So I'm looking at purchasing a Tomix track cleaning car and I have a few questions that I hope that someone who owns one can answer. First I hear that the vacuum is really nice but what about the pads that come with it? I heard that the ones that are rough can damage the rails? What I'm really interested in knowing is if the other white cleaning pads work well? Do you have to put track cleaner in the tank to use them, or can you just wet them with your favorite track cleaner? What I'm really concerned about is the spinning pads getting caught on the turnout points. My track and switches are Kato and I am not DCC. And last, how well do these hold up over time? It's just to the point that my layout which is only 3'x6'-3" has been detailed to the point that everytime I clean my track, I break something (think Godzilla). I have tried a Centerline Products track cleaning car and am really not happy with it. The CMX car gets great reviews but I'm at the age no one will be willing to purchase half my liver or a kidney just to pay for it. I will really appreciate the input from someone who owns one or knows someone who does. Thanks, Ralph
Like most things, as you make something be a "jack of all trades", each new function seems to diminish the function of the others..........so to answer your question, the car works, but it doesn't work as well as cars that only try to do one thing. The one thing that puts this car on my list of "must haves" is the vacuum........but if you set it up to vacuum, that's all it will do since the impeller for the vacuum replaces the cleaning disc. I haven't found that the abrasive discs are any worse on the track than any other abrasive cleaning products, but if you convert the car to DCC you have to be careful, because stopping the train will no longer stop the cleaning cars motor, and leaving the car sitting in one spot for any length of time COULD damage the rail.......on DC, when you stop the loco, you stop the cleaning car motor as well. The cleaning fluid option does not drip cleaner onto the disc, it drips onto a pad in front of the disc (so in theory, the car is not bi-directional, it has a front and rear)......you COULD add cleaner to the disc, but I'm not sure how long an application would last, and picking the car up repeatedly to reapply fluid would be a pain. I have had no problems with the pads snagging on turnouts, but doesn't mean it can't happen.
The vacuum is great. I'm always a little amazed at how much loose ballast it finds. I tend to avoid the abrasive pads unless the track is truly disgusting, because I'm not a fan of abrasive track cleaning in general, but I've never had any problems with the pads (abrasive or non-abrasive) catching on turnouts; they can move up and down enough to clear minor unevenness. I like to run mine with a non-abrasive pad, some track cleaner in the dispenser, and the Centerline car coupled behind it to mop up any residue the spinning pad didn't get.
One other minor thing.........don't leave it setting on the track with the tank full of cleaning fluid. It will continue to drip till the tank is empty and the fluid may or may not (depending on what you're using) destroy the scenery in that spot.
Thanks to both of you, MRLdave and jwaldo! I placed my order today and I should receive it by the end of the month. Even all the google and YouTube searches I did didn't give me near as good information as the two of you did. I really do appreciate your reviews and warnings, they sealed the deal for me. I do understand the operating instructions are in Japaese but I remember Atlas once sold this car so I googled "Atlas N scale track cleaning car instructions" and they took me to a PDF that I could download in english, but the info from the experience that you both had with it is invaluable! Thanks again, Ralph
Using a decoder like a DZ123 or similar micro sized decoder you can attach the red and black wires to the track pickups and the grey/orange to the motor. Give it an address like any locomotive and give it throttle to tune on the vacuum/sander. Just a heads up, if you do use it on DCC it will work but it will run at full beans until you flip the switch to off.
Where did you put the decoder? The installs I've seen all put it in the hopper where the vacuum dumps.........seems like that's asking for trouble.
On all the ones I've had apart (DCC added or otherwise) there's a little decoder-sized opening in the weight on one end of the car. And plenty of room to run wires from the decoder to the circuit board. It's just about the easiest DCC install that isn't a direct 'DCC-ready' PCB swap. I almost think Tomix was toying with the idea of offering a factory DCC option; there's not really any other reason I can see for the spaces in the weight besides a decoder!
Could you just consist the cleaning car decoder with the loco that's pulling it, so it stops the disk when the loco pulling it stops? Just a thought...
I got one a while back and if your run it on DC it runs like a dream, but on DCC I read some pretty bad reviews on it. The sandpaper pads are a bit rough to the track and the other pads work amazingly, but some of them might not work on switches (I don't have any switches so I can't tell you if they are or not). I got mine on Amazon for a 56% discount. Only problem is the instructions are in Japanese, but all you have to do is scan them to your computer and take it to google translate (or some other photo translating service). Took me awhile to figure it out (30 minutes to an hour) but it is one of my best model train purchases after my B-Mann DNSG starter set!
B-T, Thanks for responding. I am DC only so that's not a problem. The biggest problem that I had was after I installed the white brush with the peel and stick tape. It had problems going through switches and over road crossings as well as through the Kato three color signal which I ended up removing because I had other issues with it. What I ended up doing was taking one of those battery operated contraptions that my wife uses to remove fuzz balls from clothes, and gave it a haircut. It worked a lot better after that. The thing is heavy and still has resistance over the switches and crossings so I converted an older Atlas car with a rapido coupler on one end for the cleaning car, and a accumate on the other for the locomotive. The best loco for moving this thing is an older Kato C-30-7 that is really heavy and pulls well and it seems to work just fine. For the instructions I just Googled "Atlas N scale track cleaning car instructions" as this is the same as the Tomix car they once sold. It is printed in english and came up in PDF form and I downloaded it. As for what I paid for it, I too got mine off Amazon for $37 with free Prime shipping fron Japan. It didn't really take long to get it, infact it was a week earlier than expected. Thanks again, Ralph
For me, I had to wait 5 weeks or so to get here from Japan! I should of thought of googling the Atlas car instructions, but of course I had to do it the hard way! You are right that the car is heavy, I have to have just that car and nothing else to be able to run around. I have found it works the best at full throttle and the train doesn't go super fast either! I also manually push it at full throttle when I have a lot for it to pick up in just a small area - probably not the best for a larger layout other than my singular T-TRAK module (with several more under production!).
Yeah, my layout is only 3’x6’4” but I have a lot of close to the track details like electrical power lines and I needed something that I could clean the track with without looking like the aftermath of Godzilla passing through Tokyo. Ralph
