…

The three dots above are the three dots that size of Wahl’s clipper oil.

Vacuum Car

Kirk, did you see this newly posted vacuum car by Michael?

https://forum.mrhmag.com/post/the-georgetown-allen-mountain-railroad-v-6-12216383

Track Cleaning

I'm of the opinion that the best way to clean track is to run trains.   It certainly works for the prototype.

I'm in a club and we haven't cleaned the track at all for about three years.   But, even during the pandemic, someone was there at least 4 days a week and ran a 5 or 6 car train over the entire mainline each time.   

When members show up on run day, the layout works just fine with no stalls due to dirty track.

Rail Grinder train

Look up ‘Rail Grinder Train’ on google. 
 

Here is also a link to LORAM which own a bunch of very unique pieces of MOW equipment. 
https://www.loram.com/products/rail-grinding/production-rail-grinding/

anyone seen this shell ?

Okay, 

I agree with running trains. I am still going to have the rail cleaners as indicated. I love the vacuum car that Brian brought to my attention, but I can not figure out how much it is or where I can get one easily. 

It looks like the first place to start would be dedicated motive power. Anyone know where I can get a shell that looks like the engine in the video? What is the name of this locomotive / cab ? I am sure I could get it to fit on an Athearn chassis. 

CMX, then three Centerline roller type cars

Ditch the rest.  I have never been a fan of any abrasive on track, not to say I've never used them, but the crud has to be resistant to mineral spirits on a rag and aggressive rubbing before I resort to it.

With that said, I have not cleaned track in the last four years except in areas where I ballast. When ballasting, I oil the track before spraying, and then remove the paint as soon as possible when it is still wet.  I DO run three hour op sessions on average once per month, and trains across the whole railroad between sessions to re-stage between sessions. 

I also have these little wheel cleaners at two points on my layout.  Nothing more than three pieces of 0.030" wire (one outboard of each rail, and one in the middle of the track) and a 1" side piece of paper towel (any will do).  All that gunk on that towel would have continued to accumulate on wheels, or get deposited on the rail head.  They remove an incredible amount of crud from my all metal wheel rolling stock fleet, and keep my locomotive wheels pretty darn clean.

I also do a "roll by" inspection when I'm re-staging trains between sessions, and also inspect cars for accumulating crud when rotating equipment on / off the layout between sessions.  Anything with build-up between the wheel tread and flange, resulting in a low flange goes for a "wheel turning".  I dis-assemble the trucks from the car, take a #11 Exacto blade and peel off the gunk (it comes off like metal chips), and then clean the wheels with a q-tip and mineral spirits.  One Q-tip per truck, one end soaked in mineral spirits, and the other end dry to remove the residual mineral spirits. 

One other point that I have noticed is I have to clean every new car purchase with metal wheels, or clean the Intermountain 33" wheels that I put in many cars delivered with plastic wheelsets (Accurrail).  There is a fair amount of cutting oil left on the wheels, and I've had cars accumulate a fair amount of crud within five trips on the layout.  Since I've started doing this preventative measure, I've had far less depositing on the paper towel from each trainset at the cleaner. 

These steps keep me from having to clean track.  I'm located in the Chicago area, so YMMV depending on your location and frequency of operation. 

Regards,

Jerry

Hey Kirk check this out…

Hey Kirk check this out… recent build of that MOW rig

https://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/42474
 

jeff

Frugal vs spending money

I can't vouch for large layouts. I can see where a cleaning car or train may be desirable. However. For me, the solution to having track for running without a lot of maintenance is: I start with a white wine cork. Rub the track for about 3'. Then with an old tee shirt over a finger, wipe the rails with mineral spirits. I do that until they shine. Then, making sure the rails are dry, or wipe them with a clean piece of tee shirt. Finally, dab graphite/again with tee shirt on finger. Just a dab here and there, maybe 3 times in 3'. Run a car over this 3' to spread the graphite. Go on with the next 3'. If you'd rather, go ahead with 6'. But once this is done, you need no further maintenance. As mentioned, run trains at least 2x a week and that's all. "I mean 'that's all folks!' " I've done this and from what I've read from others, will last a very long time. Some for years. But that may depend on your climate. Mainly humidity. I try to keep my layout ventilated, having an air cleaner running nearby and such. Hope this helps - at least some. As I said, with a larger layout, I'd get a few helpers and do this all over the layout. A one time thing. Then, just keep running trains. Of course, all this depends on clean wheels. Jerry's picture is ? I've never ever had my wheels get that dirty. I simply don't let them. As soon as I see they need cleaning, I set them aside until I can clean them.

I agree about not running

I agree about not running abrasive cars, its not only bad for the track but it doesn;t do the wheels on the locomotive any good either.

You should only use abrasives when forced to , like 30 year old track thats corroded . Unless your in a highly corrosive environment , With NS , once the rails are shiny , they only need to be wiped with alcohol , I have gone years between cleanings.

I have never found  a RTR track cleaning car I was satisfied with , The pads always seem to tear on rail joints or they miss spots , or they derail. To clean the rail effectively you need to put several lbs of force on the pad otherwise your just washing the grime. To really clean the rail , the alcohol needs to sit on the rail long enough to dissolve the paraffin build up .