Cleaning and maintaining your train

[chadbag]

We've had discussions as part of other topics, but, at least the ones I was involved with, were kind of hijacking the originals.  I thought it would be interesting for people to list how they clean and maintain their trains, give their best practices, and ask questions about such.

[chadbag]

I'll start it off:

 

How corrosive is isopropyl on painted surfaces?  I have some Fleischmann engines and the BR103 (red/creme) has red painted wheels.  I wanted to take the bogies off and clean them in isopropyl in a cheap ultrasonic cleaner, to try and get any and all dirt, crud, etc out of the gears.  But I don't want to hurt the red painted wheels.

 

What is the best practice for cleaning out and maintaining power bogies?  

 

[cteno4]

chad, 

 

isopropyl will start to attack paint. some paints take hours others can be very fast. decals are also very susceptible unless clear coated and even then they can come up.

 

those look more like red plastic maybe in the wheels. have you tried scratching the inside there a little bit? if paint then try a test with some iso on a small swab rubbing on the red on the inside to see if it starts to come right off.

 

you can try first using detergent to get most of the muck out and then a fast iso wash in the cleaner to dry things out. then hair dryer not too hot is great to evap the iso fast.

 

cheers

 

jeff

 

btw these are handy micro swabs when trying to clean and lube stuff like this

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/50-Pcs-Cosmetic-Tool-Disposable-Eyeliner-Liquid-Wand-Applicator-Brush-Pretty/311912124462?epid=1980006445&hash=item489f69502e:g:PNcAAOSwu2VZYFKu

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/50pcs-Disposable-MakeUp-Lip-Brush-Lipstick-Gloss-Wands-Applicator-Make-Up-Tool/152907423720?hash=item2399fe1fe8:m:mteyursdLFvSzKW_citL_gA

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/100-Pcs-Micro-Brush-Disposable-Microbrush-Applicators-Eyelash-Extensions-Swab-US/182974940425?hash=item2a9a280509:m:m95xE1sskUzr5yrQKnOLwRA

 

 

[chadbag]

Thanks.  I will try the swab.   Now that you mention it, it does look like plastic in the wheels, as you can see it on the backside as well.  

 

Both the BR103 from Fleischmann run, but the red one runs a lot better than the beige/red one, and I am betting a good cleaning and lubing should work.

 

Just need to get some work done on some servers I run on the side so I can get back to fun stuff like cleaning out trains.   (Very day I am not done with the server migrations costs me money as I am paying for 2 servers so I buckled down this weekend to  get it done).

 

Thanks!

[cteno4]

Lots of gap times in the server migrations for cleaning trains!

 

jeff

[Pauljag900]

For what it’s worth I ve had some experience with chemicals and isopropyl.I used to use track majic to clean my tracks but it s very expensive if you have a fairly large layout so I did a bit of digging to discover that the base ingredient is alcohol cleaner,isopropyl. I bought a litre bottle off eBay and I now use that as a track cleaner.I have also used it to clean the plastics,for example the kato road plates and it was fine,but they re not painted surfaces,they re moulded  in that colour.Not sure if this helps you any mate but I d do as Jeff sugested,try it on an area you can t see,I would not soak it though,I d clean it with swabs or rags and dry it off,

paul

[gavino200]

21 hours ago, chadbag said:

I'll start it off:

 

How corrosive is isopropyl on painted surfaces?  I have some Fleischmann engines and the BR103 (red/creme) has red painted wheels.  I wanted to take the bogies off and clean them in isopropyl in a cheap ultrasonic cleaner, to try and get any and all dirt, crud, etc out of the gears.  But I don't want to hurt the red painted wheels.

 

What is the best practice for cleaning out and maintaining power bogies?  

 

 

 

I agree with Jeff that this looks like a red plastic insert in the wheels here. Obviously you need to check for sure.

 

I've found that Alcohol and paint are just a bad mix, period. The concentration does matter. Lower concentration alcohol is a bit forgiving, but will take the paint off if you leave it there or wipe it. The higher concentration alcohol, will strip paint like acid. 

 

For painted surfaces, soap and water is your friend. I'm looking forward to seeing those German beauties in full glory.

[kvp]

Imho diluted non acidic dishwasher is both safe and effective. For drying the parts quickly try compressed air or antistatic compressed nitrogen cans. There are too many sensitive parts in a locomotive to risk ruining them with something aggressive. For example there could be rubber parts, both on the wheels (traction tires) or on the drive shafts used as flexible cardans in some cheaper motors (the german version of the spring screw drive). Very old locomotives even used paper isolators, and any liquid (even conductive oil) could ruin them.

[cteno4]

Good old joy dish soap is nice and gentle, used to clean a lot of delicate things! Good grease releaser w.o being harsh. 

 

Ive always worried about traction tires with isopropanol, but so far I’ve not ever blown one using it, but I only try to use it sparingly on traction tires if I can by cleaning wheels individually with the car flipped over and applying powe to the wheels rather than letting it spin with the isopropanol soaked paper towel on the tracks as it seems like it can really wear on the traction tires as they really try to grip on the paper towel. I still do this method now and then when in a rush at a show or don’t have the pickup block to easily do it. But that being said I can’t recall ever loosing a traction tire in any of my trains, ive replaced a few for others, but I do t think my own...

 

i have done whole trucks in iso ultra sonic for final quick wash and dry and never had an issue.

 

jeff

[nah00]

I've heard horror stories of it ripping apart traction tires but the Trix wheel cleaner has always worked for me, gives the wheels a nice polish. There is the argument to be made that the bristles make small scratches on the wheels which make them foul faster but I've yet to have to that problem. Otherwise I just usually take the trucks off and use a toothpick to get any large gunk off and then cut a cotton swab in half at a diagonal and use that and 91% rubbing alcohol to clean the rest.