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 Posted - November 15 2019 : 2:06:16 PM
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For me, model railroading has been a years-long struggle with crud on wheels and rails. Even with frequent cleaning, there were just some locomotives that would rapidly build up a burned on crust of dirt on the wheels. This is related to arcing, and the more it built up, the more it would arc and the faster it built up.
Heavier locomotives stayed cleaner longer, as did ones with more pick up wheels. Some locomotives just couldn't go a scale mile without sputtering unless the track was surgically clean (Then, they'd make it two scale miles). I had a fair sized fleet of locomotives that were of limited use to me.
I came upon an article in Model Railroad Hobbyist that discussed how some cleaning solvents actually promote arcing and how others reduce it:
https://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/magazine/mrh2019-05/publishers-musings
At first blush, this seems a bit technical and perhaps crackpot, like something that would make a small difference, but not an important one, but I noticed that mineral spirits were on the list of solvents that would not promote arcing, so I tried a switch from alcohol (which it said would promote arcing) to mineral spirits, which I already had on hand.
The results are encouraging:
1) Locomotives that were almost useless for all the arcing and crusting stay clean and run well for a usable period of time.
2) I can switch in the yard with an 0-4-0T, even though the switches have plastic frogs. The engine practically never stalls. Previously, it took a good running start to get over a switch frog, but now, pickup is apparently good enough that the one wheel that's still on a live rail is enough.
3) Locomotives that were usable before, but needed their wheels cleaned fairly frequently, go much longer without wheel cleaning.
4) The mineral spirits seem to evaporate entirely. There doesn't seem to be an oily film to attract dust or lubricate the rails on the steep grade.
5) The dusty black residue that's the dirt of dirty track still forms, but more slowly.
The rail cleaning routine:
Occasionally, I run this train on the mainline:
The engine is a good puller and needs to be. The cattle car has a Masonite pad under it to polish the dust and grit off of the rail head. The two red cars are old LifeLike track cleaning cars with felt pads underneath. The first felt pad is dampened with mineral spirits. The second felt pad is run dry to wipe off the mineral spirits, and hopefully the dirt suspended in them.
On those same occasions, I wipe yard tracks and industrial spurs with mineral spirits on a rag, and then wipe them again with a dry rag.
On shorter intervals (maybe after a few hours of operation), I run the engine and one felt pad car just to dust off the black dust that forms on the rails. I also drag my finger tips over the yard tracks to dust them off. Often, I just need to do this on the tracks that see the most traffic, such as ladder tracks and drill tracks.
Cautions:
1) I have an old memory of some track cleaner that smelled like mineral spirits ruining a rubber traction tire when I was a kid, so I don't run engines with traction tires until the mineral spirits have dried off of the tracks (not a long wait).
2) If you sharpen your switch points to keep wheels from picking the points, be careful when dusting off the rail heads with your finger tips (ask me how I know this).
I also clean locomotive wheels, especially those most prone to arcing, with mineral spirits. With the actual powered wheels, this is as easy as putting a paper towel dampened with it on the tracks and spinning the wheels on it. I generally repeat this with a dry paper towel to wipe off any excess. As mentioned in the cautions, I don't do this with wheels that have rubber traction tires.
Carpe Manana!
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Posted - November 15 2019 : 3:44:21 PM
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I also struggle with frequent shuttering and derailments (especially when filming) that literally drive me crazy, so I can completely empathize. Thanks for the advice - I'll have to try this.
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven." - Matthew 5:16
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Posted - November 15 2019 : 3:54:29 PM
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weird one I seen was a cleaning loco with a vacuum on it 
Make sense cause dirt & dust does get on the layout often
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Posted - November 15 2019 : 11:06:22 PM
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I'll have to give mineral spirits a try. I've been using alcohol and a bright boy for a few years now but always looking for something better.
Some years back I tried Labelle 105 for awhile. I loved it's improvement in conductivity - and trains would run great - but it left an oily residue and would have adverse effects on traction. I liked hearing that the mineral spirits evaporate completely.
