I used to wear myself out trying to keep track clean with a bright boy and alcohol. It always LOOKED clean, but I'd have certain spots that were always troublesome. I tried Labelle 105 while maintaining a layout at a State Fair and it made a believer out of me. My regimen was to clean the layout every morning with alcohol and then go over it with the 105. I didn't leave a wet film, I'd go over it again with a dry pad. The trains would run for 12 hours beside a large open door with plenty of dust coming in. The dust did accumulate during the day, leaving the tracks looking like they were filthy, but the trains would run smoothly in spite of it. Labelle says the 105 enhances electrical conductivity. I use it on my home layout which is climate controlled and largely away from dust, although there is always household dust to deal with. I give it a once over every month or so.
I am positivly a fan of NO-OX ID. No more track cleaning.... A couple of years ago I came across an article about a product called No-Ox. It is Anti-Oxidant grease and it is a conductive agent and prevents oxidization. I took some advice from this article and bought some NO-OX to experiment with it on the rails of my home layout. I went on line and purchased my NO-OX from SANCHEM, INC They are in Chicago ILL. 60616 The product # is, NO-OX-ID "A Special" #R-3266L1 (an 8oz tube is about $8.00 but will last you a lifetime) I was amazed at the results and in fact, I have cleaned the track on my layout only once in the last 12 months after applying it. It comes in an 8oz tube but you only need a tiny amount to do a layout. What my club did and I did on my own layout, was to smear some on to the pad of a Roco Cleaning Car and just drag it around all your tracks behind a locomotive or two.. Alternatively you could just smear a dab on to a hard felt pad and do it by hand. NO-OX looks and feels like grease and if you put too much on it may cause some loco slipping so make sure you use it VERY sparingly. You will be amazed at the results from you engines. I also did the tracks at my club and we have had the same results. There is not a flicker from the loco headlights as they head down the tracks. Before my club started using N0-OX we had to clean the tracks every week without question. After we applied No-Ox we did not clean the tracks again for 6 months even though we ran many trains at our club every weekend. We do clean our loco wheels once in a while but this stuff works like a charm. We have only cleaned the tracks on our extensive club layout, 2 times in one year. The first thing we did was to give the tracks a complete cleaning job with alcohol on pads, then apply a very thin layer of No-Ox over all the rails. The tracks have a film of No-Ox on them but our members have all been told, "Do not, clean the tracks". You might be OK using a Bright Boy eraser type rail cleaner for a small layout but even so I would throw it away and get some NO-OX. Most of the soiling of the rails comes from dirty car wheels but the No-Ox is a great conductive agent and power to the locomotive is not affected. I believe most model railroaders are not very happy about track cleaning, as I am, so take my advice and get some No-Ox. I am sure you will be happy with the results. Dennis Barker (The Edmonton N Scalers)
i dont think clean tracks is a fan of me every time i am working on a project. i always do manual cleaning on it after i am done working. messy workplace usually keeps my idea alive.
