I just picked up a half completed under the Christmas tree village. The gentleman I purchased it from built it with his kids and as they grew they lost interest. He said it had been sitting in his garage (Florida) for a couple year with minimal work done and nothing done with the tracks. My question is what's the best way to get these cleaned? I used a sanding black and it worked perfect but for only half the track. Could the joints have corroded and is bow causing there to be a bad connection. The track is glued/siliconed to foam and has no movement. Thanks everyone!
Probably, you would need an electrical tester to find out, or a volt meter. To help you find where the current stops. Best less of a headache just to go and purchase some cheap track from your local hobby shop. Especially if your only going to use it once a year.
Probably is exactly what you suspect. Be certain to use a very fine grit if sanding. Otherwise you might take off a lot of metal and it will be well scratched, which gives places for gunk to accumulate again.
I have an idea of where it is having the connection issue because the train is stopping at that same point every time. It is actually two spots right now....here r pics of the track and village. Another question would be can I solder the tracks because they can't be moved to clean between them?
Yes. You could solder. It might be helpful if you had a liquid flux to apply, which would flow into the joiner and around the rails to aid with ensuring the best connection possible. Of what I can see in photos Three and Four, any joiner in place is not very substantial.
Ok I may have to try to solder today. There really is no way to pull the tracks up without damage or just being a big pain in the butt. I'll keep u posted on how it works out. Is there anything else u see that may be causing it to loose power from these pics?
Does the train just stop on that exact spot? if you sight along the rails do you see a dip that would cause the loco wheels to lift off the track? Or is the loco hitting a snag that stops it. once again the best way to spot this is to sight down the length of the rails. If it was a bad connection you would have a whole section of track that doesn't work. If it's just the train getting stuck on one spot, then it's an issue of the train's wheels lifting off the track and not picking up current for the motor. What loco are you using? if it is a cheaper brand diesel, it probably only picks up power on one set of wheels. If there is some tilt to a section of rail then the wheels are lifting and the loco loses power. Try setting your fingers lightly on top of the loco and running over the bad sections. If this helps the wheels stay on the track then you have a warped track section. Seeing as the layout is built on foam, the roadbed may have gotten compressed during storage at those spots, creating low or high rail on that section. Also, turn your loco over and apply the wires from the power pack to the wheels. Does the loco run smoothly when powered this way? If it has been sitting for a long time the lubricant may have dried out in the gears. Only use plastic safe grease on toy trains BTW. Good luck!
Photo 4 seems to show a severe lateral and vertical offset, meaning, usually, that the track has received external damage. That will need to be addressed. The track you have is LikeLike, looks like "steel" rail. Photo 3 looks like the joiner is broken in the far rail. Soldering steel is not going to be easy, and you will melt the snot out of the plastic ties and roadbed trying to do so. Be prepared to put new track down. There was a reason the guy you got it from lost interest. The track in the hidden areas you can remove and at least replace the joiners. I had a whole box of "steel rail" track....Bachmann, I think....and there was no way to get it clean enough to function. Went into the dumpster. Packing around the solder area with wet sand or wet sponges, and using a resistance soldering device may work, but it will be cheaper just to replace the track. Dave
Thanks everyone for the great tips and hints! So pic 3 u were correct there was no connection at the jointer. I soldered it and that solved the issue in that area. It seems the tracks are just extremely dirty in the other areas. I went to the local hobby shop and picked up a couple thing to today to clean the tracks with. If this does not work I found tracks on eBay I'm going to try and win. This is the same section in pic 3. The tunnel so far has shown to be the biggest pain the butt. I know if I decide to do anther one from scratch the tunnel will be removable...lol!!
Glad to know you made some progress. And yes, re: the tunnel- Access. Otherwise, a headache is almost always forthcoming.
The main train I want to run on here is a Bachmann 2-8-0 consolation Pennsylvania. Train runs great and can wait to get it going on here!! Picked up some smoke fluid today and she was puffin! Thanks again and I'll keep ya posted on the progress.
Any loose joints you can reach, solder small jumper wires on the outside of the rail. Make sure there are no solder globs on the inside of the rail to catch the wheel flanges.
Ok doin don't think there r any more loose joints. I got the train to ride around the entire track but it bogs down in a couple areas. Gotta just keep cleaning I guess!
Could be the track radius is slightly tight, or gauge slightly narrowed. At least it isn't derailing.
Are you also cleaning wheels? Not just the locomotive, but other cars as well. Try using some denatured alcohol, dampening a paper towel and lay it on the track. Roll cars back and forth across the paper towel. Get the gunk off, before it gets back on your cleaned track. Be careful, as that alcohol can be flammable!
No actually I'm not cleaning the other cars....good call on that one!! I'm going to go ahead and clean them all up tonight. I'm going to start another thread with my build of this village just ordered some zip zap track cleaner/corrosion inhibitor. Figured maybe something made to de the job would be appropriate. Anyone have experience with this product?
I did that recently to all the rolling stock that I run. I use Goo Gone instead of rubbing alcohol though, I think it cleans better. I use those blue shop paper towels soaked with Goo Gone and a curved piece of track underneath it and run the cars back and forth over it. You'd be amazed at the amount of crud left behind on the paper towel. It is a lot. Also Goo Gone smells good!