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Posted - November 15 2019 : 11:20:05 PM
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Watch how you dispose of your mineral spirit rags, spontaneous combustion can occur... Metal can, water and out of the house...
Mike 35 Year FF retired...
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Posted - November 16 2019 : 08:46:55 AM
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quote:Watch how you dispose of your mineral spirit rags, spontaneous combustion can occur... Metal can, water and out of the house...
Mike 35 Year FF retired...
Originally posted by Mike - November 15 2019 : 11:20:05 PM
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It's usually just a spot of it on the rag and I've let it evaporate off, but seeing this, I'm thinking I need to be a bit more cautious.
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Posted - November 16 2019 : 8:43:53 PM
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Thank you for posting this excellent article scsshaggy. Additionally,
I greatly appreciate your synopsis, because by the end of the
article I was having trouble understanding which was "good"
and which was "bad."
Sscshaggy, I like your MOW consist! Looks like a very aggressive
dirt buster! Do you, or do you not, find the Masontie pad might
redistribute accumulated dirt? I favor a small square of linen
that I change out to prevent spreading the gunk back down.
Mike, thirty three years in fire fighting? Great Scott, that is a lifetime
accomplishment! I will certainly adhere to your advice!
Mr. Fugate brings up Wahl Hair Clipper Oil, an idea promoted by the
professional model railroader, the brilliant Lionel Strang. Several aspects
became apparent when I used it:
1. It does create a slightly oily film, and yes, it may attract a little dust,
but a few passes with a rag attached to the track cleaning car wipes
it up clean. The oily film does not greatly cause slippage, if it does,
a quick pass with the dry rag removes the excess easily.
2. It has a solvent quality, stripping off black gunk with alacrity.
3. The overall effect lasts for up to three months, with intermittent wiping
should I fail to replace the dust cover.
What should be of great interest to all is Mr. Fugate refers to the
world famous San Diego Model Train Club and their experience with
isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) actually making track dirtier!
Finally, I am vindicated in my belief this was so. I used to run a
fairly large DCC layout and used IPA for cleaning, and was
mystified that everything had to be shut down every 45 minutes to
repeat an entire cleaning before operations could reliably resume.
One solvent I will say that is worse than IPA is GooGone. It
creates a sticky mess that smells like oranges. Total disaster.
The whole problem, as per Mr. Fugate's professional research,
comes down to micro arcing. Thus, oily cleaners retard the
arcing and sparking making our trains to run like Toonerville
Expresses.
Edited by - Chops124 on November 16 2019 8:51:14 PM
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Posted - November 16 2019 : 9:18:24 PM
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As we are discussing the pros and cons to different methods of track cleaning here, I figured I would insert my experiences:
Isopropyl (rubbing) Alcohol: Works decently, for a short period of time. It is great at cleaning the grease/oil off of wheels, gears, and the like, but poor at keeping train track clean.
Pink Eraser: A cheap alternative. Works okay at removing dirt, but not at actually "cleaning" the track or promoting conductivity.
Labelle 105 Track Cleaner & Conditioner: I always thought that "professional" track cleaners were a waste of money, but not so with this product. It has performed beyond my expectations with the N-Scale Alpine Railway, to the point where I now rarely experience locomotive shuttering over my plastic frogs, a problem I previously just couldn't seem to solve. Plus my trains run so smooth over the rails....the sound deafening aspect is real -- the only sound I hear now is the clickety-clack of trains wheels rolling over the track and locomotive motors running. Totally recommend it.
**I applied the Labelle cleaner to my track using Q-tips, exactly like rubbing alcohol, to clean the rails. It not only made them shiny, but cleaned all the track and locomotive wheels stupendously.
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven." - Matthew 5:16
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Edited by - RP model railroads on November 16 2019 9:19:28 PM
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Posted - November 17 2019 : 12:33:25 AM
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I wish I knew what was in that LaBelle stuff. Certainly not cheap, to
be sure. In any event, I am glad you have found success with it.
