before you run locomotives, it increases arcing and causes more soot.   If you push a cleaning car with an IPA soaked pad in front of a loco then the IPA is not going to all evaporate before the loco comes in behind, and the alcohol and water will be worse than a non polar solvent.  In any case, pushing such a cleaning car, instead of pulling, is probably one of the worse choices you can make because of not giving the solvent the chance to evaporate.  Just one reason I don't like the video Chris posted.   You want to push cleaning cars that don't use fluid, and pull cleaning cars that do.  You also need to regularly change pads (or sand them down, if using wood), and consider a 'wiper' car or two behind any fluid-using cleaning car.    Because the cleaning fluids just loosen dirt, they don't magically teleport it away.

[tehachapifan]

This has always been such a touchy subject!

Funny thing is, I've seen videos from guys who tout expertise on track cleaning, where their locos are sputtering and flickering along.

My expectation is to not have even a single ever-so-slight headlight flicker.

So, there's differing results expectations coming into play as well, it seems.

[robert3985]

Y'know, I've never had a problem with "dirty" rails...I mean, my rails get dirty, but I'm not always having to clean them just to get my trains to run smoothly.

When I get a problem, I just break out my ol' Peco semi-flexible Brite-Boy style abrasive track cleaner, and that does the trick.

I don't use any solvents of any kind, nor contact enhancers, or oils...but, I use my shop vac sometimes...like twice a year...to get particulates off the track.

I've got live-frog, DCC friendly turnouts that have live point rails too, so turnouts aren't a problem electrically.

I run a couple of hand-built Masonite board track-cleaning cars I made way back in my pre-DCC days in various trains I'm running, which keeps the mainlines clean most of the time.

I also am installing keep-alives in my locomotives since nearly all of them have sound decoders now...that takes care of most "dirty track" problems actually....

So, here on the UP between Ogden and Wahsatch during the late 40's and early 50's, it's smooth running the vast majority of the time...

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[John]

The topic is being discussed in this months MRH magazine again ..

https://online.fliphtml5.com/buups/famw/index.html#p=9

[signalmaintainer]

The topic is being discussed in this months MRH magazine again ..

https://online.fliphtml5.com/buups/famw/index.html#p=9

Emphasis on "again." 

[Philip H]

Emphasis on "again." 

Yep.  And in a couple years it will come up again. And a couple years after that.  It's life in model railroading.