Track cleaning car recommendations

[MK]

My take on this NO-OX-ID stuff is that it similar to WD40: a thicker lubriicant dissolved in some sort of solvent (petroleum distillate).  Once the solvent evaporates there is a thin film of the lubricant left on the surface. With WD40 this is easily observed is some of it is put on a smooth surface (like glass) and left for few days.

I'll be curious about your experience - be sure to post your results after you start using it.

I'm guessing the same too Pete.  What it leaves behind I don't know.  I have a glass coffee table and I'll do the same with NO-OX-ID and wait until tomorrow morning.  Then I'm going to wipe off the excess as if the coffee table is a rail head.  Then I'll check with reflected light and see what's left.  There are just too many positive posts that points to something going on with this stuff.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

On a different topic (you know, the original one), here are some pics of the PRR rail grinder my dad did you camouflage his Roco "brightboy" car.

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[mmagliaro]

Regarding NO-OX-ID Special A

Tried it.  Can't vouch for it.  But I can't say it doesn't work, either.
Please read on.

I followed the instructions and cleaned a few sidings in a yard with it.  I left the other siding alone as a "control" group.  I tested the track at 1 week and then a few weeks later (can't remember, but "later" was less than a month).
My impression is that I saw no difference at all between the treated and untreated sidings.  The same engines would sputter and stall on both sets of sidings, and after I cleaned both with alcohol, good operation came back in exactly the same way.

There are two sources of pickup "dirt", however and that's why I can't say NO-OX-ID Special A "doesn't work" for sure.

Pickup issues could be caused by oxidation or by accumulated dust.  I think dust is a huge
component of these problems that is often ignored.  The rails may not be oxidizing at all (which is what NO-OX-ID Special A is supposed to prevent).  But if they are getting dusty, you will still have lousy pickup until you wipe them off.  It could be that folks who have problems with oxidation, but not with dust, will find that NO-OX-ID Special A helps them.  My problem, however is just the reverse.  Dust is my enemy.

It has always been true that the tracks inside my hidden areas have less of a problem than everywhere else, and I attribute that to the fact that they accumulate less dust in there.

The only sort of "treatment" I have ever done that I can say really helped was to use a hard stainless steel plate with a smooth edge on it to "burnish" the tops of all my rails.  Under magnification, I could see a lightly scratchy surface from when I had put all the track down and used 400 and then 1000 grit sandpaper to clean up the remnants of ballast glue.  After pressing and dragging the stainless plate across the rail tops, they definitely looks flatter and smoother, and I did get more reliable operation after that (some people do this with a nickel coin). 

Note, I said "more reliable".  I still have to clean track and I still have to vacuum and dust to keep it clean.

[chicken45]

On a different topic (you know, the original one), here are some pics of the PRR rail grinder my dad did you camouflage his Roco "brightboy" car.

(Attachment Link)

(Attachment Link)

I think that's pretty impressive!

[mgilger]

I've not had good luck using No-Ox, so I started using DeoxIt D5 and have had much better results.

If you have not seen this thread on MRH forum, it's a good read, or at least I think so.

http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/magazine/mrh2016-10-oct/track-cleaning-easy-way

Regards,
Mark

[jpwisc]

Thanks Mark! I’ve been cleaning my track the OF way, 70% iso on a small square of old T-Shirt wrapped around a foam block. I think I might try out the dust monkey and DeoxIT D5. It seems like a cost effective option.

[peteski]

Then there is always the transmission-fluid method . . .   

I'm not a fan of any oily stuff on the rails.  Yes, oil protect the metal surface against oxidation, but it also attracts dirt (which then sticks to the wheel treads), decreases loco's adhesion, and could soften traction tires (yes we often still use those in N scale).

[narrowminded]

Within the past three or so weeks I started running Dust Monkeys on all of my trains including the roundy round under my lady friend's glass top kitchen table.  After my first cleaning with Iso alcohol soaked into the pads, then clean the pad, then soak it and run again, about three times in a row until they were coming up clean-ish I just leave them on a car all of the time, running dry.  After five or ten hours running I check them, they do have black lines on them, so I clean them quickly in alcohol and put them back on.  There is little if any indication of wear so their useful life seems like it will be very good.  While they do seem to work well this far time will be the proof.

Let me add a few things to that summary.  I have one of those lit, overly bright, Kato cabooses.  It was a bit of a flickerer, at least  a blink through an occasional switch, and I had it in my plans to open it up and at least dim it but maybe even remove the lighting.  Without planning it, it proved to be a good test vehicle.  After running the dust monkeys for about the first hour,  all was running OK but then I noticed (not sure when it happened) that ALL flickering of the caboose had stopped.  That's a first for that one.  That was about two weeks ago and I do run trains, on average, 1-3 hours every other day, cycling around while I'm working on things.   It was impressive enough to me in the short time I used them that a couple of days ago I purchased another four pack so I have them on every caboose that runs with the idea being that if a train is moving the track is getting wiped.  They are very light, very low friction, and hard to imagine they could be effective but that black mark appearing on the pad isn't magic   Will it work over the long haul?  I don't know yet but so far it seems to be well worth the trouble, or lack thereof.   Things have been running pretty flawlessly this far.  Also, it occurred to me that with the wipe on every movement it may slow down wheel crud buildup, too.  Any crud on the pad is crud that would otherwise be on the rail or wheels.

