Arcing

[RSR Engineer]

As I mentioned in the thread on steel vs. N/S, I have seen a lot of arcing between wheel and rail on the little test run I did. This was a most irritating problem on the old layout. It seemed to occur mainly where pickup is effected through wheels that are only rolling, i.e. bogie and tender wheels or any loco wheels where there's tender drive. Locos with traction tyres on some but not all driving wheels suffered occasionally as well. It seemed also that the oxidised wheel treads were not improved by the high-frequency track cleaner. It got so bad on some locos (e.g. Hamo class 03/10 4-6-2 and Rivarossi class 39 2-8-2) that I was forced to fit the tenders with additional pickups rubbing directly on the rails. I would be very interested to hear of other members' experiences of and solutions to this problem. Many thanks in advance.

Cheers,
Artur

[Walkingthedog]

Arcing is usually always caused by dirty wheels or track.

[RSR Engineer]

Arcing is usually always caused by dirty wheels or track.

Absolutely right, Wtd. Thing is, I only had trouble with it on certain locos. On the old layout, the affected locos had to be examined regularly for dirty (or, worse, oxidised) wheels, a bit like a heritage loco with her boiler ticket, and go into the cradle for a wheel-clean. I shall be doing some experiments and trials once we're up and running to see what can be done.

Cheers,
Artur

[Walkingthedog]

Maybe a wheel change would be advantageous. The surface may have become damaged.

[Steve M]

I have seen a lot of arcing between wheel and rail on the little test run I did...........It seemed also that the oxidised wheel treads were not improved by the high-frequency track cleaner.

Aren’t those things supposed to work by creating an arc to ‘burn off’ any dirt on the track/wheels.
You also said something like ‘no matter how hard I scrubbed ‘ and I think you said that you wiped everything with WD40.
I reckon this is the heart of the problem - the track and wheels are dirty/rusted/pitted and no amoun5 of cleaning will recover them. Also WD40 is one of the worst things to use, it can affect plastics and will leave an oily film on the track.
If you want to persevere with the old track use nothing more than a proper ytack cleaning rubber followed by a wipe with IPA.

[Walkingthedog]

I didn’t spot the bit about the high frequency track cleaner. They are more trouble than they are worth. They burn the surface of the wheels. The best place to use them is on somebody elses layout. WD40 is a big NO for model railways.

[Malcolm 0-6-0]

For track and wheel cleaning I use plain old methylated spirits (alcohol). It removes the carbon build up and any grease or oil attracted to the track. I wipe it on with a plain rag. Done regularly I find no need for an abrasive cleaner that will damage the track surface. I also try and wipe the inner face of the rail as well so that the flanges can pick up there as well when on corners. The only time I'd use an abrasive cleaner would be if I needed to remove paint from the rail top after it had been painted. Even then as I use acrylics usually the methylated spirits will take the paint off using firm pressure on a soft rag. Oil and WD40 should be avoided.

[RSR Engineer]

Thank you for your advice, gentlemen.

I continued my experiments, which remained comfined to this one dead-end siding, by rubbing down the tops of the rails with Viss, a kind of fine scouring cream (not sure if you have that in England; it's not like your classical Vim or that, but much finer). The amount of additional muck that came away was amazing. Then I "rinsed" by wiping down with lighter fuel, since I also had my doubts about WD40 (something I've never used before).

Wtd's comments about the HF track cleaner gave me pause for thought; perhaps this gadget was only making things worse, like trying to soothe a sore throat with vinegar.

The rails will most likely have to be cleaned with the rubber or the Dapol to start with, to remove that 12-year tarnish. Then it'll be liquid cleaners only. The HF will not be included in the circuitry.

Cheers,
Artur

[Walkingthedog]

Well done Artur you will succeed in the end.

[Stese]

The HFTC will do exactly what you are reporting. The arc is intended to burn away the dirt on wheels... you'd be better served by regular use of a decent track rubber and a follow up if IsoPropyl Alcohol. (AKA ipa... but didn't want to confuse with Ale... ) for the track and a fibre pen for ALL stock wheels.