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7 Responses to Recommended Track Cleaning Cars
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I have not used any of these new track cleaning products. I have an original Lionel 3927 track cleaning car.All the cleaning parts are available on eBay. They also have listing for used cars.
I use a CMX track cleaning car on my N scale layout. I find that if I run it over the layout about once a week I don’t have any need to more cleaning on the mainlines. Lesser accessed track, like some sidings or yard tracks, may need attention with a lint-free cloth and some isopropyl alcohol. I’ve never used the other cars nor anything in HO scale.
I, based upon the largest regional club layout in our area, keep if simple with: 99% alcohol and squares of PLAIN chamois cloth (used to steal surgical sponges from myself at animal hospital (I be da boss) but even the non woven ones leave lint. Chemical cleaners all leave residues and abrasives like bright-boys have been shown to irreparably disrupt the micro-surface of track. Oh – and loose the dang plastic wheels – #1 cause of these issues to start with!!
I’ve used the CMX cleaning car filled with odorless mineral spirits and it seems to be pretty effective. However, I found that just running the CMX alone without doing any other cleaning has turned out to be very time consuming. So now, I’ll go over the track first with my hand wand with some gun cleaning patches (also wet with mineral spirits) to get the bulk of the gunk off the tracks. But since I discovered “Keep Alive” capacitors which I installed on all of my locomotives, I never have issues with stalls anymore on dirty tracks, and I can go about 3 months without cleaning the tracks. I run my trains almost every day for a couple hours in the evening. That’s my stress relief therapy!
I use and suggest “no-ox” past. Get it at Midwest Model RR.
I made my own following this video:
https://www.trains.com/mrr/how-to/build-model-railroad/building-a-track-cleaning-car-rooted-in-the-gorre-daphetid/
Works great!
As much as possible, I go over the tracks with a pad made from old jeans dabbed with alcohol. When that has totally dried, I push the track cleaning car around the entire layout (every inch of trackage) three times.
Roland:
FYI- I have two Bachmann cars, and I have to weigh them down to get any traction. I think you would be better off cleaning them yourself with a liquid track cleaner.