Track cleaning engine - pull power

I and the club use weighted Williams engines to pull the cleaning cars, they have plenty of pulling power and not expensive.

I just bought a car from Northeast Trains. A K-line Plymouth pulls it well.

The cleaning cars from NE trains is what the club and I use to keep the track clean, the club is all atlas and mine is fastrack

I use the same NE trains car pictured above behind a new Legacy S4 switcher and it pulls and performs fine for me using 91% IPA.

PS  - does anyone know what material the pads that come with the car are made of and where to find it ? They work well for me and I'd like to get a sheet and cut it into the appropriately sized pieces.

We use shamwow sheets cut to same size

SHAMWOW SHAMMYS! 8 SUPER ABSORBENT TOWELS (4 LARGE, 4 MINI) Made In Germany 793993198006 | eBay

scotchbrite pads work well also. Use a wet pad on the front and the scotchbrite on the rear.

https://www.amazon.com/7447-Sc...urpose/dp/B00HHN4GPS

I picked up a pack of  Dollar Tree Scrub Buddies Swiffer pads for my NE trains track cleaning car and cut them to size and they work fine. I use Goo Gone on the front pad and leave the rear pad dry. I also added a couple of adhesive wheel weights and the track get real clean.

scotchbrite tends to leave fuzz

Just a thought; isn't it better to PUSH the track cleaning car? That way the pushing locomotive is always operating on cleaned track.

@Hot Water

If you use a cleaning agent like goo gone it doesn't dry quick enough and the drivers spins even with traction tires when push where pulling it dries by time makes the circuit

We use a 2 car system, the lead car has front pad wet, and trailing 3 dry but the track still needs to dry between passes

@Ron_S posted:

@Hot Water

If you use a cleaning agent like goo gone it doesn't dry quick enough and the drivers spins even with traction tires when push where pulling it dries by time makes the circuit

I NEVER used Goo Gone!!!!! That stuff is crap, and leaves a film on the rails, which tends to degrade the DCS signal. I always used denatured alcohol or acrylic lacquer thinner, without any issues with DCS signal degradation.

@Hot Water posted:

Just a thought; isn't it better to PUSH the track cleaning car? That way the pushing locomotive is always operating on cleaned track.

Unless there's a cleaning advantage to doing it that way, I think I'd rather leave the track clean behind the car rather than have an engine dirtying up what was just cleaned.

In addition, many of the cleaning agents used to clean the track need time to evaporate or dry out. I'd be hesitant to run over the track with an engine before they had time to do that. 

On my first layout which was two levels the upper level was only 10'' above the first level making it hard to clean the track by hand ,several years ago i rebuilt the whole layout ,only this time i went to 16'' above the first level ,making it much easier to clean by hand i do have two track cleaning cars ,but you can't beat doing it by hand ,then again my layout is not that large as many of the  other layouts ,it doesn't take me long to do 4 seperate loops .

@RSJB18 posted:

I just bought a car from Northeast Trains. A K-line Plymouth pulls it well.

I'd like to see a video of the K-Line Plymouth pulling any track cleaning car!  That tiny little Plymouth sure can't budge my NE Trains Track Cleaning Car!

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

I'd like to see a video of the K-Line Plymouth pulling any track cleaning car!  That tiny little Plymouth sure can't budge my NE Trains Track Cleaning Car!

I post one later John. I was surprised too. 😀

I use a trackman2000 with a williams f3 leading and a f3 dummy trailing.  Seems to help keep the cleaning car track better around the tighter curves.  I tried a single motor locomotive, one with the motor mounted in the truck, that experiment failed .

I use a Williams BL2 to pull my 3 track cleaning cars around the layout.

Denatured alcohol has caused several fires on the club layout in most often spots very hard to get to. Goo gone does the job, especially on Atlas track at the club. Us old farts aren't made to scramble under mountains or into tunnels to put out a fire.

Here's the video as promised. The pads are dry in the video. I use goo gone also.

I'll probably use a K-line S 2 once I finish it and add a pipe load for additional weight.

That little plymouth was trucking

This is my Northeast Trains car which I added two one ounce adhesive weights above each pad.

That's impressive for the Plymouth, I'm in awe!

Hmm another cleaning car to look at. Got the R & L after reading an older forum on here.

Didn't know there was a short and long version, but I see why after using it.  2nd foam roller lifts rear truck at switch, and derails. Needs some more weight, or I need to make a longer frame. Their site just shows the short version.

I see yalls have shoulder bolts, so allows pads to adjust, and not lift car. Good idea on that design.

R&L had more resistance than I thought. My one engine was able to pull the single car. If I got a 2nd one of same car, def need a heavier engine, like my steamer. Rollers did pickup good amt of crud.

