# Track Cleaning - not just for power



## Jerry McColgan (Feb 8, 2008)

There is a train show this weekend so I am getting my trailer mounted layout ready to take to the show. 

It has been uncovered and exposed to the weather all winter so the brass LGB track is pretty dull and tarnished so I have been cleaning it to assure good conductivity at the show. 

While I was cleaning the track it occurred to me that I was not just cleaning it, I was polishing it because I've been making sure that every inch of the surface of the track and of the switches has a bright and shinny brass finish. 

Sometimes it is worth the extra effort to make the track really shine (to me anyway). 

I also realized that if I was going to run a battery powered train that I would still be out there polishing the track to make it bright and shiny rather than leave it dull and dirty. 

Does anyone else think this way? 

Jerry


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## jimtyp (Jan 2, 2008)

Jerry, I only run track power, so I NEED to clean it once in a while, but I can see your point as prototypes have the rails shiny on top from the wheels of the heavy cars rolling over it.


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## llynrice (Jan 2, 2008)

Yes, Jerry, I also will clean my rail heads when the snow is gone from my tracks. I only ever use track power when guests bring track-powered engines; so, there is no functional need to clean. I just think that the track looks better. 

Llyn


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## Jerry McColgan (Feb 8, 2008)

I was surprised when the sun came out - because it made it much harder to see the tarnish on the rails. 

Somehow a cloudy sky made the track surface far more visible and a lot easier to see just how effective (or not) my cleaning efforts were. 

Since the show will be indoors I suspect that it too will provide good visibility for my track cleaning/polishing. 

Meanwhile I did check everything with a loco and sound tender and everything checked out just fine. 

Jerry


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## dhamer52 (Jan 2, 2008)

Since I run battery my track is not powered. The majority of people in our club run battery and if someone doesn't run battery then I could in about 10 minutes hook up power to a small track. Long live battery power (or live steam).


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## Jerry McColgan (Feb 8, 2008)

By comparison there are a bunch of trains parked on sidings on my garage and crawl space layouts. EVERY ONE OF THEM is ready to run at the flip of a switch. Because there are no batteries to charge, no advance planning is needed to think of what I might want to run and charge the batteries the night before. There also are no "battery cars" to swap to the locos I want to run because EVERY SINGLE LOCO is INSTANTLY ready to run EVEN IF IT HAS BEEN SITTING FOR A YEAR OR MORE. 

The only "maintenance" I've had to do to energize and run those trains (some of which have not been run for a year or more) has been to replace dead 9 volt and no longer rechargeable 6 volt sound system batteries. 

Last spring we rebuilt my outside layout with stainless steel track and nickle plated switches. Last week we had a club meeting and ran track powered trains on it for the first time since it was built. The only maintenance was to connect power to the track (for the first time) and to use a leaf blower to clear the track of leaves, twigs etc. (the same as would have been necessary to run battery powered trains). 

One club member arrived early because he wanted to see my Aristo live steam Mikado run. Thankfully I had remembered that, unlike the rest of my trains, the live steam loco had to have its radio control battery charged the night before. 

All of the brass track and unplated brass switches on the trailer mounted layout came from my old outside layout. I don't mind cleaning that track once or twice a year. 

For the inside brass track I might occasionally run a LGB Track Cleaning Loco if I notice a spot on the layout where trains seem to be having a bit of difficulty with track contact. 

Some folks like battery power, some like live steam but I doubt that there are any statistics that could contradict that more large scale trains run on track powered layouts than all other power sources combined. 

It's up to each of us to determine which appeals to us individually. Whatever our preference happens to be will probably work out very well for us. 

Track power - I love it. If someone offered to convert all of my locos free (including batteries and everything) I would say "Thanks but no thanks."  

Cheers, 

Jerry 



Posted By dhamer52 on 04/02/2008 7:17 PM
Since I run battery my track is not powered. The majority of people in our club run battery and if someone doesn't run battery then I could in about 10 minutes hook up power to a small track. Long live battery power (or live steam).


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## noelw (Jan 2, 2008)

Jerry's right... Clean track makes clean wheels and tracks look so much better. If not taken care of they will in time start to pit and never be able to keep clean. 

We have some old track that has bad pits and scraches in them and hard to use them for track power now. Have to clean them everytime we run. 
/DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/sick.gif" border=0> 
Ever seen pine pitch, bird poop and what ever else ends up on the tracks. 

