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Tarnished track


jimbob
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We all know that the one chore of owning a garden railway is cleaning the track. To me rubbing the track with any abrasive only makes the problem worse. Has anyone come up with any soloution to this?

For those without DCC do the Relco track cleaners work? Has anyone had sucess with track cleaning wagons, my Dapol ones an expensive siding warmer, what about solvents, anything that wont kill you or melt the track sought. What about Brasso or silver cleaner. Does using a grapite pencel on the track work. Or do any of the exensive comercial bottel solutions do what they say on the tin.

Lots of question but few answers.

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Graphite pencils do work, if you don't have steep slopes graphite is a lubricant! I used one on a flat exhibition layout recently, once graphited never had a problem all day. Make sure you are switched off before you apply!!!!!!!

I actually use an artists graphite stick of the softest variety.

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I've never had a problem when using a Garryflex abrasive rubber block. I use the fine grade (brown one) and find them much better than standard track rubbers. At 8cm x 5cm they're larger than the usual track rubbers but I just cut them in half and find that's okay.

The Garryflex soon removes any tarnish on the rail tops and then I send round the track cleaner filled with IPA solution - job done, even if it does take 10-15 minutes or so.

I've never felt the need to use anything other than the rubber and IPA solution.

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  • 3 weeks later...

What about track cleaning wagons, are they any good?

I know that several brands make them, and they come in all kind of sizes and prices.

Who has experience, what would you advice and defiantly not advice?

In the last Hornby Magazine od 06/2016 there was an interesting article on wheel cleaning devices.

On the first side interesting to have one.

But on the other hand I do ask my self, don't the wheels, patina and paint damage rubbing the wheels over brass brushes?

Who has long time experience with that?

Cheers,

Danny

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Mike wrote

I've never had a problem when using a Garryflex abrasive rubber block

Quote

I tried some light wet and dry sand paper to see if it would do the jog , to my surprise it worked, couldn't find my track rubber, there are so many different bran track cleaning cars out there depends on your budget.

Another project I have planned is modifying two Bachman DD40AX into a British Network MPV loco, Bachmann has bought one out, both locos needed new hand rails to hard to get hold of.

Tony from down under

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aussietmrail said:

... there are so many different bran track cleaning cars out there depends on your budget...

Yes I understand that many brands produced them and range in different budgets.

But the question is, which one does a good job, expensive doesn't necessarily mean good.

Perhaps I should put the question this way, who has one, and is so pleased with it he can't do without it anymore?

Or perhaps the other way, "I bought it with high expectations, but I better didn't buy it".

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Yes I understand that many brands produced them and range in different budgets.

But the question is, which one does a good job, expensive doesn't necessarily mean good.

Perhaps I should put the question this way, who has one, and is so pleased with it he can't do without it anymore?

Or perhaps the other way, "I bought it with high expectations, but I better didn't buy it".

Hi Danny here is lick the tracking mob I am thinking of using their wheels in the DD40AX I will be modifying to track cleaning locos, using their track cleaning wheels.

http://www.aztectrains.com/index.html

That is the problem with DCC you have to have clean track and clean wheels on both locos and rolling stock, I have no idea when I will be switching to DCC stuck will DC at this stage, every think is getting dearer in this hobby and out of our reach.

Here is a track cleaning video you may be interested in watching.

How is you layout planning going, why not come over to where we all are in the 00 scale garden railway thread, I haven't finished building my layout looks like Christmas time now, wet weekend coming up again, slowing the construction down.

Tony from down under

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aussietmrail said:

...How is you layout planning going, why not come over to where we all are in the 00 scale garden railway thread, I haven't finished building my layout looks like Christmas time now, wet weekend coming up again, slowing the construction down...

Hi Tony,

I think you missed something, my garden rail will be in OO gauge British rolling stock :D see:

 

I'm still in the planning stage, I will not go to fast, I'm someone who wants to prepare very well before I will act.

You can of course never be fully prepared, but I want to rule out as many surprises as I can.

At the moment I'm stocking up the materials I will need, and run small experiments.

And here by comes that DCC is new for me, working analog for almost 40 year is a big change and the grass is not so green as they want to let you believe, but I'm up for a new challenge.

I hope that by end September the foundations will be their, depending on the weather and free time I have next to my full job.

But by then It will go to a winter stop, although I've some in door scenery building planned.

Work until Christmas is for you mid summer :lol: but for us mid winter, and where I live this can mean -15°C or 5°F and snow :lol:

I think most members here on the forum will be jealous of your climate you live in :D

We are not from down under, but from up here. :lol:

Anyway thank you very much for your reply and the links you send, much appreciated ;)

Cheers,

Danny

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Nuvolari said:

What about track cleaning wagons, are they any good?

