Cleaning Axles etc for improved electrical pickup

[stonesfan]

Hi All

As part of my servicing of locomotives, I clean as many electrical contacts as possible.

My question is this, keeping parts clean versus lubrication. For example some of my diesel/electric non powered axles are a bit grubby after years of use. Cleaning them has definitely improved loco performance. Ditto cleaning the brass strip contacts that run down the side of steam loco wheels.

Is leaving them 'dry' advisable? Or should there be a layer of lubrication (of which in theory provides electrical insulation)?

Cheers

[Walkingthedog]

Pickups and the tyre and rear of loco wheels should be kept a clean as possible. Any parts that pick up power should be clean. As far as lubrication is concerned if you can see it you have used too much.
If the axles don’t pick up power they don’t need to be clean, but any dirt can migrate to places where you don’t want it to go.

[508035]

Quite right. When I service my locos, daft as this may sound but it works, I use enamel thinners to clean the moving parts and it works as well as any contact cleaner does..

As for the pickup strips, it is always advisable to keep them as clean as possible no matter where on the loco they are fitted because the minute any of the wheels on a loco start causing issues with power collection, it is only a matter of time before the loco will begin to stutter or grind to a complete halt. Steam locos can be a bit of a headache because with the older 1990s locos, the backs of the wheels start to get a rough surface which if you have pickuos fitted, can literally rip them out and cause derailments. I say that particularly because I have a few locos from that decade and to supplement power supply to the motor, I have fitted my own self made pickups so that the wheels can supply power to the motor ( whether tender or loco fitted ). This is a necessity for my loco fleet because I have double isolation between the tracks to prevent any interference from neighbouring locos moving separately. The double isolation ( plastic joiners on both rails ) was done because as I use peco turnouts, I connected the stock rails together in order to bypass the switch rails as they can get dirty aswell so the thinners works great for cleaning them up aswell as the locos. A little off topic I know but the general consensus is that the more maintenance and cleaning that is carried out, the better the layout and the locos / stock running on it will perform.

Hope this helps.

[stonesfan]

Any views on Peco Powerlube? I do have a small tube of this stuff. It mentions it can lubricate and help with electrical contact issues.

[508035]

Unfortunately I cannot advise on peco electrolube as I have never used it before, however, I think there are some videos on youtube ( not 100 % sure ) where a loco repair is done and mentions it being used specifically to assist with electrical power flow.

The only recommendation I have would be to look through youtube vids by oobill and dan's model railways as there might be some videos where it is mentioned and / or used.

My apologies if this is not very helpful, hopefully there are members on here who have used or do use it and can advise better than I can at this time.