I to think, of one guys problem and don't like to put him in the spot like but...... I talk to Jim Carter in Chat and e-mail and really feel for him with his Headgeapples. It sure can messes up the wheel and a good train run. Besides if you hitting one those that just fell and over ripe. WOW /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/crazy.gif" border=0>" border=0>" border=0> 

I don't think they make a track cleaning car that will help on that. 


Anyway.....To me, track cleaning is part of Railroad maintenance no mater what type of power you run. " border=0>" border=0>


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Actually, a track cleaning car with scotchbrite, like the bridge-masters one, will work fine, the scotchbrite is pretty open weave. 

Also there are a couple of manuyfacturers that make "wet" systems that will wipe the rails. I also have a custom made one by Aztec with a canvas cleaning roller. 

Since I have SS track, I mostly clean dead bugs and ants. One pass with anything does it, or a garden hose! 

Regards, Greg


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## noelw (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Greg Elmassian on 04/03/2008 10:49 AM 
Actually, a track cleaning car with scotchbrite, like the bridge-masters one, will work fine, the scotchbrite is pretty open weave. 

Also there are a couple of manuyfacturers that make "wet" systems that will wipe the rails. I also have a custom made one by Aztec with a canvas cleaning roller. 

Since I have SS track, I mostly clean dead bugs and ants. One pass with anything does it, or a garden hose! 

Regards, Greg




I started to laf. when you said Ant's... I ran a train (GP-9 with about 15 cars.) and came across Ant's moving on my Brass freeway w/ there eggs. Well... train went about 30 feet and stopped.. There was so much pile up of dead ants on the wheel. that it took 10 min. to clean. and yup... Out with the Scotchbight pads. /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/w00t.gif" border=0>" border=0>


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## Great Western (Jan 2, 2008)

Ants are around in full marching order at present and are the principal cause of hesitant running in some places. I always keep a small piece of scotchbrite or similar to hand and a quick rub on the fouled areas soon restores normal running.  
Shortly, now that flowers have started to bloom they will not travel so far but the pollen and sap will then be in evidence. The same remedy, sometimes using methylated spirit as a solvent, is the order of the day.


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

Posted By Great Western on 04/03/2008 12:27 PM 
Ants are around in full marching order at present and are the principal cause of hesitant running in some places. I always keep a small piece of scotchbrite or similar to hand and a quick rub on the fouled areas soon restores normal running. " border=0>" border=0>" border=0> 
Shortly, now that flowers have started to bloom they will not travel so far but the pollen and sap will then be in evidence. The same remedy, sometimes using methylated spirit as a solvent, is the order of the day." border=0>" border=0>" border=0>

Ants are easy to deal with. We have a railcar that drags a scotchbright pad. 
















The pad is held in place with these magical, plastic clips (provided free with socks). 
















And is held to the track with a wooden flat positiond by craft sticks. 
















I apply a mixture of Simple Green and WD-40 to the pad. This is an almost magical elixer. The Simple Green emulsifies the WD-40 so it does not leave an oily residue. The WD-40 tremendously aids in conductivity, and the ants can't stand the Simple Green and will stay off the track until it is dissipated (for us, the entire daily running session).


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## Jerry McColgan (Feb 8, 2008)

I was a sales rep for 3M until I retired so 3M Scotch-Brite pads were the first track cleaners I used (and still do). 

My favorite is the 3M 7448. This is more of an industrial product so it may not be as readily available as the consumer Scotch-Brite pads. 

Scotch-Brite Ultra Fine Hand Pad Gray 

Description: For light cleaning and fine polishing. Cleans aluminum and removes fine burrs on threaded metal parts. Wipes up paint spatter and overspray. Made of tough nylon, won't rust or splinter. 6" x 9". 

The 3M 7448 pads work very nicely as a hand track cleaner when wrapped around a short 2" x 4". 

Eventually I bought some train stuff that included a LGB 5004 (now 50040) Track Cleaning Block. 

The LGB 50040 is now my favorite track cleaner (except for when I run the LGB Track Cleaning Loco). I actually prefer the LGB 50040 to the 3M Scotch-Brite pads. The LGB 50040 blocks are probably cheaper to use because they seem to last forever. 

The 50040 works even better when used (as recommended) with LGB Smoke/Track Cleaning Fluid. 

Along with the 50040 that came in the train deal was a G Clean Track Cleaning Car (apparently now discontinued) which works with a LGB 50040 block. It makes for a very nice track cleaning car. 
I even mounted an additional LGB 50040 block on the end of a drywall sanding pole. 

