Wright writes.....

[Tony Wright]

3 hours ago, Tony Teague said:

 

I installed 3 or 4 of those pads under brake vans about 3 years ago after seeing them on LB.

I probably don't run my railway as often as Tony does but I almost never clean the track, just occasional troublespots, so they must do some good.

Conversely, every loco, coach or wagon that comes in for servicing gets a thorough wheel clean.

 

Tony

The Noch pads are really good, Tony,

 

I hope this helps Gaugemaster's sales.

 

 

No fluid is needed, just the 'friction' of the pad.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[john new]

10 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

The Noch pads are really good, Tony,

 

I hope this helps Gaugemaster's sales.

 

 

No fluid is needed, just the 'friction' of the pad.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

How often do they need washing, or similar, to clean/refresh?

[Tony Wright]

1 minute ago, john new said:

How often do they need washing, or similar, to clean/refresh?

John,

 

I've not changed one yet - in three years. 

 

I'll check occasionally, just to make sure that they're not contaminated, but they're still doing the job.

 

As I've said before, running a layout regularly keeps it clean. LB is run at least once a week, so track cleaning is not really necessary. 

 

I have heard the use of a graphite pencil advocated, though I've never used one. They're used on the vast Carlisle, with success. Perhaps Mike Edge will comment.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[Jol Wilkinson]

Some cleaning observations based on exhibiting London Road occasionally.

 

Exhibition environments are generally dirtier than a well built home layout room with relatively few visitors but a thorough clean before operation for the day is sufficient for the whole weekend with just a light clean on the second day. The "rough" side of a piece of hardboard makes a good, non abrasive, cleaning pad. I also use cigarette lighter fuel for a track clean before running commences for the day. This is applied with a piece of cotton (from an old, well washed, handkerchief), wrapped around the foam rubber head of a 25mm  closed cell foam"Jenny" brush. I got mine from a boat chandler but they are readily found on Ebay.

 

Loco wheels (steel tyred) usually only get cleaned before a show and then are okay for the whole weekend. Even a three day show such as York only required that a couple of locos needed a clean during the show. The loco is put upside down in a cradle, power applied to the wheels through wires soldered to a piece of copper clad pcb and the rotating  wheels cleaned with lighter fluid on a piece of pipe cleaner. Pipe cleaner doesn't shed strands of material like a cotton bud can do. Pickups are PB or brass wire/strip with small brass pads soldered to bear against the tyre. These work well and stay clean, possibly because brass is better with steel tyres, whereas Tony has found that n/s works well as his locos are, I presume, all Markits/Romford wheels with n/s tyres.

 

Avoid "rough" or coarse cleaning blocks. they scratch the rail surface which then holds dirt. 

[dibateg]

I was very sorry to hear about Roy, I was lucky enough to spend some time in his company, and we had some interesting discussions about trains and life. I loved his offbeat sense of humour and he did make me laugh. I was welcomed to the house and behind the great layouts. I was inspired.

We’ll miss you Roy.

 

Geoff Taylor took this, but I'm sure he won't mind - Roy has obviously said something that has cracked John up!

Edited June 14, 2019 by dibateg

[john new]

Interesting observations on cleaning. Thanks for the answer above Tony. Visiting the Gaugemaster shop at Ford in a couple of weeks, will try to get some.

 

Graphite is regularly expounded, has anyone tried it on DCC?

 

Sadly I’ve forgotten his name 25 years on but the former owner of the public  Weymouth Model Railway exhibit swore by a low frequency AC supply being fed into the DC track. DCC wasn’t invented then but does the quasi-AC of DCC create the same effect?*

 

* I know it isn’t true AC but a complex pulsed form of DC; the explanation of which baffles me when I read it!

[mullie]

5 minutes ago, john new said:

Interesting observations on cleaning. Thanks for the answer above Tony. Visiting the Gaugemaster shop at Ford in a couple of weeks, will try to get some.

 

Graphite is regularly expounded, has anyone tried it on DCC?

 

Sadly I’ve forgotten his name 25 years on but the former owner of the public  Weymouth Model Railway exhibit swore by a low frequency AC supply being fed into the DC track. DCC wasn’t invented then but does the quasi-AC of DCC create the same effect?*

 

* I know it isn’t true AC but a complex pulsed form of DC; the explanation of which baffles me when I read it!

I've used graphite on a small DCC layout, results seem promising. 

 

Martyn

[cravensdmufan]

9 hours ago, 2750Papyrus said:

What have you found to the best methods of cleaning track

I use this track cleaning wagon:

 

It is now available from Ten Commandments. https://tencommandmentsmodels.co.uk/product/track-cleaning-wagon/

 

Works really well. It also got a good review last year by Nigel Burkin.  I have no connection with the manufacturer or supplier, just a happy customer!

