Model Railroading > HO track cleaning cars

What is a good HO track cleaning car that the Trainoders.com community would recommend? I need one for a large layout. Thanks for any answers.

SantaFeRuss

No one car will do the job. Many clubs have a dedicated track cleaning train that runs prior to an operations that uses several clean/wiper cars. The first car is a roller pad with "Goo Be Gone" (or some other non-toxic solvent) followed by several other roller cars with paper towel or napkin strips to wipe the rail. Goo Be Gone works well BUT YA GOTTA WIPE IT OFF. Trains run with a "wiper car" with a piece of dry hardboard or laminate on the rails.

Basic rule is NO PLASTIC WHEELS as they collect crud.

Get a couple kits from A Line where you place a thin piece of fiber board is suspended from the floor of a freight cars. Build a couple and run them around the layout regularly and your track will stay clean.

Posted from Windows Phone OS 7

I'm pretty happy with an Aztec two roller car:

http://www.aztectrains.com/HO_3.html

They have other types as well, I should get the tank car or maybe just another roller car: http://www.aztectrains.com/hoscaletrackclea.html

A lot of folks grew up with 'Centerline' track cleaning cars:

http://www.centerline-products.com/catalog.html

A challenge is finding a good track cleaning fluid. The Electronics Industry seems to have some worthy concoctions to put onto the rollers, or into the tank car. There's a number of similar tank car or masonite pad designs.

Some of the other factors for keeping the gunk down are removing all plastic wheels, removing porous wheels with a blackening chemical (yep, Kadee) and try to keep scratches and sanding of the rail to a minimum. We have a number of track cleaning threads that have developed over the years.

I have had good luck with the following train:

1 Walthers car with the abrasive pad on the front.
Lots of loco power, usually a four unit set of proto SD9's.
1 CMX tank car with either 91% alcohol or lacquer thinner if things are really bad.
4 Centerline cars to pick up and scrub the rails nice and shinny.

One time it was so bad I ran with a second CMX between the four Centerline cars!

Jim

I just use graphite sticks (from an art supply store) and hand-rub them on the layout...
Graphite is a conductor, so if you tried to use it slung underneath a car to drag around the layout, You'd need two pieces.

Once your track is clean you should never have to abraisivly rub it again, if your cars have metal wheels,
your humidity isn't high, and you runs trains every couple weeks. Then use a CMX car with
91% alcohol in a train once every other month. At least, that's my findings on a rather large layout
I recently dismantled due to a move.

I really like the Atlas track cleaning vehicle. It's amazing what the vacuum picks up in the form of dust and debris.

I have the CMX track cleaning car. I use 91% alcohol in it and run a couple of old Atlas boxcars cars with home-made Masonite pads underneath. Surprising how much dirt this cleans off the rails.

Jim

The track cleaning cars help but are not a complete solution in themselves. Two large clubs I'm use 91% alcohol with white cotton rags and a wood block to hand clean track. This is the most effective thing we have found and have used it for years.

Plastic and Kadee sintered wheels cause a lot of trouble and need to be banned permanently. Likewise plated wheels will pick up/build up layers of debris. Plated wheels are not a total solution.

Operators need to clean their locomotive wheels frequently or before running. It's frustrating to be asked for help when a locomotive won't run and the wheels are caked with crap. It's obvious that they don't make time to maintain their equipment much less buy a putty knife to scrape the wheels. Stupid can't be fixed.

I remember that I had an Ulrich Track Cleaning car back in the day.
A 2" tank on the deck held a quantity of fluid that was piped down to a felt wiper on the track.
You unscrewed the filler cap to regulate the flow of fluid.
I don't remember what we used for fluid.

--Jim Baker

Great explanation, I've heard stories supporting it but no real info, sounds bad.
> -----
>
> Goo Gone (not "Goo be Gone") is predominately ...

Centerline Using CRC on the roller.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/14/14 14:29 by gp60.

I've had by far the best luck with the Aztec track cleaning cars in HO scale. Can't comment on other scales.
http://www.aztectrains.com/trackcleaners.html

Barry Draper

Lots of good advice! Thanks, folks. I will use some of your suggestions and create a track cleaning train or two. A large double-track layout should have at least 2 trains.

SantaFeRuss