Calling All Operators, Track Cleaning Cars

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http://ogaugerr.infopop.cc/eve...022988117#5022988117

Yes, sir....here we go again.

However...there is no better track cleaning car than a Lionel 3927 modified to use a Scotch Brite pad on the rotating disk.

Of course, that's my opinion.

quote:

Originally posted by SD60M:
However...there is no better track cleaning car than a Lionel 3927 modified to use a Scotch Brite pad on the rotating disk.

I have one commercial track cleaning car and one homemade track cleaning car. They both do a good job. However, doing the track cleaning by hand is much quicker and results in a more thorough track cleaning. One major problem with track cleaning cars is cleaning sidings where you have to go back and forth many times to get the track cleaning. I can also apply much more pressure to the track by hand then even the best track cleaning car can which results in faster track cleaning. The only advantage track cleaning cars have is to reach areas of the track that are not accessible by hand.

Earl

Centerline track cleaning car. It works great.

I have a track cleaning hand, it works great!

here's the one I have a little rubbing alcohol and it's all good.

 

I think cleaning by hand is best by far.  However, I bought a home made track cleaning car at a train meet recently and had mixed results.  It was an old Lionel gondola car from post war fitted with a sliding pad underneath with a cloth that stuck on like velcro.  Mine kept snagging switches and knocking off the cloth attached to it.  You had to wet the pad with denatured alcohol.  This contraption put a lot of drag on an engine when pulled.  I tacked it on the rear of a 7 or 8 car passenger train and eventually stipped a worm gear in a very expensive $1000 dollar engine for which I can get no parts.  I'm sticking with hand cleaning.

 

Ray

Ed McMahon:	Well, after 14 years on the OGR Forum one can honestly say no one needs to ask
	about track cleaning cars anymore.  Everything there is to say about track cleaning
	cars has been said and explained and all brands have been covered so many times
	no one needs to ask again.
Johnnie Carson:	Wrong, boiler breath, here's another thread.

I had the Lionel one: it didn't really do much for me.

 

I have Patricks Trains now.  I am very pleased with it.

Hi Ken,

 

I'll second the Centerline car with GooGone.  I have Atlas nickel track and it does a good job.  I learned to couple the car to an engine with solid wheels (no tires) and run it fast as possible until the entire cleaning roller gets blackened and the GooGone has dried.  If I could reach all sections of my layout I'd clean by hand.

 

Stack

I use a Trackman 2000, and we have one for our modular club layout as well.  Just pop a Scotchbrite pad on it and drag it around a few times, job done.  I have yet to have any issues with it snagging on Atlas or Fastrack switches, I figured that would be a problem, but apparently not.

 

I use an Aztec Track Cleaning Car does an excellent job!

At my train club we use two Centerline track cleaning cars following a single engine. The roller on the first one is wet down with alcohol and the second is left dry. The first cleans the track while the second wipes it dry. This is similar to the Lionel track cleaning car with the dentist cotton swab in the rear. Works great. The rollers in both cars get very dirty showing that both contribute to the cleaning. As a bonus, you can get replacement (paint) rollers in the local hardware store.