North East model railway – Matters Arising 3

Amongst the popular questions asked about the layout, probably the most common is about wheel and track cleaning. This week there has been an exchange in the video comments of the video above. Further information to the exchanges are below, mainly for the benefit of beginners.

If you don't want to watch the video, link is directly to comments
www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=wc2wvnhAhvU

Wheel Cleaning

One question, is asked about the types different items, the photograph below is of what I use on Trenholme Junction.

The top item is the Triang Triang/Hornby original Loco Wheel Cleaning brush which you clip the wires to the track and place the brush across the driving wheels. The wheels spin and the wire strands very effectively remove even  the most stubborn dirt. This item ceased production in the 1970's but can still be found at swapmeets and ebay.

The Peco PL-40 two piece brush and scraper set is to the right and works in a similar way to the Triang brush. This item is currently in production. The brush part of this set is very good but I find the scraper part to be pretty useless. I bought a second set and use the two brushes together. Cleaning one wheel at a time is very frustrating.
The down side of both the above items is they don't clean wheels other than the powered ones.

Track Cleaning

There has been a few attempts over the years from various manufacturers to automate track cleaning with probably little success. All products seem to go out of production without any rave reviews and all seem to rely on the principle that expensive consumables will be bought each time the track needs cleaning. I have to say I haven't tried the Dapol offering so would exclude any opinions on this product. If anybody has tried this product let me know, I would be interested in their experiences.

The third item in the photograph above is the Rail Cleaner. This item is a simple rubber block with abrasive particles. In my opinion this is the most effective way of cleaning the track. All track rubbers leave some residual bits on the track especially around the points and I find the best thing to do after using the rubber is to use a small dry paint brush and simply brush the track to remove the particles from the running surfaces. One of my subscribers has suggested using a vacuum cleaner to remove particles, I do do this infrequently, I find the paint brush method to be adequate.

Prevention is better than cure and its worth pointing out and emphasising the two very important points I raised in the video exchange about not using locomotives with  traction tyres and to use metal wheeled rolling stock. The two measures do not eliminate track cleaning but do seriously reduce the need for it.

If you are planning a new layout, track cleaning is not an optional extra but is a major part of the planning process. If you measure from you armpit to the middle of the palm of your hand, this is the maximum reach you have. You must consider being able to reach ALL the track on your layout. On Trenholme Junction around 98% of the track can be reached standing on the floor. The other 2% I have to use a small pair of steps. Don't forget that if your layout is to be against the wall, the maximum reach will be half of the reach if you can access it from both sides.
However clean your railway room is, sooner or later, you will have to clean the track.

To view the channel, follow the link below

www.youtube.com/user/dougattrenholmebar