Cleaning Track

Keeping the rails clean is a necessary evil in model railroading. And for decades, modelers have been searching for the best way to keep the rails shining. To see if your track needs to be cleaned, just rub you finger across the top of the rail. First, you’ll probably want to run to the sink and wash your hands. Then come back and clean your track.

Liquid Cleaners

The 6-62927 maintenance kit includes liquid track cleaner and a track eraser.

There are many liquid cleaners on the market, including in Lionel’s maintenance kit (6-62927). These can be applied with a soft cloth or paper towel.

There are some household cleaners that will work as well. Through our extensive testing on our own test tracks, we recommend a cleaner like Goo Gone ®. This is strong enough to cut through the grease, it’s easy to find, and wipes up cleanly. Plus it will leave your train room smelling like oranges.

You can also use this cleaner on wheels. Simply put some on a paper towel and lay it across the track. Drag your cars back and forth across the wet towel to remove most of the dirt. Finish on a dry towel. For locomotives, place the towel under one set of wheels at a time and apply power to the rails. Let the locomotive do all the work! Of course you can also install the simple wheel cleaners we showed in an earlier blog and you’ll minimize your need for this chore.

Abrasive Cleaners

Don’t forget the accessory rails when cleaning.

Sometimes the most effective cleaner is a little grease – elbow grease that is. Track cleaning blocks or erasers can be found at most hobby shops. One is also included in the Lionel maintenance kit.

These cleaning blocks are rubbed across the top of the rail to remove stubborn oil and dirt. They are designed to be stiff enough to clean the track, but not abrasive enough to scratch it, which would result in even worse electrical conductivity.

When choosing a track eraser, look for something designed for this purpose. Sand paper and steel wool may seem to make the job go faster, but they’ll do a lot more damage in the long run. Steel wool can leave tiny metal shards which get pulled into the armatures of your locomotives’ motors (not to mention your fingers!)

These erasers are also helpful for cleaning in the small spaces between switch points where the sides of the rails need to stay as clean as the top.

Track Cleaning Cars

The Lionel track cleaning car uses spinning pads to clean the rails.

Nobody likes to clean track – so why not let the trains do it for you? Lionel has made several different track cleaning cars over the years. Other manufacturers have too. Some of these use liquid cleaners, some an abrasive block.

To get the best results from any cleaning car, there are two things you must do. First, run it regularly. These cars do best when only taking a little dirt off at a time. If the track is allowed to get too dirty, they won’t keep up or potentially even operate at all.

Second, change the cleaning pads often. When working by hand, it is easy to see when it is time to grab a new cloth. With cleaning pads often out of sight on the cars, it is tempting to just let them run and run and run. But a dirty pad only spreads the grime around.

Like most chores, it is easy to put off cleaning your track until the next time you run your trains. But doing it frequently will make each job not only faster but more effective. So, have you checked your rails lately?

Lubricating Your Lionel

With proper care, a Lionel train can last for generations. Just like your car and your house, a little routine maintenance regularly is an inexpensive way to minimize more expensive problems down the track.

We do not pre-oil our models at the factory. This minimizes the mess that can occur when excessive oil wanders from the friction points where it belongs. Lubricating your model takes only a few minutes but can have a lasting impact on your trains.

The 6-62927 maintenance kit includes everything you need to take care of your trains.

Everything you’ll need can be found in our lubrication and maintenance kit, 6-62927. This kit includes light oil for lubricating wheels, axles, side rods and other moving parts, a heavier grease for gears and track cleaning fluid and a track eraser for cleaning the rails. It can be found at our authorized dealers, and through www.lionelstore.com.

The oil comes in a plastic tube. You’ll need to clip the end of the tube to get out the oil. Keep this cut as close to the tip as possible to make the applicator as small as you can. Another option is to pick up another bottle with a metal needle-point tip at your hobby shop and transfer the oil to that. The more precise your application, the less you’ll waste and the cleaner you’ll keep your models.

There is no set rule on when you need to lubricate your locomotive. A lot depends on how regularly you run your trains and for how long.

