Model Railroading > Preventing Oxidation

I am looing for a fluid or compound that can be brushed onto locomotive wheels to prevent oxidation. Do you any of your use a product like that? If so, what is the name of the product, where did you buy it?

Bob Perkins
 

Rusty wheels?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/09/20 11:30 by exhaustED.

There is little you can do to prevent exposed, uncoated metal from oxidation.  If you live in a high moisture, or high salt environment,  unhandled metal will soon oxidize.  In the case of HO train contact surfaces,  use will be your best friend.  Large collections that involve lots of time in storage, pre-op cleaning may be a necessity.  Some use various types of oils to form a contact friendly film that can somewhat protect contact surfaces involving the wheel, rail interface.   Oils can be fine for diesels, but spell big trouble for traction challenged steam locomotives.  I have recently been playing around with Goo Gone on a cloth, letting engines trade spinning wheels over the saturated material.  It seems to work fairly well as a cleaner and protectant.  I'm sure others will chide in with their tricks in the dcc age.  Good luck.

Would Wahl clipper oil be usefull?  Or say one of the rust buster preventer formulas?  Or are they too oily?

If your wheels are oxidizing, then fix the real problem and buy yourself a dehumidifier. Your driving around the problem. Bruce

brfriedm Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If your wheels are oxidizing, then fix the real
> problem and buy yourself a dehumidifier. Your
> driving around the problem. Bruce

^  This

The wheels are not rusty. They just tarnish. They get dirty very fast. Other than that the locomotive is a decent runner. 
The locomotive in question is a Walthers Trainline GP15-1. The wheels are not nickel silver. They appear to be a brass color. I would replace the geared axle sets if I could find some with nickel silver wheels, but I have not found any that would be a drop in replacement. Hence my question on preventing oxidation (tarnishing). 

I would change the mechanism out completely if I could find an Athearn GP15-1 frame, but those are not available either. 

Bob

 

rlperkins Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The wheels are not rusty. They just tarnish. They
> get dirty very fast. Other than that the
> locomotive is a decent runner. 
> The locomotive in question is a Walthers Trainline
> GP15-1. The wheels are not nickel silver. They
> appear to be a brass color. I would replace the
> geared axle sets if I could find some with nickel
> silver wheels, but I have not found any that would
> be a drop in replacement. Hence my question on
> preventing oxidation (tarnishing). 
>
> I would change the mechanism out completely if I
> could find an Athearn GP15-1 frame, but those are
> not available either. 
>
> Bob
>

If it's the part of the wheel that is in contact with the rail and it's a black colour then it's not corrosion of the wheel that's the problem. I've read elsewhere that it's the nickel in the rail that is oxidising and then coming off due to friction with the train wheels.
So you could try adding a thin layer of something to the rails...but this could cause other issues such as slipping maybe...
But the obvious thing to me is to just keep the rails and wheels cleaned.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/10/20 10:15 by exhaustED.

Contact cleaner. 

At East Bay Model Engineer's Society, back in the '80s, I learned to clean wheels on locomotives by laying a small strip of ordinary paper towel across the rails, soaked in Kerosene. Just run the locomotive back and forth across the wet paper towel, slipping the towel strip sideways as it gets dirty. It does an amazing job of loosening the crud that forms on the wheel, and once the volatiles evaporate, the heavier hydrocarbons reduce the corrosion rate. I've deviated from this over the years, substituting the cheap "Track Cleaner" that companies like Bachmann, Model Power, and Lifelike used to sell. I've since moved onto contact cleaner using the same method.

Nickle Silver's oxide is conductive. That's not your problem. Most corrosion inhibitors contain oils to repell moisture, and these of course will compromise the adhesion of your locomotives. Dirt, dust, and wonr wheels (plastic and blackened metal) will also get trapped by the oils, making electrical contact worse.

I also use a product called "DeoxIT" on wipers and electrical connectors.



 

Arved Grass
Fleming Island, FL