Cotton Waste for Steam Railways?

[Northmoor]

A question for anyone working in their railway's loco department.

 

My wife is having a sort through our bedding - sheets, duvets, pillows etc. - and I remembered that steam locos are cleaned with cotton rags so if I can make up a back to hand in somewhere, rather than send it all to landfill, job done.  What percentage cotton content should I consider a minimum to be useful?  We have quite a few 60% cotton items......

[Welly]

If the steam railways do not want them, the local vets may accept donated old towels and blankets for their patients - I disposed of my late Mum's towels, sheets and blankets this way.

[Fat Controller]

43 minutes ago, Northmoor said:

A question for anyone working in their railway's loco department.

 

My wife is having a sort through our bedding - sheets, duvets, pillows etc. - and I remembered that steam locos are cleaned with cotton rags so if I can make up a back to hand in somewhere, rather than send it all to landfill, job done.  What percentage cotton content should I consider a minimum to be useful?  We have quite a few 60% cotton items......

If you can't find a local preserved railway to take it, then local garages can also find a use for it; that's what we did with a lot (and I mean a lot) that we inherited when our mothers left the family homes. 50-60% cotton would be fine, though I'd suggest removing buttons and zips.

It's got to be better than a lot of the stuff that firms buy-in; I've even had some of that with swarf in it.

[AMJ]

Many of us in the preservation sector use rags for cleaning jobs in the workshops that public don't see.  Often as long as the rag will absorb the fluid and muck then it will assist in the cleaning process.

 

Dirty oil/paraffin/diesel soaked rags are then used as lighting up materials in steam locos (or bonfires) so they are not going to landfill.  (Some might point to atmospheric pollution.)

 

Some rags might be used to wrap and protect items if they are unsuitable for other tasks.

[rab]

The title of this thread reminds me of the cotton waste we used to have, odds and ends of thread bundled up. Is that still used, is it still even available?

[phil-b259]

Another use of old clothes / rags / sheets etc is to help insulate vulnerable parts of stem locos like injectors that can be damaged should temperatures dip below zero overnight and any water in them freeze.