Track current problems

[ikb]

I presently have a G scale steam garden railway but the wife wants back some garden! I'm thinking of installing OO instead. I am a little concerned about track current intermittencies from the point of view of tarnished track. Is this a big problem?

[mick]

Hi, and welcome to the forum.

Track outdoors does tarnish and will require cleaning before an operating session especially if there has been rain or high levels of moisture in the air. I have found that during fine dry weather you can get away without cleaning at every session. The track does clean easily using a fine track rubber or even as some people suggest, a small piece of hardboard used on the rough side. It takes only a few minutes depending on the length and complexities of your track configuration but it may be worthwhile taking a look at some of the track cleaning vehicles available such as that offered by Dapol.

I will say that operating OO gauge outdoors has given me far fewer problems than I initially anticipated and it is certainly worth the effort. At the present time I have just a single electrical feed to each circuit and with all the rail sections electrically bonded with a short length of wire soldered to the outer rail I have no problems whatsoever with any loss of power to the track. Just a quick clean and you're up and running.

Mick

[ikb]

Thanks for the reply. I'll have a look at the system you describe though no doubt a rubber, maybe of the pcb cleaning type may be ok but, do I really want to get on my knees and clean 30 odd feet of small track!! Heresy I hear you shout! The trouble is, I'm used to running live steam on G scale.

Regards

ikb

[mick]

If you're planning on running OO at ground level then hands and knees it might have to be unless you can come up with a solution. Raising it up to a more convenient level, if that would be possible, is one answer. I'm sure that even at ground level it wouldn't be too difficult to manufacture a 'rubbing block' on the end of a length of wood or similar material that could be used to gently wipe over the tracks. You could probably do that at the same time as talking a walk round your borders! There's a multitude of gadgets that come affixed to the end of long handles these days. I see one guy who takes his dog for a walk and has a long handled scoop, not for what you may be thinking but for scooping the dogs ball up off the ground before throwing again. Saves him bending down to pick it up all the time. Where there's a desire there's often a solution!

Mick