 

Vivian

[St Enodoc]

1 hour ago, Tony Wright said:

The Noch pads are really good, Tony,

 

I hope this helps Gaugemaster's sales.

 

 

No fluid is needed, just the 'friction' of the pad.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Probably doesn't apply in your case Tony, but does anyone know whether these work in both directions?

[polybear]

1 hour ago, Tony Wright said:

John,

 

I've not changed one yet - in three years. 

 

I'll check occasionally, just to make sure that they're not contaminated, but they're still doing the job.

 

As I've said before, running a layout regularly keeps it clean. LB is run at least once a week, so track cleaning is not really necessary. 

 

I have heard the use of a graphite pencil advocated, though I've never used one. They're used on the vast Carlisle, with success. Perhaps Mike Edge will comment.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

 

Here's a link to the pads.

http://www.gaugemaster.com/item_details.asp?code=GM37&style=main&strType=&Mcode=Gaugemaster+GM37

HTH

Brian

[Woodcock29]

Hello Tony

 

My contribution to the wheel cleaning discussion.

 

I've found that my kit built Portescap powered locos hardly ever need wheel cleaning - I think this is due to the way their brushes are set up which is a series of fine wire whiskers - which probably minimises any arcing.  My smaller kit built locos are fitted with a variety of motors from old open frame DS10s to various size Mashimas - all seem to need regular wheel cleaning - some of these have fewer wheels picking up so  that might be part of the issue, although quite a number have pickups on pony or bogie wheels which clearly helps.  RTR locos are highly variable - my Bachmann Patriot seems to regularly get dirty wheels yet J11s hardly ever need cleaning.  Hornby locos also are quite variable - however the older they are the more likely the coating on the wheels will wear off exposing the brass tyre which then gets dirty more quickly.

 

I have used an old Triang wheel cleaning brush for years - basically its an insulated brass brush which is live on both sides - of course this has a tendency to wear off the coating on RTR wheels but with solid N/S tyres on Romfords/Markits its fine. I also often now use a cotton bud with white spirit for RTR loco wheels.

 

The graphite debate! A lot of my mates swear by the graphite they've had on their track for years and constantly threaten to bring their pencils around when operating on my railway. I'm getting closer to trialling it on the separate high level part of my layout (LMS).  One issue is that if applied too heavily it has a tendency to clog everything up (in the early days two mates applied it as a powder in white spirit by the bucket load!), eg getting all over brake shoes and when you handle such locos you get it all,over your hands and before long its gets onto paint work and is not easily removed.  Applying it with a graphite pencil in only small amounts does eliminate this issue.

 

I've not tried any pads attached to rolling stock but have contemplated this over the years - I might get a few of the Gaugemaster pads before I commit to graphite.

 

Regards

 

Andrew    

[Michael Edge]

I've been using graphite now for 3 years on my own layout, Carlisle and LMRS Chapel-en-le Frith. The track does get an occasional clean with a very fine abrasive rubber pad but I haven't cleaned any loco wheels at all in that time. If a loco does seem dirty it's run up and  down a few times on freshly graphite rail. At first glance the wheels may appear dirty but the "dirt" conducts electricity.

DCC or DC control is irrelevant although I did change part of Herculaneum Dock to DCC partly because there is always full voltage on the track. The comment above about Portescap motors is relevant, their very low current consumption results in far less arcing between rail and wheel which is responsible for much of the problem of dirty wheels - this is also why shunting locos with frequent reversals give more trouble than those simply running through trains. Graphite on the railhead eliminates all this and all locos always start and don't stall, it is applied with a graphite pencil to the top and inner corner of the rails, it doesn't gum anything up and it doesn't appear to affect adhesion.

It isn't exactly new technology, I've since found references to it in pre-war magazines.

That's a rather long reply for a very simple solution but I do find it very difficult to convince others that it works - just try it.

[Jol Wilkinson]

Any preference for pencil hardness, or is the ubiquitous HB okay? Would a softer 3B or similar be better?

[TheQ]

The softer the pencil the better it is as it has a higher percentage of Graphite, I use something like this..

https://www.amazon.co.uk/LYRA-4336947169-Lyra-Graphite-Stick/dp/B0012EXM62/ref=sr_1_11?keywords=graphite+sticks&qid=1560500379&s=gateway&sr=8-11

[Buhar]

I'm not sure any old pencil will do, I'd be inclined to look for the item noted above. It's not as if you'll need one every month. 

[Tony Teague]

10 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Probably doesn't apply in your case Tony, but does anyone know whether these work in both directions?