A LGB DOT's Caboose now has a huge hole in its frame due to a failed attempt to mount a LGB 50040 block in it. Not all my ideas work out. /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/sad.gif" border=0> 

Jerry


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

A battery loco is handy for dragging the track cleaner around a powered layout


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## Jerry McColgan (Feb 8, 2008)

Time flies...

Since I started this topic I've tried several track cleaners including buying the Bridge-Masters. I've not used the Bridge-Masters much since I had replaced all of the outside brass track with stainless steel or nickel plated track and turnouts. The G-Clean track cleaner always worked pretty well but could not handle R1 (4' diameter) curves and turnouts so I had decided to buy the Bridge-Masters.

Recently I started using the indoor layouts again after a year or more of disuse and decided to economize by using the Bridge-Masters rather than the LGB Track Cleaning Locos and things started out fine - UNTIL I started cleaning the brass R1 (4' diameter) curves and turnouts.

I quickly found the Bridge-Master track cleaner was derailing again and again (regardless of whether I was pushing or pulling it) until I finally gave up trying to use it.

Cleaning R1 track and turnouts has always been a major challenge. For me the only thing that seems to work best on R1 track and turnouts (including cleaning the track with LGB track magnets on it) keeps turning out to be the LGB Track Cleaning Locos.

I thought I would pass this on for anyone else who might also use a lot of R1 track. Other than on R1 track both the G-Clean and Bridge-Masters worked well enough.

Jerry


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

I had to add weight to mine:










Stopped the derailments.

Greg


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## tmejia (Jan 2, 2008)

OOHHH Looks like I have another little project to do. Thanks for the pic Greg. Yeah and even when I'm just running battery power , I still like the look of the shiny brass rail. 
Tommy








Rio Gracie


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

The unit, which I love, has a very light frame. When the cleaning block hits something, like when crossing a switch, or a track magnet, the frame has a tendency to bounce and can cause derailments. Also, when pushing it, it derails easily. 

After adding the weights (note they are on the frame), those problems were greatly minimized. 

Regards, Greg


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## pete (Jan 2, 2008)

Greg what is the weight of those sinkers?


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## Jerry McColgan (Feb 8, 2008)

Weights on the frame might help but the main problem I observed was that the couplers actually try to force the Bridge-Master car (as with the G-Clean car) to derail as it goes through an R1 turnout. 

With both the Bridge-Master and the G-Clean car the problem (on 4' diameter turnouts) is that the couplers are too far from the wheels and do not pivot or swing. This, combined with the limited swing of couplers on locomotives or cars pushing or pulling the track cleaners, limits the ability to pull or push the cleaning cars through R1 turnouts - the same problem that comes up with any body mounted couplers. The fact that I experienced such problems with hook and loop couplers on an NW-2 (one of the very best switchers for R1 track and turnouts) suggests to me that even weights would be of limited value - ON CLEANING R1 TURNOUTS AND SIDINGS.

Perhaps someone will correct me and state specifically that they have NO PROBLEMS pushing or pulling the Bridge-Master car through R1 turnouts and sidings from all directions.









It occurred to me to simply pull the Bridge-Master car with a cable tie eliminating the restriction of the swing of the couplers and while that worked, it was soon defeated when I needed to reverse the loco and the car immediately derailed.

This is not about whether the Bridge-Master works - it is about how well it does or does not work being pushed and pulled through R1 turnouts. If it can be pulled but not pushed, that is of little help since my primary interest is in cleaning a layout with multiple sidings where the track cleaning car would HAVE to be both pushed and pulled to get into and out of the sidings including through the R1 turnout feeding the siding. If you pulled the car into the siding you would HAVE to push it out of the siding. If the car could not do this it would be of no value on R1 turnouts and sidings.











Jerry


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## rreiffer (Jan 14, 2009)

Hello all, 
I just picked up one of the LGB tracking cleaning loco's and that seems to do a very nice job (the little I have tested it so far). Any comments on it?


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## DennisB (Jan 2, 2008)

The LGB Cleaning loco has a set of discs that spin and clean the track. If the track is overly dirty, such as in the spring, one should use the LGB cleaning bock first. This prevents the engine from overworking and damaging the track. These discs will wear down the rail heads over time. Dennis.


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## JackM (Jul 29, 2008)

Thank you, Todd.











For decades, I've been trying to find a use for those sock thingies. I'll be able to sleep tonight, knowing that I need never again throw them in the trash. 
JackM


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## Jerry McColgan (Feb 8, 2008)

Posted By rreiffer on 12 Feb 2012 11:37 AM 
Hello all, 
I just picked up one of the LGB tracking cleaning loco's and that seems to do a very nice job (the little I have tested it so far). Any comments on it? 


