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5 Responses to What is the Best Track Cleaning Method?
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First use a micro fiber towel and wipe the track and you’ll see lots of black matter on the towel. If the track isn’t really, really dirty the fiber towel will be enough to run a good long time before another cleaning. Maybe a few days. I wipe my track quite often. If needed a wiping with track cleaning fluid will help get the track cleaner. Later a track eraser can be used and then wipe with a fiber towel and then track cleaning fluid. It sounds like a lot of work but it only takes a little while to do. Well worth the time. Don’t forget your wheels. Clean track & wheels on your loco is number one in keeping your trains running smooth.
My club uses NO-OX-ID. We clean with ACT 6000, 70% isopropyl alcohol (to cut and remove the ACT 6000, then apply a film of NO-OX-ID with a fingertip. We use a lint free cloth (automotive wipe rags work well, and look authentic with our overalls and engineer hats when we are running) to apply the ACT 6000 and alcohol. We let the NO-OX-ID sit on the tracks overnight, then wipe off most of it the next day. That one application lasts us a little over a year, but we prep the track annually to ensure that we have a fresh application during our heavily attended Christmas open house. We used to have to scrub with a Bright Boy eraser twice a month, and run an abrasive track cleaner at least every time we ran trains. Now we wipe the tracks whenever there’s a stalled train with the shop rag, and it’s good to go. We get the NO-OX-ID from our local hobby shop, under the Bar Mills brand. An $7.95 jar has only been depleted by about 1/3 in three years’ usage on a 33 scale mile layout.
To clean the rail tops: paper towel is perfect. Wet it with meths or lighter fluid if there’s grease or oil on the track. (Warning: no smoking !)
Personally, I totally disagree with track rubbers, they causeproblems by leaving grit and rubber on the track. Modern nickel-silver track does not suffer corrosion indoors, so does not need abrasive cleaning.
But also to avoid electrical contact problems:
Clean the wheel rims: cotton buds wetted as above. For hard dirt, a very small wire brush, or a rotary wire brush on a dremel type tool is brilliant. Croc clip leads from controller to the motor to turn the wheels makes this process very easy.
Clean the inner faces of wheels (or the axles) where the pickup contacts touch them.
Very old motors can benefit from cleaning of the brushes and commutator.
Some cheap controllers are very feeble in their output, and will repeatedly cut-out if running a loco that takes a high current. Check this by fitting a small 12V bulb across your controller output to see if it is still supplying power when the loco unexpectedly stops. Old locos often take more current.
Rail joiners are not that brilliant at electrically connecting rails. It may help to connect the controller wires to the track at more than one place (depending on layout size). Observe consistent polarity !
I like to use Center line track cleaner car from direct trains. It’s about $45-$55 depending on what scale u have. They make I in HO and N scale. Just tow it around with your train and it goes to work. It way get a little slippery at first but it goes away after a few runs. I use the with rail cleaning fluid. U few drops go a long way. U get fast results with a few laps. The cleaning pads are the same thing as reusable wash cloths found at local grocery store. Handy Wipe. Cut it in strips for replacement pads. Hope this helps.
I have an old lifelike tank cleaning car. I put isopropyl alcohol in the tank , the pad gets wet and I run it around the track 2 or 3 times. The pad can get pretty dirty. After cleaning the track I use automotive transmission oil. I use a Q-tip and just wipe about an inch on the track every 5 to 6 feet. I then run a train over the track 2 or 3 times , this spreads the oil evenly along the track. I only have to do this 2 times a year. I have an area that has a 2.5% grade and their is no wheel slipping. I read about this in a model railroad magazine a few years ago and have been cleaning my track ever since. It is a very cheap method of track maintenance. The oil also keeps your turnout switches working smooth.