Hi fellow Model Railroaders... I've laid the rail. Cleaned the rail with with a small grity block. The trains run well ; at first. After a while the track gets dirty. I notice grayish matter on my rolling stock wheels. What would be the best way to clean the dirty wheels? Perhaps some thoughts on locomotive wheels as well. Thanx in advance...
I usually take that crud off the wheels by rolling the wheel on the opposite side with my finger while holding the blade of a small jewellers screwdriver against the tread on the other wheel.I have also used a razor blade to do this, but you have to be careful not to nick the flange or gouge the tread. As for locos, I hook up a pair of test leads to the engine and apply medium power. Then I take a piece of emory cloth to clean the treads. Apply light pressure so as not to overstress any parts or the motor.Do this at your own risk, as this can lead to premature wear of the wheels. Also, if there's ever a time you'll drop an engine on the floor, it would probably be while doing the above. Make sure whatever you're working on is secure!
I should have added this. Oh well, better late than never. Your rails and wheels shouldn't get dirty too quickly once you've cleaned things up. You may have an over oiled piece of equipment spreading oil around which mixes with dust and creates gunk. Or, if you have an engine with a smoke unit in it, it may be spewing a mist of oil on everthing it chugs past. Consider disabling it. Hope this helps!
My prederred tecnique for cleaning loco wheels is to soak one end os a paper towel on Goo-gone or rubbing alcohol and put one loco truck on it and the other on bare track, allowing the wheels to spin against the towel. Work the truck back and forth a few times and then move the towel over a little. Once you have all the dirt off the wheel, move over to a dry part of the towel and repeat. Swap ends (I'll be you notice a difference when you do!) and repeat for the other truck. After you've cleaned the wheels, it's best to let the loco st for half an hour or else it will proceed to clean the track by sucking all the dirt onto it's wheels because of the residual solvent on them. Cars can be cleaned in a similar fashion by placing a paper towel soaked in solvent on the tracks and pulling the cars over it repeatedly. One final note is that your rails will stay cleaner a lot longer if you replace all your plastic wheels with metal ones. I personally prefer the Proto wheelsets and apply them to every piece of rolling stock during assembly.
Go to Tony's Train Exchange, he's got a great site, covers lots,clean wheels,clean track, cleaning solutions etc. http://www.ttx-dcc.com/technews/clean_machine.htm You are on your way to clean tracks ahead.
You've received a bunch of great suggestions, but like anybody else I've go to give you my $0.02 worth. Too bad you can't buy as much with it as you once could..... Never clean just the track, or just the cars, but clean everything at the same time. Track, locomotives, and all cars. They all get dirty together, so clean them together or one of the dirty little buggers will get it all gunked up again. Metal wheels are a godsend. I've never used Proto, but Kadee are readily available, and Intermountain are even better if you can find them. Plastic tends to collect the crud faster, and they wear out quickly and then you get derailments.... I use the same method for cleaning locomotives as suggested. I've even used a tiny wire brush on some rough jobs, but it'll add a lot of wear to the wheels. You're newer metal wheels have a dark surface that must wear off and will show up as some gunk on everything. You can clean this off with a dremel tool id you're gutsy, or wait and clean the cars and track if you're patient. Be sure you use a shop-grade paper towel or similar strong paper towel or pad to do your cleaning. Make sure whatever solvent you use to clean everything will completely dry with no residue, VERY IMPORTANT. Alcohol is good for this. I use it most of the time. When cleaning the track don't be afraid to really soak the rag down while cleaning it. Let the alcohol do the work, keeping the track wet and wiping it off. Go over it several times until it comes up squeaky clean. The ABSOLUTE best solvent I've found for this is some stuff that isn't available to the typical Tom, Dick or Harry. It's cable cleaning compound that the electrical utilities use. It dries very fast, leaves absolutely no residdue, is safe on PVC and most other other plastics, and is designed to cut oil and other gunk quickly. It comes in pre-moistened packets kind of like towlettes, or in an aerosol cans. I use it for a tough job when I can get it. I get free samples occasionally and tried it once on a whim, that's how I found out how good it works. Two manufacturers are Rainbow and Polywater. It's not cheap. Once you get everything clean, I've heard that one of the best ways to keep everything clean is to run those trains! Mark
Hey Mark, Whats the active ingredient in those pads you were talking about? I'd want to be sure it isin't Trichloroethlyene or PERC or somthing similarly nasty like that. The problem with really effective industrial degreasers is they will eat the oils right out of your skin and as a vapor they have been known to degrease nerve endings in the brain! THe company that makes them would be glad to send you a Material Safety Data Sheet on it whic should give you a good idea if this is somthing you want to keep around the house.
I know what you mean about the chemicals. The current batch of cable cleaners were designed to replace trichlorethylene, which was outlawed by the Montreal Protocol. Very strong ozone killer, and almost impossible to find these days. There are several different compounds and even mixtures of compounds available. Don't breathe them in a closet, but I've been around them fine in an unventilated man-hole. Some are citrus based, and go by the nick-name or citrus. Some dry slower, which is not preferred for cable cleaning, but would be better for us RR'ers. I'd try Polywater HP if you want to go to the trouble to get it. Non cancerous, harmless to most plastics, high flash point. Should be as safe or safer to use than alcohol. http://www.polywater.com/typehp.html I know major electrical supply warehouses would carry it. For myself, I'm taking the cheap way out with alcohol with the occasional use of HP from my stock of free samples. Mark
