Track cleaning car recommendations

[mmagliaro]

When things get really bad (like not touching the layout for months), I just resort to paper towels dipped in alcohol, and carefully wiped over the each railhead so as not to disturb any scenery or the rail coloring (as best I can).   It's not worth it trying to pull a track cleaner around, having the pulling engines load up with dirt, clean their wheels, then resume pulling the track cleaner around.

In answer to the other question: No, I don't use DCC, so I'm just powering the Atlas car off the track power.  Once it's up around 6 volts, it runs and cleans well, and Kato F units don't run too fast at 6v, so it's a good speed to clean the track.

[jereising]

I run multiple Aztec Predators.  If layout hasn't been run in a while, sometimes before the locos.

I'll run them with Han-D-Wipes, the first in line with either Goo Gone or alcohol, the rest dry.

Since switching to metal wheels, there hasn't been all that much gunk.  But what there is gets picked up by the dry rollers and removed from the layout.

[C855B]

... I'm just powering the Atlas car off the track power.  Once it's up around 6 volts, it runs and cleans well...

 

I have two of the Atlas/Tomix vacuum cars which have not been put to work yet. Your point is a not-obvious obvious - the vacuums are most effective at full throttle, cannot be run on DCC without conversion, yet on DC if you run at full throttle the train will move too fast to do the job.

External mounting of the decoder is genius! Put it on top, fabricate a box around it with maybe a hunk of screen material on sides or top, and it'll look like any number of Rube Goldberg maintenance contraptions deployed on 1:1.

EDIT: Heck, use the lighting function outputs for strobes! Oh, this is going to be way too much fun. 

[MK]

External mounting of the decoder is genius! Put it on top, fabricate a box around it with maybe a hunk of screen material on sides or top, and it'll look like any number of Rube Goldberg maintenance contraptions deployed on 1:1.

EDIT: Heck, use the lighting function outputs for strobes! Oh, this is going to be way too much fun. 

Light bulb: what about a stationary decoder?  (If it can handle the current of the motor.)

[Cajonpassfan]

For casual upkeep, I find a few Masonite pad-equipped cars pulled in multiple trains do a great job. But instead of using boxcars, I build cleaning "sleds" out of cheap, fishbelly gondolas. I lower them, cut the center part of the frame out and the weighted pad fits inbetween the fishbelly sides. When painted black, the pad isn't as objectionable as it is under a boxcar and so it gets used during op sessions. The "sleds" are interchangeable/replaceable, see below. The gon itself needs to be weighed also (1 oz.) to track properly.
Otto K.

[eric220]

I have two of the Atlas/Tomix vacuum cars which have not been put to work yet. Your point is a not-obvious obvious - the vacuums are most effective at full throttle, cannot be run on DCC without conversion, yet on DC if you run at full throttle the train will move too fast to do the job.

External mounting of the decoder is genius! Put it on top, fabricate a box around it with maybe a hunk of screen material on sides or top, and it'll look like any number of Rube Goldberg maintenance contraptions deployed on 1:1.

EDIT: Heck, use the lighting function outputs for strobes! Oh, this is going to be way too much fun. 

Actually, the Atlas/Tomix cars run pretty well on DCC using the 00 address without a decoder.  I'm still decoderizing mine, and I do plan on adding strobes to the top where the no-longer-needed power switch is.

[peteski]

When I need heavy cleaning, I'll just get to work with the brightboys, but I'd like something to periodically run to do some upkeep.

While I'm guilty of using the Briteboy for decades (on various layouts), now I think it it not the best thing you can do to the track.  It has a very coarse abrasive which scratches and wears down the railhead. I have now graduated to using: The KLINGSPOR sandflex HAND BLOCK (fine).  It is also a rubberized brick (larger than Briteboy) but with much finer abrasive. The brick can be cut into smaller sizes if desired. It works much better and results in much smoother railhead.



