Battery Power Question

First off, Acetone attacks many plastics and paints.  That fact alone makes me avoid it around my trains.

Even with a battery and a can motor, you have sparks inside the motor, and the fumes from Acetone are  flammable.  No way I'd risk using it to clean the track for a number of reasons, and I certainly wouldn't try to motorize the cleaner!

I've used this car for cleaning.

http://www.traintekllc.com/CMX.../productinfo/CMX-O3/

If you were going to chance a volatile solvent, I would use this car which can be set so that one drop a second or so will maintain a damp pad without any chance of getting the cleaner on the track plastic, etc. Solid brass.

One thing about acetone is that if you leave a container open, fumes from it can waft down from it and it can become quite a flammable situation. I had a lab in a floor below mine catch fire from a gallon of acetone left open without a cap on the bottle. The fumes wafted down to the area of a Bunsen burner and the entire lab was burned out to black in a matter of a few minutes. The technician was flash burned looking like a lobster, but thankfully recovered without any long term issues.

Yes, you can power a can motored engine with battery power. I did this to a K-line EP 5. I used 5 C sized rechargeables  along with a timing device that gives me 5 minutes of run time. I have a dedicated cleaning train made up of 3 cars: A flat car with 2 brushes (cleans the dust off); an Aztec cleaning car with wet(90% isopropyl) or dry rollers, and a flat with a scotchbright pad to polish the rails.  Works quite well, really cleans the track.

 Do you use the battery operated power to pull the cleaning train? Is the isopropyl alcohol flammable?

Yes, that's why I modified it. Isopropyl alcohol will burn, but it doesn't vaporize like acetone. I've never had a problem with it.