Model Railroading > Worn electrical contacts on HO locomotive trucks?

Most of my dielsel locomotives and RDCs are 5 to 6 years old. They all seem to have difficulty making good electrical contact necessary for DCC sound. About the only loco that wants to run decently is a Bachmann GP-50. I have cleaned trucks with spray electrical contact cleaner. Locos make contact if you push down on them.

John

You're probably washing all the oil out of those trucks with that cleaner and leaving them with dry contact surfaces. Try putting a little bit of electrically conductive oil on them. Various users have recommended Wahl clipper oil, Rail Zip and a couple others. A drop on each rail and run around helps as well. Don't get heavy-handed and overdo it, but a little film helps current flow.

Thank you very much for your help. I had to settle from some Andis brand clipper oil. It took alot more than a few drops, but I have a few more locomotives operational now and over most of the layout. I have not checked the oil to see how conductive it is. Biggest problem seemed to be where contacts met the locomotive wheels and axles. With clean contacts and clean tracks more current seems to be getting to engines. The horns are louder and do not slow the engine down as much when sounded. The sound level problem came with the dirty track.

If clipper oil is good, what is better? In the process of doing literature search, I came across "Mager Oil" which is available in England.

John

DocJohn Wrote:
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> Most of my dielsel locomotives and RDCs are 5 to 6
> years old. They all seem to have difficulty
> making good electrical contact necessary for DCC
> sound. About the only loco that wants to run
> decently is a Bachmann GP-50. I have cleaned
> trucks with spray electrical contact cleaner.
> Locos make contact if you push down on them.
>
> John...
Check the treads on you loco trucks real carefully. Take a small flat-blade screwdriver and scrape across each one to make sure that the treads are indeed clean of any build-up. If they're not, here's a trick several guys use that works very well. You can take a paper towell, lay it on the tracks just ahead of the loco, put some alcohol on the towell, then slowly drive the loco's FRONT TRUCKS onto the wetted towel. Hold it in place and throttle it up so that the front trucks spin on the towell and the rear trucks maintain the electrical connection to power the unit. Hold it in place for 5 to 10 seconds. You'll be amazed at what comes off. Move the towell behind the loco, re-wet it, reverse the power to the loco and repeat the process. You may have to reposition the paper towell a couple of times until you get a clean spin of the wheels.
It's worked well for me.
Good luck.

Oh, and two guys here that have H U G E layouts, use a very thin film of WD40 on their tracks and swear by it... I've used both Wahl and WD40.