Model Railroading > Track Cleaning

My co-worker who is new at model railroading came to me for help about how to keep his HO tracks clean, but I have no good answer other than to clean it with a rag and alcohol daily. Maybe one of you Odell railroad gurus can help. Here is his exact question:

"Why do I have to clean my rails on my 8x4 track so much? Seems like every other week I have to run the cleaner on them. Any ideas?"

Thanks in advance for any help.

What's the environment like?  Any answer will depend on where he lives, how open the room is and even the kind of track he is using.  He may be using brass track which is commonly in need of cleaning.

Rick

And if he is new, ask if he has plastic wheel's  on his rolling stock (Good to ask as new hobbyist may not know plastic wheels are culprits )

Ed Stewart
Jacksonville, FL

From what a number of us have seen it's plastic wheels and/or Kadee wheels are the most obvious source of 'gunk'. Remove them and a large psrt of the work is done. The gunk does seem to live on though, seems to be electrial arcing, lubricants, air borne 'stuff' etc.

We have a number of ideas in the archives, try dirty track or dirty wheels, or gunk. The remedy does seem to be cleaning with 'alcohol'. There are some miracle contact cleaners and similar, there's also different applicators. some folks like to drage a piece of masonite around undere a car or caboose, there are kits and cars on the market for doing that.

Forgot to say to avoid track with brass rails as well, they oxidize really bad, causes stalling problems and dirty track symptoms.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/04/15 23:26 by TCnR.

Running trains regularly works for me...

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

Of course, this brings up the old discussion of whether to use sqeaky dry clean track or 'wet' track using Wahl clipper oil, Rail Zip, ATF or some other oil to reduce arcing and keep down oxidation.

Our club uses alcohol roller pad car and masonite boards.  Every few months we will shut down operations and do an old fashioned manual cleaning with brite boys and erasers.  Layout is in a humid environment.

i have had good luck with graphite sticks-which are discussed here: 
http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/17181
and sold at most hobby/art supply stores.  My basement layout has humidty control, but is probably dustier than most finished basements (it's a "Michigan basement, which means it was originally a crawlspace, then they came in about 4 feet and dug out a basement with 5' high walls, the space between the outer foundations and the inner basement walls is filled with dirt). I only tell you this to give a feel for the situation I have, and I've tried a LOT of other products, NoOx, Automatic Transmission fluid, and graphite is so simple and it just plain works...
Also, metal wheelsets are your friend, plastic ones tend to collect dirt like nobody's business.  Finally, the more you run trains, the less you have to clean track!  So take that as an excuse to play on the layout more!