Question on dirt accumulation in Kato N scale RS-2/RSC-2

[voldemort]

PS- my latest track cleaning strategy is to use 1500 grit wet dry sandpaper rather than a track rubber.  I have lubricated it with some track cleaner.  I keep hearing people talking of the effect of the abrasions on the track attracting dirt etc.  Why 1500?  Because that's what I have.  I'd probably prefer to go to 2000, and would happily buff the rails with something like rottenstone if it helped.  So far, the trains run over it.  How long that will last, well, as my dad used to say when teaching 'all will be revealed in the fullness of time'

[peteski]

I've seen videos of people with hundreds of locomotives in their basement.  I find if I haven't used a locomotive for two months, getting it going is tough.  Once a couple of laps are under its belt, its fine.

What you are experiencing is normal and expected.

Any idea what those propulsion rich people do?

Yes, those "propulsion rich" people perform regular maintenance, both to the track and their locomotives.  There is no "magic juice" which will make your locomotive roster maintenance-free.  Making the layout room as clean and dust-free as possible, will extend the time between maintenance, but it will not eliminate it.
I've heard of layouts located in a "positive air pressure" rooms with only filtered air fet to the room, but that is an extreme example.

[peteski]

I have an ultrasonic cleaner that I originally got for reloading and cleaning gun parts.

I have used it with alcohol and cleaned some frame halves from locomotives that I had purchased that were over lubricated. 
I cleaned the motors by spraying them out with CRC QD Plastic Safe Electric Contact Cleaner. It worked well.
I never have used lighter fluid in my ultrasonic cleaner though. I know that it would be safe with metal parts, I wasn’t sure about plastics.
How long do you let yours run when you clean something with naphtha?
Thanks for the reply.

How long? Never timed it -- probably less tan a minute.

Lighter fluid (Naphtha) is perfectly safe on the type of plastic used to make the mechanical parts in our models.   A prolonged exposure to Naphtha might slightly affect certain paints used on our models and slightly dull styrene or ABS plastics.

Heptane and Nahphta (related family of solvents) is often used by modelers to dissolve wax remaining on Shapeways 3D printed parts.

As for safety, any time you have open container of flammable liquid, common sense caution is recommended.

[mmagliaro]

My son was working with a high tech company that does nano-silver.  For my birthday he got me a vial of the stuff.  It works.  100%.  Except that it wears off.  Its just in an acrylic binder.   

I ordered a graphite block a month ago.  With regards to conduction, if it touches both rails it immediately trips the circuit breaker.  Pretty conductive.  IDK how much the graphite will decrease pulling power of locomotives though.  Before I had this, I just used a pencil that I'd exposed the 'lead' on and ran them along the tracks.

I agree that conduction is my main problem.  I think there must be a solution out there.

I've seen videos of people with hundreds of locomotives in their basement.  I find if I haven't used a locomotive for two months, getting it going is tough.  Once a couple of laps are under its belt, its fine.  Any idea what those propulsion rich people do?

How did you use this "nano silver"?  On contacts in the engine?  On the rails? 
As for the graphite block, that comes as no surprise.   Even if the resistance is 1 or 2 ohms, that will draw plenty enough current to trip the breaker.  Straight copper would be near zero ohms, but that hardly matters in this case, with regard to tripping the breaker.

BTW, I was fooling around with some motor brushes today (like the ones in the Rivarossi motors), and they typicaly have resistance under 1 ohm (more like 0.3 to 0.5 ohm is typical).   So it's many times more than "zero" like a short piece of copper wire would have, but it's not very much.  They key in the axle point contacts isn't so much the resistance, but the amount of pressure required to achieve conductivity.  All materials have a different required contact pressure.  Somewhere on the internet, I was able to find a nice chart of the grams/cm^2 pressure needed for various materials, but now I can't find it.  I'll post it if I can turn it up.

[Tad_T]

How long? Never timed it -- probably less tan a minute.

Lighter fluid (Naphtha) is perfectly safe on the type of plastic used to make the mechanical parts in our models.   A prolonged exposure to Naphtha might slightly affect certain paints used on our models and slightly dull styrene or ABS plastics.

Heptane and Nahphta (related family of solvents) is often used by modelers to dissolve wax remaining on Shapeways 3D printed parts.

As for safety, any time you have open container of flammable liquid, common sense caution is recommended.

Thank you, sir.

[voldemort]

I painted the nano-silver onto the rails.  It wears off, is what I assume