Dremel for cleaning wheels

I use the edge of a knife to scrape away the hardened gunk, followed by a QTip moistened with mineral spirits.

I used to use a wire wheel, but decided that I didn't need the bits of gunk flying all over the place. I imagine you'd have a similar mess with a buffing wheel.

I still will occasionally use a wire wheel on pickup rollers.

Just curious: what do you mean by sparkling? All the new sintered iron wheels that I've seen, whether on rolling stock or engines, are a uniform black color.

I could see polishing nickel rim drivers for appearance.

I put Goo Gone on a paper towel and lay it across the track. Then I roll the cars over it by hand until the wheels are clean. 

...keep the rails polished...

I first scrape the hardened gunk as mentioned above, then I use this little tool in my Dremel to finish the job.  It makes quick work of the remainder of the residue.  For drivers, I have the locomotive powered so I can run the wheels slowly.

Note that there are a few steamers that have issues running upside down, the drive rods will jam.  I've never personally experienced this, but I've been warned by folks that I respect that it happens.

I use it with the soft cloth disc and iso alcohol to clean wheels and rollers.

The shine or sparkling you see from using a rotary tool is merely the crud and grease smeared into a fine coating. Although labor intensive, scraping the wheels and using a solvent are probably the best method.

Screwdriver for the heavy stuff, then a Dremel with a wire wheel to clean up. The wheels also remove any rust and white stuff (mold??). Never had a need for solvent.

Pete

I used the wire brush bit and it worked wonders!!

I use the wire dremel brush on the wheel edge/flanges.  For the outside of the wheels a drop of oil with the wire brush makes it look brand new and removes any white stuff or light rust and the oil helps keep any future rust from coming back (stuff that took may be 20 years to happen on its own). 

Always wear eye protection, and stuff does tend to get flung around so where old clothing and prepare to clean up the area afterwards.  Doing it outside is a big plus since the lighting is always superior and minimizes any clean up.

For rollers, I use a felt wheel on the dremel starting out slow and working my way up to high speed.  This cleans the outside of the roller and helps bermish the inside if needed. It also helps work in any oil to prevent squeaking.

I have also used the paper towel with distilled alcohol, acetone, or bestine on the track and rolling the cars back and forth to clean the wheels with good results.  Be careful not to apply any power while doing this.  Solvents can be highly flammable.

Also, some solvents like acetone can dissolve plastics and would be bad with Fastrack roadbed should it make contact with the ties or the roadbed.

I start with an x-acto knife to loosen and remove as much crud as possible.  Next q-tips in 91% iso alcohol, then a brass wire brush in the dremel.  On really dirty wheels I may have to go back with the x-acto and q-tips.  

I end up with completely clean wheels, and don't forget to lube after you are done cleaning!

Jon