Model Railroading > Lionel HO track cleaning car TC-0039 questions

I came across this HO track cleaning car made by Lionel but there was no instructions. I have some questions and was wondering if someone on this forum might be able to shed some light to the answers to my questions. 
1. Back in the compartment where it shows TC0039 there is a slide switch that shows "OFF" and "ON". Any idea what that controls? 
2. When this car is placed on the track there is a humming sound that sounds like a motor inside the cab. Any clue as to what that sound is from? 
Thanks for any information provided.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/21 12:03 by Pattenburg.

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The brushes that should be on the bottom of the plungers rotate, that's what the on/off switch controls, the motor should control that rotation, pulls about 4-12 volts DC from the tracks depending on engine speed.

There's really not a lot of weight on the brushes so any newer design cleaner will work better. They were blown foam so you could re-craft the pads themselves. The liquid cleaner is added by droplets down the inside of the plungers

Your museum piece is in better shape than mine!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/21 13:03 by RichM.

Thanks for the information about this car. As for the foam brushes, Ace Hardware had some self stick foam pads that are the same size as the rotators on the bottom that I think will do the job. The original foam was pretty beat up so these pads are a good upgrade. Stay safe and well!

any idea how old this Lionel piece might be?

boejoe Wrote:
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> any idea how old this Lionel piece might be?

No idea regarding the age.

I can't recall when I received mine, I'm guessing around 1966-1968, but I got it with a collection of Lionel "operating" cars like the giraffe car and the reefer that had a revolving device that ejected steel milk cans onto a magnetic platform. Everything I was given was new, but I don't know how old the inventory was,

boejoe Wrote:
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> any idea how old this Lionel piece might be?

HOseeker website has 4 pages of instruction dated 1961, but it doesn't show up in the 1961 catalog (on his site). However, it does show up in the 1962 catalog, but doesn't appear in the 1963 catalog (rather, I couldn't find it).

I hope this helps.

Arved Grass
Fleming Island, FL