 

In principle they should, however, they hang down from an axle in the trailing direction, so would bounce over any obstruction or roughness, and so I would imagine that pushing the van in the opposite direction might cause them to catch on any such obstruction - but I haven't tried it!

I generally use them on fixed rakes - and so I think, does TW.

 

Tony

[micklner]

17 minutes ago, TheQ said:

The softer the pencil the better it is as it has a higher percentage of Graphite, I use something like this..

https://www.amazon.co.uk/LYRA-4336947169-Lyra-Graphite-Stick/dp/B0012EXM62/ref=sr_1_11?keywords=graphite+sticks&qid=1560500379&s=gateway&sr=8-11

Similar on eBay , half the above price so worth shopping around. One on way at mo !!

[TheQ]

10 minutes ago, micklner said:

Similar on eBay , half the above price so worth shopping around. One on way at mo !!

yep it was just an example mine only cost a couple of pounds but that was a few years ago.

[Barry O]

Ladies eye brow pencil works and is big enough to point at the right places.

Baz

[Long John Silver]

Thanks all for the info on vehicle mounted cleaning pads, as a fully qualified clumsy devil, with honours, I will look into these.  My ground signals can then sleep more peacefully at night.

I use to use electronic track cleaners, but interestingly since I switched them off, I’ve needed to do much less wheel cleaning, particularly on my Romford/Markits wheeled locos.  

Jon

[Barry Ten]

1 hour ago, Tony Teague said:

 

In principle they should, however, they hang down from an axle in the trailing direction, so would bounce over any obstruction or roughness, and so I would imagine that pushing the van in the opposite direction might cause them to catch on any such obstruction - but I haven't tried it!

I generally use them on fixed rakes - and so I think, does TW.

 

Tony

 

I use them in both directions in N as well as 00 and so far haven't had any problems. I think because the pad just skates along very lightly, it easily rides over any bumps or snags whether it's being pushed or pulled.

[St Enodoc]

2 hours ago, Tony Teague said:

 

In principle they should, however, they hang down from an axle in the trailing direction, so would bounce over any obstruction or roughness, and so I would imagine that pushing the van in the opposite direction might cause them to catch on any such obstruction - but I haven't tried it!

I generally use them on fixed rakes - and so I think, does TW.

 

Tony

Thanks Tony, that was my feeling too which is why I haven't yet fitted the ones I have...

54 minutes ago, Barry Ten said:

 

I use them in both directions in N as well as 00 and so far haven't had any problems. I think because the pad just skates along very lightly, it easily rides over any bumps or snags whether it's being pushed or pulled.

...but I probably will have a go now. Thanks Al.

[St Enodoc]

1 hour ago, Barry O said:

Ladies eye brow pencil works and is big enough to point at the right places.

Baz

Which colour works best?

[Barry Ten]

I know this thread is about making things, rather than acquiring them, but I thought I'd put up a couple of pictures of this Aberdare which was bought as a finished kit.

 

I think the basis of this model is a Keyser kit - perhaps others can confirm? The castings are quite chunky and there's no brake gear or underframe detail. It is, however, very well made and painted. I got two other locos from the same estate, both built to the same standard.

 

 

 

It didn't run very well, tending to stall a lot and having a high current draw. 

 

The loco only had two pickups, and quite crudely made. I removed them and added "Wright" style pickups to all three drivers on the insulated side. It ran better, but was still prone to stalling or hesitation at certain points.

 

I decided to add extra pickups to the pony truck. This solved the pickup problem, but now the pony wheels just skated along without turning. Luckily, there's a lot of space under those front frames so I found it straightforward to add a cheap and cheerful springing arrangement to keep the pony pressed down. I cut off a thin strip of brass, folded it into a sort of double-Z, soldered it to the underframe, then adjusted until the right degree of springing was achieved.

 

 

After that, it was just a question of running-in properly, which I don't think had ever been done before. I suspect the motor brushes hadn't had a chance to bed in and over time the loco got better and better at quiet, slow running, to the point where it will now plod around quite nicely. I opened it up once to look at the motor but I can't remember if it was an open frame or closed type. Fundamentally, it's well-made, with no tight-spots, so it really only needed a bit of tweaking to get the pickups working well.

 

What next? Lamps and weathering, certainly, but I think it would benefit from some brake gear, especially under that very bare-looking tender. I'll be having a think about how best to add some, without hacking the kit about too much.

 

 

Although I don't know anything about the builder (the box has "D Payne" on it, but that might just be the former owner) I'm very pleased to have it running on my layout, and putting in the miles.

 

Al

[The Fatadder]

there is something about the Aberdare that makes me really want one, possibly how old fashioned it looks.  It is on the to build list for "one day"...