Hi Rich,

IMHO the LGB Track Cleaning Loco is the Cadillac of track cleaners. It is IMHO the BEST way of cleaning dirty track and especially sidings - and - it works very well on R1 (4' diameter) curves and turnouts.

That said, nothing is perfect. The cleaning wheels are expensive and it can be a challenge to avoid zebra striping where the cleaning wheel bounces on the rails. In addition, the LGB TCL itself is quite expensive. One negative with the TCL is that if it stalls and is not noticed, the abrasive wheel can literally gouge deep curves into brass track destroying track and or turnouts. A funny thing is that I saw photos of where real railroads had the same problem with one of their track cleaners/reformers.

From my viewpoint each layout and operator is likely to have different preferences and finances - not to mention those who run battery power.

I like the G-Clean car (which uses a LGB Track Cleaning Block) to work quite well on wider curves and I found the Bridge-Masters does a nice job on wider curved track and turnouts. One big benefit to me of the LGB TCL is that it rides over (without touching) the LGB Track Magnets while other cleaners fail to contact and clean the track by the magnets.

A lot of it is the degree of abrasion. The Aristo Track Cleaning Cars also work well but with a lighter abrasive they may need more trips around the track while more abrasive cleaners may clean quicker but might need more care/watching to avoid over polishing.

One thing I like about the Bridge-Masters is that I expect to be able to use it with a non-abrasive cloth with a liquid cleaner to remove residue from stainless steel track.

Since you already have the TCL I think it would be worth your time to look a bit into some of the tricks to get the best performance out of it.

Jerry


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## Jerry McColgan (Feb 8, 2008)

Posted By JackM on 12 Feb 2012 12:28 PM 
Thank you, Todd.




For decades, I've been trying to find a use for those sock thingies. I'll be able to sleep tonight, knowing that I need never again throw them in the trash. 
JackM



I agree. I too will have to try that.

Thanks Todd,

Jerry


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Jerry, I do not think the Bridgemasters will work well with a loco with a body mounted coupler on R1 curves and especially turnouts. I say especially on turnouts since that's where the cleaning pad gets bumped up in the air, hitting the rails in the "center" of the switch. Perhaps having it connected to a car with a truck mounted coupler would help on your R1's. 

I had the LGB track cleaning loco, and it will make the rails shiny brite. It works especially well driven by a decoder on constant track power, so the cleaning wheels spin fast, and you can poke along at a slow speed. The only real "trick" to it is keeping the abrasive disks in good shape... once they wear out of true, then you get bouncing and zebra striping, although more passes will fix this. 

One thing people often miss is keeping the "flanges" in good shape, they will wear too, and need replacing. You can get just the abrasive discs, or the entire assembly of abrasive disc and the "flange" from Train-Li. 

I like shiny rail too. 

Greg


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## Madman (Jan 5, 2008)

I would say that depending where you live and what type of trees are over the track, cleaning can be near nil or a real chore. Since I have converted to battery power, I have not cleaned my track, other than blowing leaves and debris off. Somewhat to my surprise, the rails have remained relatively clean. Not to say that they have not tarnished. I would presume that running trains with all metal wheels helps to keep the rail head clean.


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## Jerry McColgan (Feb 8, 2008)

To clarify, it is the Bridge-Masters and G-Clean track cleaning cars that have body mounted couplers - not the locos or other rolling stock pushing or pulling them.












I don't think the G-Clean is made anymore but I like it because it uses the LGB 5004 Track Cleaning Block which I add lead weights to.










In both cases it is the lack of a truck mounted coupler on the cleaning cars that prevents the couplers from pivoting to follow the curvature of the track and turnouts resulting in the couplers trying to force the car off the rails as it goes around 4' diameter turnouts. My experience has been with LGB brass turnouts. I assume the same would be true of other brands of R1 turnouts but I have not tried them.

I do prefer the Bridge-Master's ability to accept LGB knuckle and hook & loop couplers which the G-Clean car does not. Unfortunately the Bridge-Masters will only accept the loop without the hook as there is no space to accommodate the plastic spring or the uncoupling tab of the hook. I did try using an Aristo hook & loop coupler with the tab cut off but two hooks caused much more binding and many more derailments. 

I am not knocking either of these cars - I like both of them - I just found them unacceptable to me for use on my many R1 curves and turnouts.

