How often do you have to clean your track?

My new Fastrack layout has the dirtiest track I have ever seen.  Far worse than my old K-line Track layouts or my MTH Railtrax.

This track seems to get dirty even when I havn't run any trains on it!

Hello Art.  I try to clean my FasTrack once a month.  I use a bottled track cleaner solution I get from my LHS and use a soft tissue or cloth.

- Mike

I am with Hot.  I have to clean every square inch before running.  Lasts a week.

I use Wahl Clipper Oil or equivalent on a piece of 400 wet-or-dry sand paper.  I have steel, nickel silver, and brass track, and try to keep only steel wheels on all equipment.  Some of my older wheels are die cast, and they can get coated with crud so deep it takes a knife to get it off.  Sintered iron seems to be worse, and brass is not great either.

No set schedule. I uses denatured alcohol.

Here, I thought it was just me. I'm convinced it comes from within. Great system for what it is, but because of this and other limitations, I have no plans to use Fastrak for a permanent layout.

Outdoors on my large scale layout I use 100% stainless steel track and I never clean it. Never cleaned my o gauge Gargraves stainless indoor track either.   

I clean my track after one or two long running.                                                                                                                           

I use Lionel track eraser or some cleaner with a cloth.          

And the track is Lionel fast track and switches and the troll track is Lionel tubular track.

Hope this help. - Matt

Every six months with denatured alcohol. I have found it works very well.

I know this subject has been discussed a lot, but I just can't figure out why it gets dirty so fast.  I have all Atlas track and use a Bright Boy usually.  I don't clean for every personal session but I have before any company is over.

It needs to be cleaned far more often if I'm running MTh and I assume that is because the signals are transmitted through the track.  Lionel is much more forgiving.

Art 

I forgot to mention that I wonder if the wider, flatter rail tops of Atlas and FasTrack are part of the problem?  Lionel tubular track doesn't seem to get dirty as fast.  Brian just said he cleans his every 6 months.  I would be thrilled to only have to clean it that often.

Art

About once a month

I clean the track one every couple of years whether it needs it or not.

Actually, I use the same technique as most with a diluted cleaner and a rag.

Art, are you running your engines with smoke?

I bought a track cleaning car a while back. It just has a Scotch-Brite pad and it seems to make a huge difference. What I need is to run more trains and have a fleet of those cars.

I used to be on the hair clipper oil band wagon, but since I fell off, I haven't seen anymore crud. I think the formula is:

oil + dust = crud

The reason I asked about the smoke is, it's oil and it has to go somewhere.

If I could just finish the heavy construction, half my problems would be solved.

I use Ross track and switches and I clean the track every couple of months or so. 

I use Goo gone or something similar to clean the track.

The best thing you can do to keep the track clean is to run your trains. 

our club cleans the track every day.   even people who run at night clean before running.  the cleaner the less issues we have.

I use the oil to keep sparking to a minimum.  3-railersdo not have to wory about sparking, but we have a limited number of wheels picking up current, and therefore more current at each wheel.  Bad arcing puts holes in the wheels, which then pick up dirt.

I believe the differences above are environmental.  My layout is exposed to all kinds of crap - spindrift, sawdust, cat pee, you name it.  Others have dust-free dry rooms, and need little in the way of cleaning.

My layout is in the garage so,

1; after a good wind

2; when something starts to sputter

3; right before the guys come over for train night

Usually use alcohol or Life Like cleaning fluid. 

Steve

The HO crowd on another forum denounces smoking trains every chance they get. They say the fluid/vapor landing on the rails, ruins scenery, and causes electrical havoc. "Just clip the wires to the smoke unit" as a "helpful" suggestion, has left me cringing a number of times. Also I don't remember O-gauge scenery needing to be redone due to "train smoke damage", and our locos produce much more smoke. (I think some are just jealous of how well ours smoke and some are looking for any excuse to "remodel") 

I use a magic eraser, alcohol and a gondola car to clean my fastrack. I usually do it 3-4 times a year. Check out this tutorial. https://www.youtube.com/watch?...youtube_gdata_player

I found that the less smoke I run the less often I have to clean the rails.  I use a rag and some denatured alcohol...works well.

My layout is kind of large. Gargraves track and Ross switches. I use Goo Gone with my Unit Track Cleaning Train that uses nineteen Centerline track cleaning cars.

... keep the rails polished...

Art....this is a topic that comes up on the forum several times a year and for good reason, the cleaner the track the better our operations!  In my particular case, many years ago a friend told me about electronic spray cleaner and how he used it on his track and then practically never had to clean the track again!  So....I decided to try it on a 10 or so foot section of my layout because frankly I didn't really "believe".  Much to my amazement, the trains ran smoother and there was no black gunk build-up on the wheels or track.  This was on the old layout with Gargraves track.

Fast forward to today....I am a believer!  The new layout has Atlas track and switches.  While I have not applied the electronic spray cleaner to all of the track yet, I am going to do so.  I can tell you that when it is applied, problems seem to disappear and command locomotives run more smoothly and flickering lights, etc. go away!

What is this magic liquid???  It is CRC 2-26 which I bought at Home Depot but it is available in a lot of home improvement stores.  There are other brands too but this one is safe for our rubber tired locomotives and all plastics.  It works much like the clipper oil that HO modelers used back in the days (and may still use?).  I bought a small 5oz. spray can 6 years ago.  Apply it once on a rag and then forget about it for a few years.  As a matter of fact, on my old layout I never had to do it again during the entire time the layout existed which was 10 years!!

Alan

I don't run smoke so I know that is not contributing to my problem and I have a clean finished train room too.  I haven't been cleaning as often since I haven't been running any of my MTH engines lately.  But it still seems to get dirty faster than it should to me.