I'll report back after a month or so but I'm at least sure it helps.  The degree to which it helps is yet to be proven.

[Lemosteam]

Just restarted working on my layout after nearly two years.  It is DCC. Flex track and switches have been laying around in my basement for that time.

I used my WS kit with 70% alchohol on the soft pads dark then light and then the dark and light rubberized pads after. Three out of the box engines ran flawlessly, a Bachmann K4 with sound, a Bachmann 44 tonner and a BLI E-8 with sound.

I originally bought the kit because of my other DC layout which has 180 degree inaccessible tunnels that the handle allows me to clean.  That layout has not been run for two years and was visibly FILTHY.  Even an ancient Bachmann 0-6-0 ran perfect. 

I love the kit so far, and would love to make or buy an in-train cleaner, but the new layout is a switching layout so the kit is my only solution on that I think, unless I want to fiddle with points and reversing the cleaner.

[narrowminded]

 
... unless I want to fiddle with points and reversing the cleaner.

Because those dust monkeys hang at what might appear to be an angle making them directional, one way only, and in general appear that they would be trouble over switches, catching on all exposed edges, I hadn't tried them.  In practice, the angle is gradual enough that it doesn't make them prone to wedging and they don't hang up on anything, anywhere, on my layout whether running forward or reverse over anything.  In that regard they have been a snap it on the axle and forget about it effort.  And they seem to be effective as noted.   Not sure if that was your concern but at the relatively low cost and ease of implementing it might be worth a try.

[mu26aeh]

I too have used the dust monkeys and are very happy with them.  I have 2 on one car, so they face in either directions, and then have 1 each on 2 following cars.  I have not had any problems with them catching any points, turnouts, joints etc and run them in both directions.  Usually some combination of 2 wet, 2 dry.

[Lemosteam]

Because those dust monkeys hang at what might appear to be an angle making them directional, one way only, and in general appear that they would be trouble over switches, catching on all exposed edges, I hadn't tried them.  In practice, the angle is gradual enough that it doesn't make them prone to wedging and they don't hang up on anything, anywhere, on my layout whether running forward or reverse over anything.  In that regard they have been a snap it on the axle and forget about it effort.  And they seem to be effective as noted.   Not sure if that was your concern but at the relatively low cost and ease of implementing it might be worth a try.

Nope, I was referring to the WS track cleaning kit with the extension handle and wand.  The first two steps use a type of compressed fiber that catches on points Ashly an with the rice of my hand, it would be easy to damage a turnout.

I really can't use anything that is meant for continuous running as I would have to constantly Move the points and reverse the engine/cleaner to clean the entire layout. It's just easier to use he wand.

[EdKap2]

E3,
I cut some masonite pads for both N and HO, but didn't go any farther.  You can have some to try, but will have to attach nails and select cars to convert...
E2

[jereising]

I'd be most interested in @peteski's take on polar vs non polar chemicals...

Last Oakvillle cleaning I used mineral spirits - got a lot more crud off than with either Goo Gone or isopropyl...

Bear in mind I use the Aztec Predator - one ahead of the locos with a wet roller, then four more behind the locos with dry rollers...(A most effective train, BTW...)

[peteski]

I'd be most interested in @peteski's take on polar vs non polar chemicals...

Last Oakvillle cleaning I used mineral spirits - got a lot more crud off than with either Goo Gone or isopropyl...

Bear in mind I use the Aztec Predator - one ahead of the locos with a wet roller, then four more behind the locos with dry rollers...(A most effective train, BTW...)

LOL!  I'm not a chemist, but I have no problem giving opinions (both solicited and unsolicited).  We do have chemist on TRW, and maybe they will give us a true scientific opinion.

In my experiecce the petroleum-based (non-polar) solvents work better dissolving petroleum-based greases and oils than polar solvents.  Im my view naphtha or heptane woudl be good to use. They evaporate faster than mineral spirits (which should work well too).  But those solvents might attack or swell traction tires (which should not be a problem when the track is allowed to dry before running models with TTs).

Alcohols seem to work too, and I think they are the most common liquid used for track cleaning (both commercially produced cleaning fluids and home brewed).

While I'm not a fan of using Goo Gone as I think  takes long time to evaporate, it is a bit oily and seems to leave residue, but lookign at its MSDS, it is mostly a petroleum based.

Ingredient                              CAS #                       Wt. %

Distillates (petroleum),
hydrotreated light             64742-47-8                  60 - 100

d-Limonene                       5989-27-5                    1 - 5

Orange sweet extract       8028-48-6                    0.5 - 1.5

So it seems to me it that should work as well as the mineral spirits.