Non-polar. Solvent for track cleaning

[terrysoham]

There is an interesting article in this month's MRH on-line magazine in which the author suggests that we should use non-polar solvents for cleaning track and metal wheels.

Are there any chemists here who could point me in the direction of a readily available source/product please?

 

Apparently IPA is a polar solvent and is NOT a suitable track/wheel cleaner

[BWsTrains]

There is an interesting article in this month's MRH on-line magazine in which the author suggests that we should use non-polar solvents for cleaning track and metal wheels.

Are there any chemists here who could point me in the direction of a readily available source/product please?

 

Apparently IPA is a polar solvent and is NOT a suitable track/wheel cleaner

Polar solvents are those where electrical charges in the molecule are separated to some degree. Anything with a hydroxyl group (-OH) i.e. any alcohol, or a carbonyl (-C=O) group i.e. all ketones, esters and amides will be polar to some degree. Even ethers with a (C-O-C) linkage have some polarity. This suggestion hence eliminates in one stroke most solvents one might consider suitable if the track has polar crud (to use the technical term) in need of removal. 

 

The only true non-polar solvents are hydrocarbons and fully-halogenated hydrocarbons (all nasty anyway) and these would best suited to removing oily (i.e. non-polar) crud.

 

I can't think of any good chemical reason for avoiding polar solvents for the jobs in question. After all IPA and ethanol were used regularly to clean magnetic tape heads - surely at least as demanding in specification as the railway components mentioned. Is this "suggestion" supported by any decent science? It would be nice to ask "and why's that?"

 

edit: to correct point on halogenated solvents e.g. Carbon Tetrachloride and the like

Edited March 4, 2018 by BWsTrains

[terrysoham]

Thank you for your guidance. So, using IPA (which I have used previously) is ok then?

 

Kind regards

[BWsTrains]

Thank you for your guidance. So, using IPA (which I have used previously) is ok then?

 

Kind regards

I do use IPA (old tape head grade with about 20% water, 80% IPA) with no adverse effects on loco wheels but be careful of plastic loco parts. I've moved away from using solvents for track. However I'm no expert and others here especially those who exhibit have surely posted good tried and tested methods somewhere in this place. I just provided a bit of chemicals expertise in response to your query.

 

FWIW I prefer to clean my tracks with 1 of 2 things, for crossovers and high traffic areas I've found the PECO track rubber very effective but for longer runs, tunnels and the like I made my own track cleaning wagon from a design I think I picked up here a while ago.

 

Basic principle is to drag a piece of masonite / hardboard (untempered grade), rough side down along the track underneath a wagon, sitting between the axles. The cross corrugated surfaces seem to clean track up a treat easily removing regular running grot. the design I picked up used 2 x ~3-4mm steel bars as the mountings, glued firmly to smooth side of the board. These then pass up thru holes in the bottom of your wagon (or my case a cheap Railroad Hornby Oil tanker) and hence keep the board flat on track and aligned. Frictional weight on the rubber comes purely from the 2 steel bars, not the wagon itself. No need to use a solvent in my experience + it's cheap and easy to try out.

 

If interested I can post a photos when I can back to my models

 

Regards,

 

Colin   

Edited March 5, 2018 by BWsTrains