Simple Green DOES hurt locos

Lee

I sure would not like to be close to you if someones says Simple Green cleaner.

We need a "like" button for comments

 

Nah - stuff happens.  I'm kind of past even being bummed out about it.  

 

This was only, oh, maybe an hour of work to really clean them well.  

 

Simple Green will leave an unremovable film on glass like it etches right into the glass also.I found out the hard way and it was even diluted with lots of water.  

Its no surprise to me that you found rust on your trains a while after using Simple Green.

It's strong stuff. I use it for degreasing, and find that when used in my ultrasonic cleaner, it will even remove some rust.
It seems to me that Simple Green removes whatever protective coating was on the piece being cleaned. The Simple Green has to be rinsed off, and once the piece dries, a new protective coating has to be applied. Sometimes I use WD-40, other times CRC 2-26.

Sure glad I didn't use any of that stuff around my trains.

Lee, repeat after me "there's no place like home, there's no place like home......Don

Stuff seems to happen to some more than others. Hope things go well with your trains.

Lee, are you sure that you didn't use Soylent Green instead? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVpN312hYgU

Now Nicole, THAT'S FUNNY!!!!!!

Larry

Maybe not to Lee on second thought.

Thanks Jimijo.  Other than the Simple Green thing, I think I've had above average luck. And things DID go very well today.  The Atlas track is all in place and tested.  It is just so nice, smooth, and quiet! I ran all my favorites, all at once, for maybe an hour - my SantaFe  3759 Northern with 13 slogan cars and a scale caboose on loop 1, the Santa Fe Anniversary Super Chief on loop 2, my perfect little 0-4-0 shifter with six shorty cars and a caboose on loop 3, two of my custom city buses on the 'streets and a bashed '50 Chevy Superstreets taxi on my downtown street loop, and the boat with water skier on my lake.  No problems at all.

 

A few dirty wheels and a bit of corrosion can't spoil that mood! 

"none of the drivers looked the least bit affected"

i would be concerned about traction tires.

1. Very good Nicole, I could just imagine Lee running on screen saying," SIMPLE GREEN EATS OOooo-GAUGE"!
2. As for you Lee all I can say is thanks for your post. My wife was looking at an add for Simple Green last week, she thought it might work on her appliances. I told her about your track problem and said to keep it away from my platform. Needless to say she did not buy it.

Lee, you must of used a lot of that simple green, I sort of see your trains splashing around the rails. Now having said that, I am wondering if this problem is going to show up on all the rolling stock which were run at this same time?

 I still can't believe that I bought the simple green about the same time you did, but I never used it, I guess we all get lucky sometime. I hope this problem stops haunting you. Good Luck.

I have not checked my rolling stock.  I suppose some of it will have been affected.  I'll go through it all this week.  Good suggestion.  Thanks.

I suspect that Simple Green is acidic, so I suggest that you consider neutralizing it on your locomotives with a solution of baking soda followed by a synthetic lubricant.

When I was repairing trains starting in the early 1980s (including when I had a Lionel Service Station out of my home) I used Murphy's Oil Soap and old toothbrushes with warm water to clean boiler shells and postwar plastic shells, after disassembly, of course. I had an air compressor so I could dry the items. Murphy's Oil Soap is very mild, has no abrasives, does not leave a residue, and will not adversely affect plastic.  I also use denatured alcohol on my track cleaning car (RLines) with 2" foam touch-up rollers from Lowe's. Denatured alcohol has no water in it and leaves no residue as an oil or soapy cleaner would. Any material such as WD-40, mineral spirits (paint thinner) or the citrus-based cleaners WILL leave a residue on the rails.  Phil

Actually, it's main active ingredient, butoxyethanol, has a ph of 7, meaning it is about as acidic as water.  I'm not into chemistry that much but I know that:

- it is "non-volitale" which means it hangs around and does not evaporate, etc.  This is bad, this is very bad . . .

-  it oxidizes into something call 2-butoxyacetic acid

- I'm not an expert on that, but since it hangs around in air, it oxidizes into an acid, so yes, maybe . . .

I am not completely convinced the rust-colored dots I see on my ruined Fastrack and brown rash on sintered metal train wheels is rust.  It cleans off the wheels too easily and it does not behave like rust on the Fastrack (I get tiny round pits that deepen, not widen)

 

Regardless, my solution as to cleaning it is:

- for Fastrack - don't it's ruined and fixed

- for train wheels and axles -  mass and volume, not chemistry.  I use a lot of WD40 and lub to clean out everywhere it may have accumulated, then remove that as I can.  I'm testing both WD40 and neolube as a "protectant" on wheels and axles.

Lee, someone told me WD-40 eats tires on your engines. Don

Be careful with the WD- 40. I used it to lubricate/clean a switch machine and the hole darn thing caught on fire when I actuated it.
I hope you have better luck. Can you imagine if this simple green got into the circuit boards?

Lee,

 For all the problems simple green has given you, I wouldn't use anywhere near the train room. 

Works good on cars - Under the hood and tires.

I believe the "WD" in WD-40 stands for "Water Displacement."  As such, it belongs in a plumber's toolbox, where it can be quite effective.  A former bicycle store operator, I've seen what it can do to chains and derailleurs, which is to calcify them - turns  a chain into a rigid dinosaur spine.  I've had 'em so bad only a hacksaw would remove them.  When I'm really desperate and air tool oil won't do I use Liquid Wrench, reluctantly.

 

Pete

I used WD40 on the corroded seized axle bearings, then tried to get all I could out and lubed them with model train light grade oil.  On one loco and rubbed thewheel with '40 and then wiped all I could off.  On the other, nelube.  We'll see if there is any difference in results.  And we're talking only about the small pilot wheels, etc.  The drivers weren't affected so i did nothing to them.  I would expect WD40 or any oil to affect traction tires. 

Nicole, you are too much! Soylent Green is made of people, ya gotta tell them!

 

Bruce

From Wikipedia:

Developed in 1953 by Norm Larsen, founder of the Rocket Chemical Company, in San Diego, California, WD-40 is an abbreviation of the phrase "Water Displacement, 40th formula^."  

WD-40 is primarily composed of various hydrocarbons.The long-term active ingredient is a non-volatile, viscous oil which remains on the surface, providing lubrication and protection from moisture.This is diluted with a volatile hydrocarbon to give a low viscosity fluid which can be sprayed and thus penetrate crevices. The volatile hydrocarbon then evaporates, leaving the oil behind. Carbon dioxide provides gas pressure in the can and evaporates away.

"  I also use denatured alcohol on my track cleaning car (RLines) with 2" foam touch-up rollers from Lowe's."

i would think the alcohol would evaporate too quickly to use on a track cleaning car on a large layout. True or not?