Haven't had any dcs issues using goo. Used 2 socks. One with goo, other dry. Same theory with cleaner car, one roller wet other is dry.

So another cleaning car to look at, and some engines to look up.

RSJB, Could you tell me how the silver posts are attached to car? How are the 2 horizontal pieces that hold the white felt attached the black screws? Appreciatively, UnclePeteRR

@UnclePeteRR   The posts have screw ends, you unscrew the posts, replace the pad and cover plate then screw it in, the pads float due to the posts being free to raise and lower.

This is a very simple design that works well, you just get a little dirty replacing the pad.

@RSJB18 posted:

Here's the video as promised. The pads are dry in the video. I use goo gone also.

I'll probably use a K-line S 2 once I finish it and add a pipe load for additional weight.

So That's how you slow down a K-Line Plymouth  - Like John I had my doubts that little guy had the drawbar pull.

Paul

Adding weight to the car will keep it more stable but the free slide of the posts will always be the same.   This cleaning car works great on the clubs Atlas track and switches as well as my home layout with fastrack and switches.

I have the same cleaner and find that using a cut out scotch-brite pad for one of the posts (enabling abrasive cleaning) along with the white pads and a little cleaning fluid on the other post works best for my pike.

You can see it here -

@Railrunnin posted:

So That's how you slow down a K-Line Plymouth  - Like John I had my doubts that little guy had the drawbar pull.

Paul

I have 6 of these little buggers. Absolutely love em. They are great pullers for their size. I could easily double head them for more pulling power. The smokers are great too.

I tried using scotchbrite , when the pad hit a switch, the frog kept grabbing the pad and derailing it, once I went to shamwow pads, it works great and smoothly across switches and joints.  I also found bits and pieces of the scotchbrite in the running gear of my engines after running the car for 30 minutes, those 2 trouble areas put the scotchbrite back in the utility cabinet and my workbench.

@Ron_S posted:

I tried using scotchbrite , when the pad hit a switch, the frog kept grabbing the pad and derailing it, once I went to shamwow pads, it works great and smoothly across switches and joints.  I also found bits and pieces of the scotchbrite in the running gear of my engines after running the car for 30 minutes, those 2 trouble areas put the scotchbrite back in the utility cabinet and my workbench.

I haven't experienced any of that with my small layout, and I have 14 MTH switches.  I make sure to choose the thinnest scotchbrite pads (there are multiple thicknesses) and seat the post down on the top of the tracks when placing the car on the rails.  I've been using mine like this for the past 8 years with pretty good results and no residue or pad pieces left on the track.  Of course, nothing beats elbow grease and my hands for track cleaning.

Strap Hangar, my layout is 100% fastrack on the lower and gargraves on the shelf portion. The scotchbrite does better on the gargraves as they are loops with no switches, I have found it works best for my purposes with shamwow or the replacement pads from NE Trains.  As with most products, some work better for most and not so well for others.

RSJ - I also have a little stable of K-Line critters - Plymouths and Porters that I tremendously enjoy. Here are some images of a couple of them at the old Ocean County Society of Model RR's Club in Howell NJ.

To stay with the OP observation - I think I'll have to try triple-heading a track cleaning train on my LOTF (Layout of the future) with some Plymouths.

Paul

@Railrunnin posted:

RSJ - I also have a little stable of K-Line critters - Plymouths and Porters that I tremendously enjoy. Here are some images of a couple of them at the old Ocean County Society of Model RR's Club in Howell NJ.

To stay with the OP observation - I think I'll have to try triple-heading a track cleaning train on my LOTF (Layout of the future) with some Plymouths.

Paul

I think they are one of K-line's best.

So I did a push-pull......

@UnclePeteRR posted:

RSJB, Could you tell me how the silver posts are attached to car? How are the 2 horizontal pieces that hold the white felt attached the black screws? Appreciatively, UnclePeteRR

@Ron_S posted:

@UnclePeteRR   The posts have screw ends, you unscrew the posts, replace the pad and cover plate then screw it in, the pads float due to the posts being free to raise and lower.

This is a very simple design that works well, you just get a little dirty replacing the pad.

Here's a close up of the pad assembly. As Ron said, it's a very simple design.

@Ron_S posted:

I tried using scotchbrite , when the pad hit a switch, the frog kept grabbing the pad and derailing it, once I went to shamwow pads, it works great and smoothly across switches and joints.  I also found bits and pieces of the scotchbrite in the running gear of my engines after running the car for 30 minutes, those 2 trouble areas put the scotchbrite back in the utility cabinet and my workbench.

I've used Scotchbrite purple pads on my Trackman 2000 for years, I've never had any issues with it through Fastrack or Ross switches, the only types I've used for the last few years.

If you had your pick, would it be a trackman, or NE unit. Is one any better over the other.

Have an opportunity to get a trackman is why I ask.