Track Cleaning

"Andy Worrall" wrote

Firstly get rid of any plastic wheels on your stock and ideally any locos with traction tyres. Clean all of the wheels on all of your stock and clean the track at the same time - I just use a Peco track rubber - then hoover up any muck which results. Keep the layout covered with plastic sheeting when not in use.

Using this process I find I've to clean my track no more than once or twice a year.

John.

Don't use any abrasives.

I rarely clean my track and if it needs cleaning, a 6 inch bead of Rail Zip on each rail on the yard lead (head shunt) usually does the job.

Covering a smallish, by our standards, 12 x 16 foot railway is a no go. :-)

The rest of your suggestions are excellent, especially regarding removing plastic wheels. As for traction tires, never purchase anything that comes with them unless they give you the option of changing them.

-- Cheers

Roger T.

Home of the Great Eastern Railway

First of all, I absolutely second the comment that abrasives are a very bad thing - avoid them like the plague. They create tiny scratches in the railhead which seem to collect dirt, so the more you use them, the worse things get.

RailZip is certainly excellent, and I do use it very occasionally. But over the years I've found that if you keep the wheels and pickups clean on the locos, you hardly need to bother to clean the track at all.

The best method I've found is to wet a small piece (an inch by a couple of inches or so) of kitchen roll with track cleaning fluid (Carrs and Slaters both sell suitable products) and lay it over the track; then hold a loco so that one set of wheels is on the paper and the others are picking up current, and run it gently so that the muck comes off on the paper. Repeat for the other wheels, changing the paper as necessary. Dead easy and very cheap!

John M Hughes West and Wales Web at

wrote

In theory you're right of course, but in practical terms I don't think it makes any difference at all. Surely if my repeated use of a (mildly) abrasive track rubber over several years had created the scenario you mention, then I'd be needing to clean my track more than once or twice a year?

As it is I find that level of cleaning more than acceptable, although it can be a chore to have to wade through well over a hundred items of rolling stock. However, there is an upside even to that in terms of it bringing to my attention minor jobs of stock maintenance which would otherwise have been missed.

John.

I suspect that a lot depends on just how abrasive 'mildly abrasive' is; the Peco rubber is on the far end of what I'd think was acceptable, and though I have happily used one to clean track after painting / ballasting I don't nowadays use it for anything else.

And, of course, a rubber won't easily reach everywhere (like inside tunnels and buildings or under bridges), and it's very easy to mess up signals and other lineside details while using it.

John M Hughes West and Wales Web at

wrote

< grins> I'd have thought that a cloth impregnated with Railzip would have exactly the same problems.

John.

any idea where to buy some rail zip?

Andy

Google on: Rail-Zip Track Cleaner UK

Product information at

out other products on same site. Rail-Zip removes oxide, not crud.

See also

LPS-1, Google on: LPS-1 Lubricant UK

"John Turner" > < grins> I'd have thought that a cloth impregnated with Railzip would have

But I you don't put Rail Zip on a cloth.

As I wrote in my first post, you put a six bead of Rail Zip on the rail head, not on a cloth, and let the wheels spread it around. I put Rail Zip on the rail head at the busiest part of my model railway, that's the eastern exit of Granville Junction Yard. Practically every train passes and or piece of rolling stock passes over this spot in an operating session.

-- Cheers

Roger T.

Home of the Great Eastern Railway

thanks all, my rail zip arrived today and has done an excellent job

Andy

"Andy Worrall" wrote

Just keep it away from anything with traction tyres or plastic wheels.

John.