Ordinary painters' spirits (wiped around, not immersed) for cleaning off grease, then Mobil-1 synthetic oil for lubing have always worked well for my Marx collection.  everyone has their favs, but spirits are relatively cheap and safe and a quart of motor oil will last a long, long time, if not a lifetime, and costs about the same as a tiny bottle of train oil.

I use pure mineral spirits. Be aware that some brands of mineral spirits are cut with water. I don't know how they keep it mixed, all I know is that it does not work as well as the pure stuff.

I don't know whether there is any difference between painter's spirits (mentioned by TrainsRMe) and mineral spirits.

 

I usually apply it with a Q-tip or a scrap piece of rag.

Rags go out in the garage in a fire can when I am done with them.

 

 

 

I'm old school and still use turpentine as a cleaner and use Penn Hot Sauce (made for fishing reels) at my lubricant.

Thanks.  I did a little research on mineral spirits and turpentine.  Smell seems to be major difference.  I picked up a windup that I haven't received yet.  Description says it runs for 30 seconds but won't pull anything.  Can wind ups get worn out??   I thought I saw a YouTube video on rewinding one.   I'm hoping a good cleaning will get it going.  Otherwise I'll pick up an engine for it.  I believe wind up motors are very similar to electric motors and can be swapped.

Be careful with alcohol. It will dissolve the lithography on Marx engines and cars.

 

Excellent precaution.  And I should have mentioned, I wouldn't use painters' spirits or terps on the wheel treads or contact shoes unless you follow it up with alcohol.

I use motor oil on my trains. I keep the bottle after I put the oil in the car. There is always enough left over to fill my train bottle a couple of times with each quart. 

To clean the external surfaces, I wash the shell in warm water and Dawn detergent. If it's safe for cleaning oil slicks off ducks and baby seals it should be fine for old toy trains!   LOL

 

I use 90% rubbing alcohol to clean the running gear and lube with 30wt non-detergent motor oil on bearings and Labelled #106 grease on gears.

quote:

Excellent precaution.  And I should have mentioned, I wouldn't use painters' spirits or terps on the wheel treads or contact shoes unless you follow it up with alcohol.

 

Why?
I just wipe off the excess with a clean rag or dry Q-tip.

 

Why do Marx wind-up locomotives need good clean contact to operate well?  This is what the original poster is talking about.  WOW another cheese sandwich.

Jeff, the guys have given you some good advice for both electric and windup.  I'll just add a couple of things in particular for the windups.  If you have a sparking windup, do your best to keep any solvents or oil away from the sparking wheel itself.  They are made of wood with grit bonded to the perimeter, so we don't want to introduce anything that the wood will absorb and possibly cause problems.  Also, avoid getting oil in the governor, it will cause the locomotive to run faster and it is very difficult to clean it out completely once it is in there.  Make sure the cars are well lubed and free rolling for the windups; anything you can do to reduce drag will increase running distance and time.  The guys have pretty much covered solvents and oils; I use Norvey Turbine oil (available at most hardware stores) although I have had good results with full synthetic motor oil, too.

 

How about some pictures?  I always enjoy seeing Marx trains... especially the windups!

WindupGuy,

I lost interest in building my layout last year and I sold out this fall.  But, I just can't stop looking at the old tin trains.  This time around I'm just planning on getting a few old engines, clean up what I can, and keep a couple good runners.  Maybe try my hand at repainting them.  I saved a very small table that I'm going to use as my "layout".  I just wanted something to tinker with.  So, I've been on the bay the last couple of weeks and I've "won" a couple windups and a couple electric engines.  I think most of the cars I won, I'll get back rid of.  I'm kind of into passenger trains.  Knowing that these trains are old and maybe unused for a spell, I figured I'd better learn how to clean the motors up to make them run better.  I'm not planning on buying a box of junk and creating a Frankenstein engine...yet!  

quote:

I regard them as oily substances, since they are used to thin or clean up oil-based paint.  Marx locos need a good clean contact to operate well, more so than do Lionel, and I just feel the alcohol provides it.

 

Thanks.

Sounds like a good plan!  I hope you enjoy the "new" old trains and your new layout... the simple pleasure of Marx tinplate is hard to beat.  There are a variety of Marx tinplate passenger cars depending if your tastes run to the 6" tin cars or even articulated tinplate.

 

Hmmm... buying a box of junk and creating a Frankenstein engine... I resemble that remark!  Ha!  Built this beast from a grab-bag on EBay as a challenge from one of my fellow Marx enthusiasts:

 

 

 

Love that outtake!

glad I'm not the only one that would do something like that, except I'd have a knot on my head to boot!

Well I got my 2 wind up ebay wins and my electric steam engine win.  Electric was plastic but thought if it ran and smoked well I could use engine elsewhere.  It came in pieces.  My windup that "only ran 30 seconds" acted like it may work.  I bought that one as cheap project.  My windup that "looked great and needed a little oil" did look great but it had less chance of pulling itself than the 30 second engine did.  Little oil my butt.  When I had an issue with my packing I gave buyer partial refund.  Not sure what they will do but shipping at $12 isn't worth it

here's my metal windup greased and ready to go!  I only have the 8 curves and 2 straights.  the train slings the caboose off before the engine goes over.  i had to add 2 more cars to get it to stay on track.  Thanks Windupguy for all your help!

 

https://www.youtube.com/edit?o...video_id=HcG8dPGpIfQ