Oil the locomotive axles (green), pick-up rollers (blue) and valve gear (red).

It is a good idea to add oil when you get the locomotive or car. If you bring your train out only a few times a year, oil it each time you take it out of storage. And of course, the squeaky wheel should get the oil! If you notice any new squeaks, a small drop of oil usually does the trick.

Too much oil can be as bad as too little. Just a small drop will go a long way. Not only can excess oil smear over driving wheels and the shell in storage, on the layout it can collect on the rails and around the track bed. Oil on the rails will reduce traction and collect dirt.

Place a small drop of oil on the axles where they go through the frame, or rest in the journals of the trucks. Add a drop to each of the connections of the side rods as well on steam locomotives. You don’t want to oil the center-rail roller itself, but a drop on the sides of its small axle will prevent squeaks.  See the photo or video attached to this blog for an illustration of where this oil should be applied.

Trucks need oil too. Oil all of the journals where shown.

Don’t forget to oil the journals of your freight and passenger car trucks too. This same oil can also be used on our animated accessories and railcars on any of their moving parts as well.

Free-rolling wheels can only keep rolling if the track is clean! Next week we’ll look at one of the most common problems facing all model railroaders – keeping the rails clean.

Easy Wheel Cleaners

When it comes to maintaining our models, the most important and routine task is cleaning the rails and wheels. As important as it is, it is a project that nobody really enjoys. What if there was a way to keep your wheels clean while you run your trains? Here is a solution so easy you’ll want to give it try!

These easy-to-make wheel cleaners can be adapted to any type of track, including American Flyer two-rail (you’ll just need one less wire!) All you need is some solid 14 gauge (or similar) wire, and paper towels.

Four wire staples provide an anchor for an easy wheel cleaner.

First, cut four (3 for 2-rail) lengths of wire about 2 inches in length. Make a 90 degree bend about 1/2 inch from each end, forming a “U” shape.

These large staples will go on the outside and in between each of the rails. Drill holes in the roadbed, or your benchwork, between the ties and press the wires into the holes. For fast track, about a 3 tie spacing works well. Be careful not to drill through the bus bar or any electrical connections on the underside of the base. With 14 gauge wire, a 1/16″ drill will provide a perfect fit.

The tops of the wires should be below the tops of the rails. Make sure the wires do not touch any of the rails either.

An ordinary paper towel is an effective cleaning pad.

Now, cut an ordinary paper towel into 1 inch wide by about 3 to 4 inch long strips. Thread the paper towel strip under the wires and over the rails.

As you run your trains, the paper towel will remove a little bit of the dirt from each wheel as it crosses. As the dirt builds, just slide the paper towel a little to the left or right to give a clean pad. When the towel is too dirty or ragged to use, just pull it out and replace it.

To clean your wheels, just run your trains! You can slide the pad over for longer use as it gets dirty.

Simply remove the paper towels when you want to take pictures or video of the layout and the wires will not be very distracting. To make the cleaners a little less conspicuous, you can paint the wires flat black. (Or you could pull them out all together.)

You can put these in multiple locations around your railroad for more effective cleaning. The more you run your trains, the more you’ll clean your wheels. And cleaner wheels mean better running trains. Plus, you’ll find yourself cleaning the rails a little less frequently too.

Christmas in July – Time to Check the Trains

It may be several more months before you’re “supposed” to set up your Christmas train display, but now is actually a great time to start thinking about it. Let’s face it, December is crazy enough already and you miss your trains! So why not eliminate one potential headache and start prepping those trains now. Here are a few tips to help you make 2012 your best Christmas display ever! (And play with your trains sooner.)

Spring Summer Cleaning

The 6-62927 maintenance kit is a valuable tool for keeping your trains and track in the best of conditions.

Trains require regular cleaning. More than anything, clean wheels and track can make a big difference in how well your trains run. Often cleaning isn’t factored into the schedule when you’re trying to set up an entire display before Christmas company arrives, or when you’re packing up at the end of the season.

