EFFORTLESS CLEANING TRACK!

[son of triangman]

The problem with track rubbers are they are notorious muck spreaders, spreading dust and dirt everywhere and scratching the railhead as well.

[Lancastrian]

Your observations please.

Due to certain circumstances my 'OO' and 'Z' layouts have been lying idle for some time now, and in this thread IPA seems to the best solution to use to clean the tracks but I have read information that states it is potentially corrosive because of its water content, has anyone noticed any corrosion due to its use and Is it still the 'best' or has it been replaced by something else.

I have used other track cleaning liquids before and I do have track rubbers but I prefer not to use them if possible,

Many Thanks.

[luckymucklebackit]

Your observations please.

Due to certain circumstances my 'OO' and 'Z' layouts have been lying idle for some time now, and in this thread IPA seems to the best solution to use to clean the tracks but I have read information that states it is potentially corrosive because of its water content, has anyone noticed any corrosion due to its use and Is it still the 'best' or has it been replaced by something else.

I have used other track cleaning liquids before and I do have track rubbers but I prefer not to use them if possible,

Many Thanks.

Nickel Silver track does not corrode, steel does (readily). IPA will clean Nickle silver with little problem, just make sure that after cleaning with a cloth charged with IPA, you follow up with a dry cloth to ensure all the residue has been cleaned away.

Jim

[Lancastrian]

Nickel Silver track does not corrode, steel does (readily). IPA will clean Nickle silver with little problem, just make sure that after cleaning with a cloth charged with IPA, you follow up with a dry cloth to ensure all the residue has been cleaned away. Jim

Thanks Jim

[End2end]

WHAT?!
You mean I can use a cloth? No wonder my track cleaning takes so long. I have been using IPA covered cotton buds!
Thanks
End2end

[Bufferstop]

I use a stick-on felt furniture foot, stuck to the handle part of a disposable razor. I pour some IPA into a plastic lid, dip the pad in and rub. After a few goes I discovered it's better to aid the "stick-on" with a blob of hot melt glue.

[Someone]

It's worth pointing out is that there's two kinds of WD-40, the mistake people make I used the standard one, there's another one which is an electrical contact cleaner, this one is designed to not leave residue, I never tried this though.

[Bigmet]

There's lot more WD-40 variety than that, manufacturer information in link below, including such gems as Milton Keynes being a suburb of London.
https://wd40company.com/our-company/our-history/

Safest rule remains, nowhere near small scale model railway kit, which is dependent on plastics for functioning, due to the petroleum content in many (if not all) formulations.

[Dad-1]

Regular running works quite well for me - perhaps once a year wipe.
And in a garage environment where in winter I've had frost melt on the inside of the single
sheet roof dripping onto parts of the layout. Steam when the Mrs runs the tumble dryer
and dust when the doors open.
Running, running, running almost every day.

Geoff T.

[Mike Parkes]

Not using locos with traction tyres, fitting all stock with metal tyred wheels and ensuring all wheels are clean is as important as cleaning the track itself.

[boxbrownie]

Not using locos with traction tyres, fitting all stock with metal tyred wheels and ensuring all wheels are clean is as important as cleaning the track itself.

This especially so……

[Tom@Crewe]

I have searched you tube for track cleaning and quite a few recommend 'INOX' an Australian contact cleaner. I would assume that 'WD40 Contact cleaner' is very similar but looking at the coshh reports its hard to tell if they are identical (as I am not a chemist)

[boxbrownie]

The only problem with using a contact cleaner is that although it is a good cleaner of surfaces it is designed to evaporate quickly, which is fine if your using it on a pad and manually rubbing the rail and re applying to the pad, but it’s no good putting it on a pad under a rail cleaning wagon as it will dry out in no time at all, I’ve tried it and after a few minutes running the pad is bone dry.

[Bigmet]

I have searched you tube for track cleaning and quite a few recommend 'INOX' an Australian contact cleaner. I would assume that 'WD40 Contact cleaner' is very similar but looking at the coshh reports its hard to tell if they are identical (as I am not a chemist)

My counsel is 'caution'.

Over the decades there have been many 'wonder' products for all sorts of applications, which have been enthusiastically taken up and recommended, but over time have proven NBG, because while there is short term immediate benefit, longer term there's damage or degradation.

None of the government assessments will be looking at our specific application to model railway products: the only sure guide is a decade or more of regular use on model railway items, and not a problem in sight as a result. So that's the question to ask those suggesting 'this works so well': what have you used it on, and for how long?

(My personal example, GT85 bike lube, plastic compatible PTFE spray. I used this regularly for well over a dozen years to lubricate pinpoint axle bearings in RTR OO and 4mm kit plastic moulded wagon chassis and coach bogies; and only then felt it safe to recommend as a great aid to free rolling.)

[inoffapost]

Funny how you are looking for a simple answer to what, on the face of it, is a simple question and you end up somewhere else with another question.

I note Bigmet's counsel of 'caution' which is why I had a trawl through this subject on here in the first place.

I've built the layout. It's not turned out as I originally thought or planned, but it is what it is and features most of the characteristics that I wanted at the outset. It all works, which is pleasing as it is the first layout I have ever built and I had zero experience. My dad used to put together my Triang Hornby set for me but that was over 50 years ago!

Now I would like to do a first full clean. I've watched a lot of videos and taken it on board. The crazy Aussie on Fishplate Films forbidding the use of IPA with threats of eternal damnation, Charlie at Chadwick running through all the options, cleaning wagons and all the rest of it.

So, I would like to use Inox, with elbow grease, because it promotes conductivity and isn't Polar(!). However, its use would mean no longer using the class 66 traction tyred Hornby's I purchased at the outset of my project because traction tyres and Inox don't mix. It would also mean swapping out some plastic wheels on certain rolling stock items for metal wheels.

I have 2 gradients on my layout and to be honest the Hornby Class 66's don't have very good traction even with the traction tyres so if they end up being static display items it won't be the end of the world but I would like to know if anyone has swapped the traction tyres out and with what wheels, and whether the things can still move.

Or, is there a cleaning product that someone can recommend from their own experience, which cleans, offering good conductivity and won't require wholesale rolling stock alterations (in the short term).