I know that several brands make them, and they come in all kind of sizes and prices.

Who has experience, what would you advice and defiantly not advice?....

Danny. I have a CMX track cleaner and use it regularly for cleaning the tops of the rail after I've been round with the rubber. You can't use it to remove the tarnish but it does clean the rail of all those little bits of rubber that always seem to get left behind after initial cleaning as well as other dirt. I fill the tank with IPA solution. I wouldn't be without it now - it does an excellent job of polishing the rails.

I've looked at the Dapol track cleaner but I'm not convinced it would be a worthwhile purchase although I'd love to be proved wrong. I cannot see those small circular abrasive discs lasting too long and it's the abrasive action that I was most interested in. Does anyone here have a Dapol track cleaner?

There doesn't seem to be anything currently available that removes the necessity for you to go round with a track rubber in the first instance and being outdoors we need to do that more than indoor modellers.

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  • 3 weeks later...

When I had my garden railway I used LGB track rubbers. I initially used the big red plastic applicator I suppose one could call it but after a while I found that the replacement pads were easier to use on there own plus one can cut one replacement pad in half if one wishes. I found that if I pressed firmly then yes they would shed loads of rubber particles but if I only pressed lightly then hardly anything was shed at all. I went round with a hand held vacuum by Ryobi only because it was part of their "one" tool range and the batteries that fit it also fit the cordless drills I have.

I know many on here have their favourites and worry about the amount of particles that get shed in the cleaning process but a quick run round with the handheld vacuum cleaner keeps the per way clean.

I too also have the CMX track cleaner and one can put some really vile chemicals into it with no ill effects on the track work as it only coats the rails not the sleepers unless one has the flow incorrectly adjusted.

I also have the Dapol track cleaner but only use that on it's vacuum setting. Being plastic one can't use harsh chemicals in it otherwise it will ruin it. Even the Dapol cleaning solutions are really too mild for outdoor use.

As for cleaning loco, coach and wagon wheels I found a good clean once a year with Isopropol Alcohol on a cotton bud. If you run your trains without first cleaning the track every time then all the stock will pick up the muck from the rails. I've also found that Bachmann loco wheels seemed to stay cleaner for longer than Hornby wheels which seem to go dull very quickly.

You never want to coat the track with anything oily as that will only attract dirt and interfere with adhesion. Outside we are operating in the real world so some amount of dirt and grime is to be expected.

One advantage over the indoor brigade is that we don't have to "paint" the rail sides as the rail sides get coated in muck from the atmosphere.

We're just keen to keep the rail tops clean.

Peco Streamline is pretty tough despite the scale we're in and should last many years. The sleepers are made of a UV resistant plastic and even agitated Bull Ants make no impression when they bite it, well they may if you put the track under a microscope. Just look at Trevor Jone's layout. I think you'll find that track work Peco Streamline code 100 has been down for over ten years.

There just really is no alternative to cleaning the railway before each and every running session. You can check your rail joint bonds as you clean and make sure the track is still aligned properly.

Roy.

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l bought a Dapol track cleaner and have to say l was very disopointed. Have only used it on DC as its very fiddly to fit a DCC chip. The circular sanding disc is ok but does not last very long on a large layout, it is also hard to change the disc, you could easly brake the fitting as you need some force to remove it. The "vacum cleaner" is ok but can easily block with the larger stuff found on an outdoor layout.

Conclusion is probably good on an indoor layout, not so good outdoors.

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I fitted a chip to mine that looks like an 8 pin blanking plug as there is very little room where the DCC socket is located.

To be fair to the Dapol Track Cleaner it was never designed to operate on a garden railway and is really only meant for indoor railways. If it's windy and a lot of debris blows onto your track then no the Dapol cleaner is not the way to go. It's only really good for a light clean during a running session if of course your running sessions go for quite a few hours. In the garden it's more of a novelty than anything else.

You are quite right Jimbob the attachments are hard to fit and yes there is a real possibility of breaking the attachments whilst either attaching them or detaching them.

Although a lot more expensive the CMX track cleaner is a better bet for outdoor railways. One can even fit mild grade wet and dry sandpaper to it's brass block pad and it will clean well. The CMX's only downfall is it's weight due to it's all thick brass construction. A diesel that weighs over 500 grams is about the lightest diesel you want to haul or push it. Small diesels like a class 24 or 25 would need to operate in pairs to successfully run the CMX. No R-T-R steam outline locos have the weight to either push or pull it.

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