Take a few minutes to unpack and inspect your tracks and trains. Give them a quick cleaning and a little run-time now and you’ll be up and running that much faster four or five months from now. A little lubrication may also be necessary, but especially if your trains spend a long time in storage, avoid over-lubricating parts. For a how-to on servicing your locomotives, you can check out this video: Lubrication and Maintenance

Last Year’s Problems

A simple fix is easier to take care of now than later.

Do you remember all those things that went wrong last year that you swore you were going to get to after Christmas? I didn’t think so! Often all it takes is unpacking the box to jog your memory about the burned out light bulb in the street lamps, the reindeer with the broken leg, or that sticky coupler on the gondola. Take care of these little (or big) problems now and you won’t have to relive the memories on Christmas Eve.

This Year’s Additions

You can start looking for new additions in this year’s catalog now, or start working on a personal touch.

Adding something to the train display each year is a great tradition. It might be a new car or accessory or it might be something handmade and personal. If it’s the former, then you want to check out this year’s Christmas Catalog. If it’s the latter, it’s time to get going! The charm of Christmas displays is often the way they aren’t perfect scale replicas, but homemade and personal family memories in model form. Think about the people and places that are most meaningful to you and how you can make them a part of your display.

FasTrack is Floor-Friendly

Keeping your track off the carpet is a must. The track on the right sits on home-made wood roadbed sections built over 60 years ago – FasTrack makes it much easier!

Trains don’t typically run well on the floor. Between carpet fibers, dust bunnies and real pets, the floor presents quite the obstacle course for your model trains. Fortunately, it doesn’t take much to get your trains up out of harms way. These easiest way to gain just a little elevation and provide a very secure fastener for your tracks is to use our FasTrack system. The plastic base looks good and keeps your trains off the worst that the floor has to offer.

For those who prefer the classic look of our O Gauge and O-27 track for a Christmas layout, consider making the base for your ’round the tree railroad on sections of 1/2″ plywood. Not only will this allow you to elevated and secure the track above carpeting, you’ll have a solid and level base for buildings and other accessories. Make these sections easy to join and take apart and you can have your layout set up in minutes!

Let It Snow!

Snow is an easy feature to add for that winter feel.

Just the thought of snow probably sounds pretty good to many of us right now! No Christmas display would be complete without some white fluffy piles. There are a number of ways you can re-create winter. For temporary layouts, something easy to clean like cotton balls or styrofoam sheets might be your best bet. If you can anchor your snow or are at least willing to vacuum it, there are lots of commercial products available. Baking powder also works very well and is quite affordable. (Don’t use baking soda, it’s too caustic. And don’t use flour unless you really want a Christmas mouse!) You can see this method in more detail on our modeling pages.

It’s All About the Kids

Accessories like the 6-37965 North Pole Freight Terminal add a fun addition for kids of all ages.

Christmas is a time for kids and kids at heart – make your trains part of that experience. Is your display kid-friendly? Are the trains at their height? Can they work the controls? Are there fun accessories they can use? Of course you’ll probably find that in the process of making the railroad more fun for the kids, it’s a lot more fun for you too!

Your off-season activities can be kid-involved too. Let them learn the importance of taking care of the trains and maybe they’ll carry that experience over to other aspects of their lives now and down the road. (I’m not saying they’ll keep their rooms clean, but maybe they’ll understand why it’s important to check the oil in their car when they’re older.) And let them be a part of making something new for the display each year too. Not only will your display grow, so will your stock of treasured heirlooms.

Packing

Bubble wrap and sturdy containers can be used if the original packing material is no longer available.

When you’ve finished playing, err testing, your trains, pay attention to how they are packed. Try to use original packaging whenever possible. This packaging is designed to protect your trains.

If you can’t reuse the original boxes, then carefully wrap your trains in tissue or bubble wrap and store them in a sturdy container. The same applies to all your hand-made buildings, accessories, etc.

Pack your trains and accessories carefully to prevent damage. Try not to put your most fragile items at the bottom! Store in a cool, dry place for best longevity.

Don’t worry, you’ll be seeing those trains again in just a few more months!