I look at these big layouts with a lot of track and wonder how in the world do you guys keep the track clean??? I know DC it's not a big problem but DCC is so finicky that even my little pike needs some attention at least once a month...Any tips??? Roger
I use Life Like track cleaner . It is a blue color. I also use it to clean the wheels on the locomotives. I have good continuity with this product and I maybe clean my track and wheels twice in a year. Of course I have a double deck layout where the lower level is covered by the upper level which keeps the dust of the rails. I also use a box car with masonite pads underneath it and used as a track cleaner car. John
With Wahl, I don't understand the question! I once left a club because they used abrasives on the rail heads. The trains would not run. After moving to Knoxville, I visited the large Knoxville Area Model Railroaders club in Oak Ridge and saw a bottle of Wahl sitting on the layout. I joined that day.
For yards and long stretches of main line (especially double track) I bought the finest grit sanding sponges Menard's has and run that GENTLY across the rail head. I only use the greatly overpriced Bright Boys for cleaning around the guide rails in turnouts and other tight spots. I suppose using the sponges I may wear the rail down, over the next hundred years, but, hey.... GS
Here in the land of large layouts (most are 2000 sq ft or larger) there are several schools of thought. First, all of the guys here in KC insist on NO plastic wheels. Secondly, a finished ceiling above the layout helps. A number of the guys use Aero-Car Lubricants Track Cleaner and Conditioner. Others have used Wahl Clipper Oil as Doug touts. Others simply use Cratex to clean the rails. One thing that helps is frequent operations. Rick McClellan has said that when he had sessions twice a month, the railroad seemed to stay cleaner. One guy, after laying all the rail used increasingly finer grits of sandpaper beginning at 2500 up to 6000, then finished by burnishing the rail with the face of a large washer by sliding the washer back and forth in polishing motion. He did that two years ago and hasn't cleaned the rail since, nor has he had any problems. He says (and I agree) that you do not want to use Bright Boys; they scratch the rail and leave nasty residue behind, and any liquids will usually leave some residue that in most cases is a problem long term.
I haven't run anything in so long that I probably need to us an angle grinder to clean my rails. I have a Cratex, a Centerline car, one of the foreign looking cars with a vacuum and polishing motors in it and one of the tank car looking things that I can't remember the name of. I could probably run a whole work train of track cleaning cars after using the Cratex pad for a quick initial cleaning.
Thanks for the replies, I plan on building a big layout after I retire but the idea of keeping that much track clean seemed kinda overwhelming...When I was a kid I used rubbing alcohol...I figured you guys spent at least one operating session devoted to maintenance...Currently I use a bright boy & a liquid track cleaner made in England which works great but time consuming...Roger
I've heard this referred to as the "GLEAM" method. Some use metal polish, too. The washer is stainless steel. If you want to get people riled up, go to any of the other model railroad forums (MRH, MR), and ask about track cleaning. The latest is "non-polar solvents." I need to defer to the chemists on this site, but the argument is that alcohol is a polar solvent, hence it has an electric charge, thus if used for rail cleaning it leaves the rails charged and more likely to attract dirt. One should use non-polar solvents, such as mineral spirits, precluding the need to clean track as often. So I tried low-odor mineral spirits, but I found the smell objectionable and it left behind an oily residue. No thank you. I use the masonite pad, and occasionally wipe the rails with denatured alcohol. I clean wheels with denatured alcohol, too.
If you use Life Like track cleaner, be sure to use rubber gloves. This stuff will stain your fingers a blue color. Otherwise you can put it in a track cleaner car and have a trailing car with obserbant pads to wipe the residue off the rails.
This is a very good and interesting topic to me, Roger. While I really have nothing new or innovative to add, I'll second Keith's thought on Bright Boys. I have a couple that I no longer use. When residue starting coming off of them, I figured it couldn't be conducive to track cleaning. I have had good luck with the masonite pad technique that Gary has mentioned. I usually have a few small scraps that I can whittle to size and use until they look gunked up and then get a new one. I will say that this issue is one reason, among many, in my decision matrix to "go smaller" with a layout. It doesn't result in less frequent cleanings, but just less time and a less daunting task. The old club I belonged to 20-some years ago would basically have "section gangs" cleaning a specific section of track so that there was a process. I can't remember either particulars or the cleaning method, but the track stayed reasonably clean. Doug, I've always been curious: is the oil just wiped onto the rail with a clean cloth? We have at least 3 different Wahl clippers in our house for my son, the dogs and me, so we have plenty of Wahl clipper oil. I like the idea of using what we already have on hand, especially if it works. Best Regards,
Gary observed: "If you want to get people riled up, go to any of the other model railroad forums (MRH, MR), and ask about track cleaning." Don't know about MR, but at MRH, there really are some fantastic modelers that hang out there. However, for my tastes, many of the guys at MRH take this hobby too seriously... WAY too seriously. Andre
I know this will be anathema, but we have built three layouts, two of them quite large, over the past 40 years. I NEVER cleaned the track on any of them, except for rarely-occurring trouble spots as needed with a touch of Brite Boy. But we always operated the layout at least once a month, which I think made this possible. However, I have always needed to clean the locomotive wheels about once a year, and occasionally the wheels of a piece of rolling stock that had gunk buildup, even though all of my wheels are metal. Ken McElreath
I'm with Ken McElreath on this one fore sure. I practically never clean track, but the building is sealed up pretty good, as the walls and ceiling are sealed using silicone sealers and such. Once a year or two I might have to clean out a frog or run a cleaning bar over a set of points. I only use the soft cleaning bar Micro-Mark sells https://www.micromark.com/Bright-Bar-240-Grit It is a very soft block of rubber never had it scratch rail and you gotta watch not to press on it or you will have grooves in the block from the rails chewing through. I too, don't allow any car on the MRR without metal wheels. Regrettably the KD wheels have a tendency to get build up on them which is why they too get replaced with Reboxx https://www.reboxx.com/wheelsets.htm or similar wheels. Locomotive wheels get cleaned by wrapping a paper towel around a 1X2 with track nailed to it and power to the track, before going on to the MRR. I rotate the power after 2-3 weeks on the layout they get any attention needed, then in the case they go till they rotate up first out again. I have regular operators over here that bring their own power and they have to have clean wheels or they dont get put on the MRR. I had a friend years go, who seemed to think WD-40 sprayed on the rails was a good idea, for one thing we need all the tractive effort we can get over here, and that WD-40 did nothing on his MRR but collect dust, I learned right away that approach wasn't for me. I also have to watch people from over lubing their locos too some literally come over with oil oozing out of the trucks. I have $$100's of track cleaning cars but none of them really worked for us.
There are some excellent modelers who post there. But oftentimes I read some threads and just shake my head.
According to Cratex's web site, the Bright Boy product is a metal removal product, where as Cratex is generally considered a polishing product. The Cratex product that Walthers sell is the Extra Fine 1" x 1/4" block cut into a 3" long piece. Cratex is recommended for fine polishing of cutting edges (like stropping). Cratex is not cheap.
I remembered to bring up a bottle of track cleaner last nite, I use Track & Rail Cleaner ACT 6006 by Aero-Car Hobby Lubricants of Western Springs, IL...Anybody else use this??? Roger
