Model Railway Forum

When cleaning track do you clean with alcohol then rub down with a rubber cleaner or visa versa?

Depends how dirty. The rubber is ideal for shifting difficult to remove patches. Generally the alcohol will suffice. So rubber the alcohol or just alcohol.

One thing not mentioned is use of a rubber then involves use of a vacuum to shift the rubber particles left behind. I originally used a Dapol Track Cleaner in vacuum mode but unfortunately its shoddy design led to most of the vacuumed muck engulfing the motor due to lack of adequate seals to the dust compartment, causing the motor to draw more current until ultimately the motor died and the pick up circuits failed due to the current drawn. A better option I found was a mini vacuum with a hose like this https://www.google.com/search?q=Black+% ... gws_rd=ssl

I’ve used a track rubber for decades and have never vacuumed after.

I've had a bit of luck with Wahl's Hair Clipper Oil, first brought to my attention by the professional model railroader Lionel Strange. The idea of putting oil upon model rail struck me as daft at the time, but when I used to run DCC, some moons ago, I would do a thorough wipe down with alcohol, dry it off with a lint free rag, and was afforded barely 45 minutes of running time before the decoders started not responding to throttle commands. What with the Wahl's I apply it, wipe it off, and forget about it for weeks at a time. Also works tremendously on the locomotive wheels.

Among other things I've tried: silverware polish, Goo Gone, expensive track cleaning cars, abrasive rubber, expensive track cleaning fluids. All not much good, in my personal estimation, for one reason or another. I believe in Wahl's.

I mostly use a rubber and occasionally use Track Magic around/on the points. I hoover up afterwards - but be careful what you suck up - I recently had a very unfortunate incident with a pair of point clips!

Thanks for the replies guys. It's the big clean up day before I start designing the new layout.

Interesting, Chops's use of Wahl's. I had some s/h Peco Streamline "treated" (i.e. galvanised) steel track, which I tried to clean (in the first instance) with WD40. I was rightly warned off this and "rinsed" it off with lighter fuel. I finally got the rails clean (hard to tell by looking, since this stuff doesn't take a polish like N/S) with stainless steel polish (for the kitchen sink) applied judiciously to save the zinc plating. This I also rinsed afterwards with lighter fuel. Test running was good, no arcing, no hesitation, no ammeter wiggle. The same procedure was applied to old N/S track, which comes up nice and bright. Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Artur

I use a track rubber on really dirty rails, otherwise a bit of methylated spirit on a rag and then a wipe with a clean cloth.

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