Track-cleaning concept.
Posted: Sun Mar 14, 2021 3:23 pm
If I may impose on members' reserves of patience, I would like to describe a track-cleaning concept that I have developed for hidden sidings. The basis of the concept is that the driving wheels of a loco without traction tyres will, if overloaded, slip. This has the very useful side effect of polishing the rails.
I have two locos, both without traction tyres, which run at different speeds on a given controller setting, so they both slip. I ran the two of them round the main line and through the loops with a longish train and the rails ended up nice and shiny.
But the dead-end northern sidings are a different kettle of fish. Hence the Dapol track cleaning wagon I brought back from England some years ago. This gadget has a rotating disc underneath faced with fine emery (or similar), which is driven by an onboard motor, which in turn picks up its juice from the rails. We have here a hole-in-the-bucket situation like in the song, coz if the rails are really dirty ... you got it. The Dapol is not self-propelled, so I pushed it along with the two locos just mentioned, which are able to overcome the dirt even where the Dapol cannot - you just need to run them fast enough.
Then came the idea, inspired by Sam's review, of the Tri-Ang dock shunter, whose wheels are knurled like 10p pieces but will still slip if the load is heavy enough. I acquired one of these jobbies on ebay. First of all, she had to have a wheel-clean and lube. You could tell she wasn't picking up juice properIy coz the ammeter was whipping about like a metronome on high-speed techno. There was a fair amount of gunge in her "treads", which of course can't be cleaned off just by spinning the wheels under the fibreglass brush. You have to dig it out like the muck in a ratty old comb. (Sorry about the tasteless simile.) I used the fibreglass brush and a compass needle held in the pin chuck.
The other part of the "team" is a Trix fireless 0-8-0, which has no traction tyres but sits nice and firmly on the track. The Tri-Ang dock shunter is much faster on a given voltage, so when the two of them are coupled together, they both slip, and the knurled wheels of the dock shunter scrape the crud off the railtops. On the first visit to the northern sidings (no. 22 in fact - diagram attached), the ammeter jumped about a bit, showing that there was dirt on the rails. I sent them in and out about five times on each siding, till the ammeter held steady. The dock shunter needed a wheel-clean every five or six sidings. It took some two hours to get all 22 sidings done. I estimate that a quick once-in-once-out on each siding every month or so should keep everything nice and bright. Time will tell.
One last point: I wouldn't recommend this method for steel track. There's no knowing how well or how long the zinc plating (or whatever) will hold up.
I hope the above is of interest and use to other members.
Cheers,
Artur
I have two locos, both without traction tyres, which run at different speeds on a given controller setting, so they both slip. I ran the two of them round the main line and through the loops with a longish train and the rails ended up nice and shiny.
But the dead-end northern sidings are a different kettle of fish. Hence the Dapol track cleaning wagon I brought back from England some years ago. This gadget has a rotating disc underneath faced with fine emery (or similar), which is driven by an onboard motor, which in turn picks up its juice from the rails. We have here a hole-in-the-bucket situation like in the song, coz if the rails are really dirty ... you got it. The Dapol is not self-propelled, so I pushed it along with the two locos just mentioned, which are able to overcome the dirt even where the Dapol cannot - you just need to run them fast enough.
Then came the idea, inspired by Sam's review, of the Tri-Ang dock shunter, whose wheels are knurled like 10p pieces but will still slip if the load is heavy enough. I acquired one of these jobbies on ebay. First of all, she had to have a wheel-clean and lube. You could tell she wasn't picking up juice properIy coz the ammeter was whipping about like a metronome on high-speed techno. There was a fair amount of gunge in her "treads", which of course can't be cleaned off just by spinning the wheels under the fibreglass brush. You have to dig it out like the muck in a ratty old comb. (Sorry about the tasteless simile.) I used the fibreglass brush and a compass needle held in the pin chuck.
The other part of the "team" is a Trix fireless 0-8-0, which has no traction tyres but sits nice and firmly on the track. The Tri-Ang dock shunter is much faster on a given voltage, so when the two of them are coupled together, they both slip, and the knurled wheels of the dock shunter scrape the crud off the railtops. On the first visit to the northern sidings (no. 22 in fact - diagram attached), the ammeter jumped about a bit, showing that there was dirt on the rails. I sent them in and out about five times on each siding, till the ammeter held steady. The dock shunter needed a wheel-clean every five or six sidings. It took some two hours to get all 22 sidings done. I estimate that a quick once-in-once-out on each siding every month or so should keep everything nice and bright. Time will tell.
One last point: I wouldn't recommend this method for steel track. There's no knowing how well or how long the zinc plating (or whatever) will hold up.
I hope the above is of interest and use to other members.
Cheers,
Artur
