I have found that "over cleaning" causes issues. it is just like the human race always wanting to steralize, and immunize for every little thing, resulting in the human imune system becoming so weak, that people get even sicker these days due to that. I believe the same is true in this case. I know people that clean their track more than they run trains. And the more they clean it, the more they have to clean it. I think it is due to wearing down the finish of the rails and wheels from cleaning, that the microscopic crud has a better bite to hold onto the surface, thus, accumulated more, and more often. I rarely clean my tracks, and wheels. Maybe once a year, and I have not have any issues caused by dirty wheels and/or track... Just sayin..
I always find it extremely interesting when someone posts that they only have to clean their track like once a year. This is very difficult for me to get my mind around. If this is indeed the case, it HAS to be be the environment and not the chosen cleaning methods. I guarantee that there's no layouts in the Pacific Northwest, in a non-insulated garage where someone hardly ever has to clean the track. And, then there's the whole subjective thing about what constitutes clean track. I've seen lots of operating sessions on modular layouts and videos on youtube where the locos are running poorly and the headlights are flickering constantly. To some, this is clean track I guess. To me, everything is clean when there is not one headlight flicker whatsoever. Russ
Your probably right. It may have allot to do with everyones specific tollerence. Also, may have allot to do with where the layouts are. Many are in sheds, garages, damp basements etc. Mine has always been in my home, climate controlled central heat/air. That may have MUCH to do with it. When you have varying conditions, temps, moisture levels etc, that can do nothing but change and challenge things like model railroading, and the smaller the scale, the larger the impact of such changes..
Hello again. I did so in my 5-car ICE-1 passenger train, connected all pickuped cars together using extra thin wires from Nokia HandSet. Yes, Pickup becomes sufficiently better, but, at last(in the long run)(about 100 cycles of riding at layout), all wheels are becoming so and so dirty, and this nonseparable (and therefore non-convenient for taking off) train need fiddly wheel cleaning procedure. Addition: If You keep all rails as sterile syrringe needles (You newer touch it by hands), experiments show that time between needed cleaning becomes sufficiently longer(up to 2- 5 times). --------- Vadim
Something I've had success using over the years in HO is a very little bit of WD-40; I know it's available in Europe. After cleaning the rails, I put just spray a bit of WD-40 on a finger and just touch it briefly to the track. A little goes a long way! I then run a long train around the layout several times to spread it out. The WD-40 is electro-conductive and seems to drastically cut down on the numbers of time that I have to clean the track and/or wheels. I've also read that Wahl's Hair Clipper fluid works the same way. I recently had some locomotive wheels crudding up and after cleaning them, put a spot of WD-40 on the track and things have run well in the two weeks since. Again, though, a very little bit is all to use - maybe just a half-inch or less on each rail on a medium-sized layout (mine is abut 9ft x 12ft). If you get too much on, it's easy enough to wipe it off. (Don't apply on or near an incline on the layout.) I use it maybe four times a year as required. I've noticed that Athearn sintered wheels on the older blue box locomotives seem to crud up more than others. I don't think I've ever cleaned any Kato wheels or Athearn Genesis. I think the more modern wheels are plated and thus less likely to attract crud. I generally only clean metal freightcar wheels when the car is in for other work, and only if necessary; otherwise, I haven't experienced any bad build-up of crud on them. I would think the HO experience might well translate to N.
I have all my rails out side and they go almost black with the weather,and also living close to the Atlantic, the rail is nickel silver and I gave up with DCC as I could never get a good contact, as I now use metal wheels and a lot of them are steel, therails will polish themselves just like the prototype,I have painted the rail side with rust colored enamel paint, I use track power and battery with Locolinc and dont really clean, apart from a light coat of WD40 on the turnouts, and the removal of heavy crusty bird droppings and the usual garden debris, I used to mantain a trolley line and the overhead wire would go green in hours if not in regular use, the pick up shoe was carbon block similar to motor brushes, has anyone ever tried using a carbon block to polish rail with? As it is a lot softer than the metal rail it should not score as most abrasives would and the carbon should lodge into crevices and then maintain a good electrical path. perhaps an experiment is needed
Russ,Think of this..The Bucyrus model railroad club is located at the fairgrounds in a old block building that sees heat once a week.We seldom clean track between open houses or the county fair and when we do its with 91% alcohol and a piece of white T-shirt-we buy those el cheapo T-shirts and cut 'em into squares.At the N Scale club we find the need to clean track before we operate-we use alcohol there to. The environment may not play that big of a roll seeing the N Scale club is located on the second floor of a 3 story brick building. As far as headlight flicker I agree it could be dirty track.It could also be dirty wheels or poor electrical contact. To my mind clean track is where a given locomotive can creep without stalling. ---------------------------- BNBob,Thankfully Athearn stop using those sintered wheels(old sparky) on the newer BB(GP38-2,GP40-2,GP50,SW1000,SW1500 RTR ..