There may be others who have used them satisfactorily pushing and pulling them through their R1 turnouts and sidings (which would really surprise me). If so they are invited to post their experiences here including specific details of how they used them and what their experiences were.

A major reason why the Bridge-Master and G-Clean cars unacceptable to me on R1 turnouts and sidings is the extreme difficulty of getting to many of the sidings where I need to run these cars. When they derail it can be a real PITA to get to them while the LGB Track Cleaning Locos nicely clean the track in front of them, have VERY GOOD track contact and just run right in and back out of wherever I need to clean track. That alone justifies the expense of the LGB TCL's.

Jerry


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## Jerry McColgan (Feb 8, 2008)

Nothing is perfect when it comes to track cleaning equipment. 

Another track cleaning car I have and like is the Rail Broom. It is not for cleaning dirty track - just for removing trash from the rails. As a result I don't use it often but I had been pleased with it until the last time I went to use it and discovered that the belt that drives the broom had broken and fallen off. It had never occurred to me that the belt would be that fragile and that I would need to keep spares for it.

I think the kit may have come with a spare belt but if so I have no idea where I might have put it. Now I need to try to find a replacement belt or I will probably need to buy more from the manufacturer (plus shipping). 

Perhaps someone has a Rail Broom with the same problem and have found a handy (locally available) replacement for the belt - such as tiny rubber bands? My Rail Broom car has been out of commission for several months since I keep forgetting to do something about it and it refuses to fix itself.

I mentioned the difficulty of getting to a derailed track cleaner earlier. The photos below might better explain the situation:

The lower deck in the garage only has a 9 inch clearance and a derailed track cleaning car can easily be 8 feet or more away and require removing everything from sidings blocking access to the derailed car. Depending on where the car derailed, it might be necessary to find a way to remove multiple locos and cars manually by dragging them out if the derailed car has either blocked access to the siding or is shorting out the tracks preventing driving the trains out. 























Jerry


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## Dave Meashey (Jan 2, 2008)

Jerry; 

Two items that may serve as a replacement for this belt come to mind. O-rings from a plumbing supply business and rotating brush belts from a vacuum cleaner repair business. Oops! Just thought of a third. Small drive belts for computer devices at a computer repair business. 

Hope this helps, 
David Meashey


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## dieseldude (Apr 21, 2009)

"Sock thingies".............. That's brilliant!! 


-Kevin.


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## Jerry McColgan (Feb 8, 2008)

Posted By Dave Meashey on 13 Feb 2012 08:07 AM 
Jerry; 

Two items that may serve as a replacement for this belt come to mind. O-rings from a plumbing supply business and rotating brush belts from a vacuum cleaner repair business. Oops! Just thought of a third. Small drive belts for computer devices at a computer repair business. 

Hope this helps, 
David Meashey 

Hi David,

Great ideas!

I had a box of replacement O-rings but none were large enough. I had not thought about a plumbing supply or your other suggestions. 

Thanks,

Jerry


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## docwatsonva (Jan 2, 2008)

For those of you who may be a little more ambitious and happen to have an extra Aristo U-25, you might be interested in tackling your own track cleaner.

I removed the tanks from the U-boat and mounted a hand-made track cleaning block between the trucks.

The first photo shows the oak block with 2 strips of scotch brite cleaning pad wrapped around the bottom and clamped at each end. You can also see the lead sheets added on top for weight. The top plate of the pad is cut from a 1/4" piece of fiberglass. The extensions at each end with the holes in them are to receive the mounting pins.











Next, I cut 2 triangular pieces of fiberglass stock to mount to the tops of the front and rear trucks. It so happens that there are 2 tapped holes in the top of the trucks that allow the attachment of the 2 pad mounting pieces. You can barely see the tops of the screws under the body. A hole was drilled and a ss pin attached to hold the cleaning pad.











Here's an underside view of the block showing the 2 cleaning strips.










Next is a side view of the block.










The advantages of this design are as follows:

The block is free to move up and down.

The 2 separate cleaning pads avoid any center-of-track obstacles such as track magnets and switch covers.

The method of attaching the block to the trucks allows the block to track the rails and avoid hangups on tight corners.

I built this cleaner in 2003 and have been using it ever since with no signs of stress on the motor blocks or operation.


I hope these ideas help.

Doc


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## eheading (Jan 5, 2008)

That is a really neat design and implementation, Doc! Really looks good in the "finished" photo too! 

Ed


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

I like it Doc!

One question, when you go into a turn, doesn't something have to be "slotted" to allow for the additional distance between the pins?

