Yet another track cleaning question

FWIW, I am not a track cleaning expert and haven't cleaned my entire layout with them, but I have tried them on a few sections. I only have the pads, no handle or other attachments. This was a year or so ago (I don't clean my track too often). They did a good job removing the built up residue on the rails, as good as 91% iso alcohol or track cleaner with paper towels ever did. I have noticed no ill effects so far on the sections I tried them on and no problems with traction tires, DCS or Legacy systems.

I have all Atlas track and switches with the nickel silver rails. I suppose they could have a different affect on the tin plated tubular track or other type of materials? They do not remove the blackening on the Atlas center rails. I have never tried them on anything but the Atlas track. The MTH track cleaner, iso alcohol and Magic Erasers are the only 3 things I have ever tried for track cleaning.

Thanks. I guess I should have said I was using Gar-Graves with wood ties.

Manual labor gets old if you have a big layout. Get yourself a track cleaning car or make one. Pull the car behind an engine for a few minutes and done. You will still have to clean switches and stub tracks by hand, but mainlines are manual labor free.

There are tons of threads on this topic already, building cars, buying cars, and what to use as a "cleaner". Type it in the search tab and you can spend all day reading up on this exact topic

Joe, I hope someone else will chime in if they are successful, but whenever I use a Magic Eraser they had to be damp to work correctly. I would fear that introducing water to the track, especially at connecting joints could create problems down the road if you could not remove the water. What I have used is a spongy-like fine sanding block. I think I got the one I use from the Rust-Oleum Countertop Transformations Kit (the countertop you see in the picture). The block works great and I am sure they are available sold separately for many other uses. 

Rick

I have been using the dry erasers for a while now. I use them dry, not wet. They work very well. I have a small 9x6 layout with a double track main and a few sidings, takes me about 10-15 minutes. The cheap store brand ones work just as well. If I had a large layout I would probably use some kind of cleaning car, but for a small layout like mine it is just not worth it.

Laidoffsick posted:

Manual labor gets old if you have a big layout. Get yourself a track cleaning car or make one. Pull the car behind an engine for a few minutes and done. You will still have to clean switches and stub tracks by hand, but mainlines are manual labor free.

There are tons of threads on this topic already, building cars, buying cars, and what to use as a "cleaner". Type it in the search tab and you can spend all day reading up on this exact topic

 

Yeah I know I can but nothing turned up using a magic eraser. I have a little over 500' of track and fortunately for cleaning purposes it's all on 1 level and fairly easy to access. I have an MNP track cleaning car from Weaver and it works ok but I wouldn't buy another one or give it 5 stars.

I only threw in my track type because Atlas has a different rail material than most others. I don't know that is really makes much difference as far as cleaning, but you never know?

I used the Magic Eraser dry as well, never had to wet them. I would be concerned about getting water on the tracks, tin or otherwise. That's not a good mix, IMO.

dobermann posted:

Has anyone tried a Mr Clean magic eraser to clean track. I was surfing amazon and came up with a Mr Clean magic eraser with a long handle and snap on heads for cleaning toilets. I have a track cleaning car that does a nice job when it works right but it doesn't always. I have a torn rotator cuff so extensive wiping with alcohol and paper towels by hand is pretty uncomfortable. The long handle might help but I have no idea whats in the magic eraser so I wouldn't to be the first to try it.

"Mr Clean magic eraser" is made for cleaning toilets, intended to be used wet so it gets flexible and releases chemical cleaners. Doesn't seem like a good choice for cleaning track.

dobermann posted:

... I guess I should have said I was using Gar-Graves with wood ties.

If you have steel track getting surface rust, try fine sandpaper on a sanding block. Or Scotchbrite pads.

If you have greasy-oily build-up on track, use alcohol or cleaning solvents on disposable cloth rag to cut it.

Laidoffsick posted:

Manual labor gets old if you have a big layout. Get yourself a track cleaning car or make one. Pull the car behind an engine for a few minutes and done. You will still have to clean switches and stub tracks by hand, but mainlines are manual labor free.

There are tons of threads on this topic already, building cars, buying cars, and what to use as a "cleaner". Type it in the search tab and you can spend all day reading up on this exact topic  

Excellent advice there. With home-made track cleaner cars you could attach fine sandpaper to one car, follow it up with disposable cloth wipers on another car. But if your track is seriously rusty or dirty, manual cleaning is in order first.

If track is cleaned/wiped regularly it won't be necessary to use special tactics. For that reason I use home-made track wiper cars on most of my trains. I know they work because the disposable-replaceable cloth wipers get dirty. Regular use of track-wiper cars is less work in the long run and it also minimizes the eventual need for tedious manual cleaning of wheels.

For the life of me, I can NOT understand why people keep wanting to experiment with any & all track cleaning solutions/methods! ALCOHOL, ALCOHOL, ALCOHOL. What part of ALCOHOL don't people understand? It cleans the rails and leaves no film to degrade TMCC or DCS signals. Personally, I prefer denatured alcohol, and sometimes lacquer thinner, since both dry VERY fast, and leave NO FILM.

Agreed, HW. We soak the pads in denatured alcohol, isopropyl alcohol, laquer thinner, and even acetone. Squeaky clean every time, and we just drag the car around. Around the frogs we usually have to detail by hand a little, but the cleaning car does all the work for us.

This might be an answer . . .

Wow, that's really somethin'!!

I always use alcohol to clean my track.

I just started putting ballast down on gargraves track, sprayed with matte medium then I cleaned with a damp sponge and dried it with cotton cloth, since its water based.  No ill effects. The trains run like they did before.

Doberman, you can use the magic eraser dry.  It is a melamine foam which is like very fine sandpaper.  There are no chemicals in it.  Water is used to carry away dirt and melamine particles after it is rubbed off but is not necessary.  If the long handle helps you reach places, give it a try.  The worst case is you will have a shiny clean toilet. 

denatured alcohol works best on railtrax for fast track wd 40

LAIDOFFSICK,

Can you tell me about the car pictured?

Ray