EDIT: spelling

[kgreen]

I can see having some sort of mechanical type of cleaning method for those with a larger layout.  I have a door layout which for whatever the reason requires that the track has to be cleaned everyother time it seems I run trains.   For me 90% alcohol and elbow grease .   For stubborn spots i use a peco cleaner.   Not sure if these are good or not.  Would the sanding block not cause scratches on the rail head?  Maybe the peco cleaner does also

Respectfully Kirk

[MK]

Pete, I bought this at the Amherst train show.  I didn't buy the entire cleaning kits as I can push this myself with a stick or figure out a what to mount it under a freight car.

http://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/Item/TT4552/page/1

They have the more abrasive grade blocks too for the stubborn layout.

http://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/Item/TT4551/page/1

Entire kit.

http://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/Item/TT4550/page/1

I have not open my package yet to feel it but visually it looks like a block of very fine pumice or something of the like.  Certainly much much finer than a bright boy.  A bright boy may do the job but it leaves fairly large, but microscopic, gouges on the tracks and creating pits for more dirt to be trapped.  Then you need to bright the tracks again, catch-22.

I may give it a shot tomorrow since we'll probably be snowed in in the metro NYC area.

[wm3798]

I believe this simple contraption is based on a John Allen design.  A couple of screws into a masonite pad, some weights, and there you have it.  The round weight in the middle is epoxied to the screws, and that part floats between the bigger weights, which are glued to the frame to provide solid tracking.


I put some walk boards and other details below the sill to mask the cleaning apparatus.

Lee

[MK]

Pete, I bought this at the Amherst train show.  I didn't buy the entire cleaning kits as I can push this myself with a stick or figure out a what to mount it under a freight car.

http://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/Item/TT4552/page/1

They have the more abrasive grade blocks too for the stubborn layout.

http://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/Item/TT4551/page/1

Entire kit.

http://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/Item/TT4550/page/1

I have not open my package yet to feel it but visually it looks like a block of very fine pumice or something of the like.  Certainly much much finer than a bright boy.  A bright boy may do the job but it leaves fairly large, but microscopic, gouges on the tracks and creating pits for more dirt to be trapped.  Then you need to bright the tracks again, catch-22.

I may give it a shot tomorrow since we'll probably be snowed in in the metro NYC area.

OK, I finally had some time to break open the package.  I was surprised, not fine pumice or the like at all.  It's like very firm but hard eraser!  What threw me off is that looking at it there are some VERY fine shimmering particles in it.  It looks like some slurry was made before forming the block.  Feel wise I don't feel anything gritty but I'm sure they are in there from the shimmering.

So I ran it over a small section of my layer which has been dormant for 5 years.  With bare fingers, not much of a residue was transferred.  But with this block, wow!  I was surprised how much it picked up.  Time to do some manual work. 

I'm thinking afterwards when all is said and done, I can probably make a car like what Lee did above or others have done with the Masonite pad and use this block instead.

[Ron McF]

I have a Roco cleaning car ('slider'), and a couple of home-made sliders that look like this with the body removed:


I run the 3 sliders between two SD24s, and regularly clean the loco wheels as well as the cleaning pads.

The train does a pretty good job on the mainline and double ended sidings, but it's a slow way to clean industry sidings, yard tracks, etc. (which often have cars spotted on them.)  For those tracks I use a piece of cloth wrapped around a small block of wood, with a squirt on the lighter fluid.


Details are provided here: https://gulflines.blogspot.com.au/p/track-and-wheel-cleaning.html

Regards,
Ron

[peteski]

So I ran it over a small section of my layer which has been dormant for 5 years.  With bare fingers, not much of a residue was transferred.  But with this block, wow!  I was surprised how much it picked up.  Time to do some manual work. 

This is a very common mistake modelers make. What you see as dirt (dark residue) is actually the fine nickel-silver particles removed by the abrasive and remaining on the cleaning block.   It is not dirt or grunge. Finely powdered nickel-silver is dark in color.  You could take a clean piece of nickel-silver and rub it with an abrasive block and you will see that dark residue left on the block.

[MK]

That's interesting Pete.  I did not know that.  So the only way to know if the tracks are "clean" is to run some trains and see if they stutter or the lights flicker?

[Ron McF]

So the only way to know if the tracks are "clean" is to run some trains and see if they stutter or the lights flicker?

Or wipe it down with a non-abrasive cloth and lighter fluid or alcohol.


Ron