Cleaning Rolling Stock

Glenn-

The safest way is mild soap (or detergent like dish washing liquid) and water. Harsher cleaners and stiff bristle brushes will likely cause paint to peel and/or leave scuffs and other scratches on the bodies. Pledge or a similar mild polish is great if you want to leave your models with a slightly shiny (but temporary) finish.

-John

Acela (John) is right. Trains clean up fairly well with mild detergent-many people swear by "Dawn" liquid and a soft toothbrush, good even for postwar/prewar Lionel. Always go very easy on decals and script. Once things are clean, some WD40 into a soft cotton t-shirt or similar clean cloth helps to restore a bit of shine and protect the finish. Wheels often need cleaning. 3M green pads cut to small, handy sizes, sprayed with 91% alcohol (drug store bottles) quickly gets gummy residue or ground-in dirt off. A good hobby oil or car 5W-40- just a drop on axle points and contact rollers gets the wheels rolling smoothly again, etc. The older the item the more care it needs, but the older quality item will last a long, long time if cared for. Not all 'modern' trains can claim that.

There have been many threads on cleaning trains.
Be aware that many prewar and postwar Lionel trains are very difficult, if not impossible to clean. So be careful.

A couple of examples:

The lettering on many 6014 style boxcars, will wash away with a gentle cleaning.

The red paint on a 219 crane boom (prewar) or 394 beacon tower (postwar) will rinse away with plain water.

I generally use a liquid soap and a well used chip brush to clean trains.

To dry, I shake off the excess water and hang them up in front of a fan.

Glenn

Some folks call it grime, I prefer to call it "natural weathering"...

If I have to clean something, I use a bar of Ivory soap, tepid tap water & a shaving brush.

Lather the shaving brush on the bar of soap, rinse what grime will come off first under the tap, then gently wash the item with the lathered shaving brush & then rinse again.

I have heard of using Armor All on to get a shine, but I don't like the greasy feeling that it leaves.

Also have heard of using Johnson's Paste Wax to make it shiny.

Dave

I'm in the dishwashing liquid and a soft brush camp.  Then I blot them (do not rub) to remove excess moisture.

Cleaning the engines and cars?  Who does that?

I like the natural weathering comment above!

I really and truly need to weather my stuff--never have but I weather everything else.  I guess I'm concerned with future value. 

Regarding wax:

I have used butchers wax on surfaces that are smooth, such as transformer cases.

I am about to use metal polish (Simachrome) on some old, beat up turbine side rods that I dug out of my junk pile.

The problem with using any sort of wax is the detailed areas. I find that cleaning the wax and getting an even appearance around rivet details, catwalks, and other ridges and valleys is very difficult.

I recently used some zymol wax on the painted metal bins of some beat up 3559 dump cars. They do look a lot better. But every time I look at them, I end up cleaning more wax out of the cracks where pieces are joined together.

Thanks for the suggestions guys,

It never occurred to me to use plain old soap and water.