Art

I check how clean my track is by rubbing my hand across the rails.  If there is black lines on my hand, I clean the track with alcohol.

Steve, Lady and Tex

I prefer track cleaner made by, "Life Like". Ever now and again I find it on sale. When I do I usually buy by the case (one dozen). I'm using tubular track. I prefer to clean twice a week. My vintage prewar trains are like the, Model T & Model A Fords. No matter what you do, they drip a little lubricant. It's a small price to pay .

I moistin a old sock with Goo Gone and follow up with a dry rag.

I get excellent results and the trains run smooth no hiccups!!!

Next to never, have a drop ceiling, sealed flooring, dehumidifier, and no smoke...

and a electronic air cleaner.

Sometimes a spot comes up, but seems to be the same place every time, the one that's hard to reach and in a tunnel.

I noticed if you cut back on the oiling on the wheels and use only what you need, it cuts down on the dirt.

I've noticed that too that the harder a spot is to clean, the dirtier it seems to get.  Old "Murphy's Law" just won't seem to leave us alone.  And the Gremlins are always in hiding waiting for you to have someone over.

Art

It does work and how!! The problem with the vintage rolling stock is the lack of areas to catch any run-off that occurs. Since I started using Lucas' Red-N-Tacky on the axles the run off on the axles, very little next to nothing.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Very Simply:  Clean it when it's DIRTY!!!

Fred

That is one of the big advantages of the track cleaning car, as long as the train can run through the dirt.

I have found that the use of smoke makes track dirtier, but it is NOT the smoke fluid. It is the increase in amperage required for the smoke unit. I have a multi track layout, and the tracks dedicated to lighted passenger trains always get dirtier more quickly than my "freight" tracks. I also get dirt around switches, and this seems to be locations where there is a voltage differential. I have also looked carefully at wheels on my rolling stock, and of course dirty wheels just spread the dirt around.

I wish that the manufacturers were providing wheel treads with a finer finish on rolling stock, but the sintered wheels probably prevent this. I am also in two rail, and the wheel treads are smoother. I have found that wheels and/or rail that has been cleaned with abrasive pads, wire brushes, etc gets dirty again quickly. I think that the best approach is to use a liquid and non abrasive cleaner, like alcohol. I believe that if the rail and the wheels do not have microscopic scratches, they still get dirty but it takes a lot longer.

I have Atlas O and it gets the black stuff on the rag fairly quickly. But it doesn't generally seem to affect operation. When it does I clean it. Maybe twice per year maybe once per year. I find the rollers are more of an issue as far as dirt is concerned. They are dust magnets and definitely can affect operation. When I do clean its 91% isopropyl

Here in the Panhandle of Texas, at the very south end of the Great Plains, we do not have high humidity, but what we do have plenty of is wind.  Even though it's normally not visible, dust - very fine dust - is in the breeze and lands on the rails, so I clean my nickel silver Atlas-O track monthly with denatured alcohol.  Like mike mike above, I get black stuff on the rag.

Some friends have tried to get me to try clipper oil, but they live further east where humidity is the enemy.  I have not tried it, as I think it would just be an ideal surface for dust to adhere to.

And the turnouts and auxiliary tracks (yard tracks, engine terminal, and industry spurs) get a monthly scrub with a Bright Boy, as they don't get train traffic like the main tracks do.

The local weather here on Long Island has really been pleasant this spring. I've kept my windows open most days to get some cross ventilation...NICE! But with open windows, in comes the annual rite of spring: TREE POLLEN. It settles on everything (I'm sure many of us recognize the layer of green dust that accumulates on our cars each April through June). I take Zyrtek allergy pills from April to July!

One of the long time members here on the OGR forum recommended using a large make-up brush to dust off my rolling stock and structures. Works great! I cannot see the pollen on the Fastrack, but I am sure it's there. I wipe down the track with dry sheets of Bounty paper towels until they no longer pick up oxidation residue. This weekend I will whip out the Dyson vacuum cleaner and suck off the entire track. That should take care of the pollen and any remaining dust.

If I had to list the FEW things I despise about our RR passion it's this stuff:

-- Cleaning the track

-- Cleaning the wheels on rolling stock

-- Lubing engines (especially the wheels, power pick-ups and wheel rods on steamers)

-- TRACTION TIRES!!! 

-- Changing burned out light bulbs

But of course, the very things I am complaining about are part of the passion of operating a miniature RR. All of the joy and fun stuff far exceed the minor (routine) maintenance and RR housekeeping headaches. 

Not really on topic but a feel good story.

A few years ago I donated some bridges to a local senior citizens home. A friend had said they put up an O scale set for Christmas and it was the highlight of the seniors living there. My friend said to stop by and see my bridges on the layout. The following week I did. I met the manager of the facility who showed me the layout but said the locomotives were not working (there were only two). Noticing my truss bridges were placed on the layout upside down I asked who put the layout together. Turns out it was a well meaning janitor for the facility who was not a trainman. Actually except for the bridges he did a great job.

I asked the manager to start up the locomotive which he did. It went for about 6 inches then stopped - its wheels spinning like crazy but going nowhere. First thought was traction tires but I brushed my finger on the rails a little bit and came up with SLUDGE - I mean SLUDGE. I looked at the bottom of the locomotive and there was SLUDGE. Turns out since the manual says to lubricate the locomotive the janitor made sure it was well lubricated.

After taking rags to the track and the locomotive it started flying around the layout to the delight of the seniors who had gathered around. It turns out the manager had called a local train shop who wanted a sum of money up front to look at the locomotives which the facility could not afford. The manager was trying to figure out what to do.