Thanks


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## Bob in Kalamazoo (Apr 2, 2009)

I also like it Doc, but in addition to Tod's question I'm wondering if you just happeded to have a U-25 available or if there is some reason that something like an RS3 or another locomotive wouldn't work?
Bob


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

Posted By Bob in Kalamazoo on 13 Feb 2012 12:39 PM 
I also like it Doc, but in addition to Tod's question I'm wondering if you just happeded to have a U-25 available or if there is some reason that something like an RS3 or another locomotive wouldn't work?
Bob



"U-boats" are extreeeemely looong, but only have two-axle trucks, so leave lots of space to mount the block. (Certainly the longest diesel I own by far.) However, because of their long wheel base, they are also prone to derailing on curves, especially on a grade that doesn't hold level side-to-side.


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## docwatsonva (Jan 2, 2008)

Outside of my F3's, the U25 is the only diesel I own so I'm not sure how others would work. There certainly is a lot of space under the U25 for this application.

As far as the turns go, the U25 trucks have a lot of slop in them both side-to-side and a back-to-front. There is no problem with 4 1/2ft. to 5 ft. radius curves which are the smallest I have to deal with. I agree with Todd that a slotted hole would be a bit safer but I have'nt had any problems to date. I also have never had any problems with the U25 derailing. Maybe it's because I make a lot of effort to keep my track (which floats in ballast) level.

Doc


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## Jerry McColgan (Feb 8, 2008)

Posted By docwatsonva on 13 Feb 2012 01:58 PM 
There is no problem with *4 1/2ft. to 5 ft. radius curves *which are the smallest I have to deal with. 

Doc


Hi Doc,

I am glad that you mentioned your curves because that would translate to 9 ft. to 10 ft. diameter curves. I had once tried something similar using a large LGB caboose but I could never get it to work on my 5 ft. and 4 ft. diameter curves.

Thanks,

Jerry


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## Bob in Kalamazoo (Apr 2, 2009)

Thanks, so I guess I could do this on an RS3, I would just have to make the cleaning block a little shorter. Since I would be building it to fit in the first place I guess it wouldn't matter. I've made and attached cleaning blocks under other cars and they work well, but under and engine should be even better. Great idea Doc.
Bob


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## Dick Friedman (Aug 19, 2008)

This is one of my track cleaning cars. It began life as a simple Hershey bobber caboose. I made a trex block to fit between the axles, and put four screws into the sides. Now the block can slide up and down. Trex is heavy enough to stay down on the track, which is code 250 aluminum. The block is wrapped with a red scotchbrite pad, as I feared using anything rougher on my rail.

Between trees, sap, leaves, fruit and ants, I need to clean the track for my track power, but I'd still need to remove debris from the track regardless of how I powered the trains.


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## Dick Friedman (Aug 19, 2008)

P.S. How do I upload more than one picture to a message? Even loading one seems pretty slow and cumbersome, but maybe it's just my old computer.


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## Jerry McColgan (Feb 8, 2008)

Posted By Dick Friedman on 15 Feb 2012 12:13 AM 
P.S. How do I upload more than one picture to a message? Even loading one seems pretty slow and cumbersome, but maybe it's just my old computer. Hi Dick,

You are a 1st Class Member so you could do what I do - upload your photos to your MLS web space and then copy and paste them to your post. There may be better ways but this works for me.

FTP makes it quick and easy to upload photos to your web space.

Jerry


*Note: I see that you are already using your web space for your photos. Perhaps you are not using the copy and paste method?*






I just copied and pasted this from your post (twice) in a few seconds:


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## Jerrys-RR (Jun 21, 2010)

Posted By Jerry McColgan on 13 Feb 2012 07:38 AM 
Another track cleaning car I have and like is the Rail Broom. It is not for cleaning dirty track - just for removing trash from the rails. As a result I don't use it often but I had been pleased with it until the last time I went to use it and discovered that the belt that drives the broom had broken and fallen off. It had never occurred to me that the belt would be that fragile and that I would need to keep spares for it.

Jerry

To be sure to give credit where credit is due I contacted the manufacturer of the Rail Broom (Bill can be found in the MLS Classifieds) and he is taking care of the broken belt situation. Bill also suggested removing the belt from the motor pulley when the Rail Broom is not in use. In the future I will be sure to keep at least one spare belt because I shopped around and never could find anything locally that would work. I may never need another spare but it will be nice to have one just in case I do.

Thanks Bill,

Jerry


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