Dirty track has probably knocked more people out of the hobby
than any other factor.
Years ago there was a brief note about a Marklin product at
the Nurenburg Toy Shoy, of a locomotive that had such
potent conductivity that it could traverse a piece of paper
laid over the rails.
Marklin's two rail and a center stud system was so effective
at overcoming the dirty track problem, it made me consider
going that route more than once.
Interestingly, in the early days of HO, or in this case case
ye jolly olde England, Hornby made a three rail system,
and all the coaches and wagons were "hot" from wheels
to chassis to metal bodies, and transmitted their
electrical pickup through the metal couplers to the
the AC motor.
Perhaps that was an expedience to tap into the
peculiar AC current in use in the UK, but it certainly
eliminated the need for track cleaning, vital to
this small scale.
Then, of course, along came a number of
battery powered RC locomotives, which,
subverting DCC, if nothing else were
impervious to dirty track.
This is my track cleaning rig:
Edited by - Chops124 on November 17 2019 02:22:17 AM
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Posted - November 17 2019 : 11:32:36 AM
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I found this on HO Seeker - Ribbonrail track cleaning car
Kerosene ??
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Posted - November 17 2019 : 1:53:28 PM
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quote:Do you, or do you not, find the Masonite pad might redistribute accumulated dirt?
Originally posted by Chops124Â -Â November 16 2019Â :Â 8:43:53 PM
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It probably does, a little bit. There's a little history behind my even having it. The late, great Wizard of Monterrey, John Allen used to have them under various cars that roamed the rails on the Gorre and Daphetid. They helped keep the dirt knocked off the rails, and people who use them report some success.
I set up such a car for my layout, and used to run it all the time on one of my manifest freights to periodically clean the track a little. I got tired of seeing the big lump of Masonite under the train all the time, so I stopped doing that. Afterwards, I would occasionally run the car around the layout behind an engine, by itself. Usually, I'll take a lap or two, clean the pad off and run another couple of laps with it. Now, as part of the larger train, I run it in case the dirt needs to be knocked loose, but I have no idea whether it makes any kind of difference, at all.
If it is just spreading the dirt, the other track cleaning cars, behind it, take care of that.
You mention Goo Gone. I also am no fan of that stuff. I used it once and the track had a sticky sugar coating, afterward, that felt like I spilled pop on the tracks.
A friend of mine uses the Wahl clipper oil, and has good results. A few days ago, I went to an operating session on his layout. The previous time I was there was last February. The switching yard where I operate on his layout was untouched since February, but when I ran the little light switch engine it ran very well. After 9 idle months, the track was clean and ready to use. I'm leery of using it on my layout, because I have a very steep ruling grade and oiling the rails may not be a good idea, but it seems that I now enjoy most of the same benefits with the mineral spirits which evaporate almost completely away.
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Posted - November 17 2019 : 2:54:30 PM
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quote:
Labelle 105 Track Cleaner & Conditioner: I always thought that "professional" track cleaners were a waste of money, but not so with this product. It has performed beyond my expectations with the N-Scale Alpine Railway, to the point where I now rarely experience locomotive shuttering over my plastic frogs, a problem I previously just couldn't seem to solve. Plus my trains run so smooth over the rails....the sound deafening aspect is real -- the only sound I hear now is the clickety-clack of trains wheels rolling over the track and locomotive motors running. Totally recommend it.
**I applied the Labelle cleaner to my track using Q-tips, exactly like rubbing alcohol, to clean the rails. It not only made them shiny, but cleaned all the track and locomotive wheels stupendously.
Originally posted by RP model railroads - November 16 2019 : 9:18:24 PM
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I concur on the 105 - it is amazing stuff. It saved my rear at an exhibit I was running for 9 days in an open air building. The tracks would get dirty from all the dust, but the trains kept running.
My one and only complaint with 105 is that it is slippery, so you have to take care to wipe it off thoroughly on any grades, or with heavy or longer trains going around tight curves.
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