LGB 50050 track cleaner.
- Thread starter Fairlie
- Start date
Gizzy
A gentleman, a scholar, and a railway modeller....
I have some fitted to a Matra crane wagon. Also my layout is R1/R2.
If I run the wagon run a few circuits, it does help clean the track. I took the springs out of mine, as they cause drag.
It's not quite as effective as the LGB track cleaning rubber though....
If I run the wagon run a few circuits, it does help clean the track. I took the springs out of mine, as they cause drag.
It's not quite as effective as the LGB track cleaning rubber though....
beavercreek
Travel, Art, Theatre, Music, Photography, Trains
I have found the same resultyb281 said:I have a wagon fitted with this attachment, but only basically use it for clearing leaves, twigs and other debris from the track. As far as actually cleaning the rails is concerned, it's about as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike.
Hey, now we're getting somewhere, but is that a Harley-Davidson? I was going to use my Beezer B31. OK, to be serious, we either try the 50050, or spend far too much money doing it the other way. Every time I get on to this subject, we end up by thinking it's hand and knees stuff, and rub-a-dub. There is no easy way to clean track, cheaply. If you want to argue with this statement, go ahead
Throw a battery in everything and forget the cleaning....i spent 2 hours on saturday cleaning on my hands and knees..... Track locos ran like new....wonderful...little bit of dampness Sat night and sunday morning track has a light staining to it, nothing will run unless on full speed with out slowing or lights flickering .....sorry but life's to short to be cleaning before every run..... all of my Battery convert locos will run for most of the day with out a recharge and they are so much more controllable
No argument here Cyril. I reached exactly the same conclusion a couple of years ago. In my opinion there are 3 options.Glengrant said:
1) Cheapest way, put up with what you've got and accept that you'll need to keep cleaning the track with a track rubber (assuming that cheapest means not buying an LGB track cleaning loco).
2) Switch to digital. The best solution IMO if you run big locos (at LEAST 6 pick-ups, preferably more). Of course this means having to chip (nearly?) all of your locos (you might keep one or two to run on 0) and buying all the digital control kit. MTS systems quite often come up for sale here at reasonable prices and that's a good start. Many people I know run digital and they don't seem to need the track anywhere near as clean as I used to for analogue control.
3) If you run smaller locos, do as Tony suggests and go down the battery route. This is what I did as most of my locos are 4 wheelers. I use the Cliff Barker radio control system, but you could do this much cheaper if you don't want such fine speed control - even just an on/off switch maybe to start with?
beavercreek
Travel, Art, Theatre, Music, Photography, Trains
I think Mel has covered it well.
I use an LGB track cleaning loco for a few passes and then a hand clean for the first run of the year. After that the track cleaning loco for a few passes to keep the track bright about each week or two. Sometimes a hand clean still needs to be done on certain areas under the trees and bushes!
For hand cleaning I use either a pad on a universal jointed pole or hands and knees when access does not allow the pole.
But as Mel has said, DCC does seem to be more tolerant of dirty track (especially the decoders that have larger buffer caps on board).
I used to be totally DC but now fluctuate (?) between DCC and DC and have found that locos that were showing 'dirty track' symptoms on DC, were acting fine when chipped and on DCC.
If I was starting again I would probably go with stainless steel track and just run a couple more track power feeds to make up for the lower conductivity along its length.
I use an LGB track cleaning loco for a few passes and then a hand clean for the first run of the year. After that the track cleaning loco for a few passes to keep the track bright about each week or two. Sometimes a hand clean still needs to be done on certain areas under the trees and bushes!
For hand cleaning I use either a pad on a universal jointed pole or hands and knees when access does not allow the pole.
But as Mel has said, DCC does seem to be more tolerant of dirty track (especially the decoders that have larger buffer caps on board).
I used to be totally DC but now fluctuate (?) between DCC and DC and have found that locos that were showing 'dirty track' symptoms on DC, were acting fine when chipped and on DCC.
If I was starting again I would probably go with stainless steel track and just run a couple more track power feeds to make up for the lower conductivity along its length.
Not being a DCC man, what does a buffer capacitor do? Does it provide a bit of power to carry over the dead spots? Otherwise I can't really see why DCC should be better than analogue. I did think of fitting a large electrolytic capacitor to each loco to smooth things out. Has anyone tried this? It would need a diode to protect the cap when reversing, so obviously wouldn't work in reverse.
beavercreek
Travel, Art, Theatre, Music, Photography, Trains
Extra capacitor boards tend to be used with boards or modules that have sound. The cap board allows for shut down sounds etc when in DC use or for breaks in continuity when in DC or DCC.Fairlie said:
Also the nature of DCC waveform which has the full carrier power on all of the time (eg 22V and the loco module only giving a percentage to the motor when told to do so) seems to overcome some of the continuity problems that DC experiences at lower to mid voltages.
Most of the Large scale DCC motor decoders have some sort of capacitor on board to give a second or two of power to cover breaks. This can be extended with the use of added buffer caps (most manufacturers supply some sort or another and these work whatever the direction).
Stainzmeister said:
Just one thing to add to that from my past experience with track power - if your line runs under trees (especially fruit trees like apple when in blossom), you may experience problems with sap/pollen. This shows up as sticky blobs on the track and, if trains will run at all, the stuff will soon get all over the wheels and skates. A track cleaner just seems to make things worse and soon gets all gunged up. When I experienced this problem, JR from Tawa gave me an absolute TOP tip - wipe the affected rails with a damp cloth. This clears the sap/pollen wonderfully and running is vastly improved. However, you may have to do this once an hour or so if the trees are really chucking the stuff out.
Madman
Registered
I don't wish to sound like a broken record, but here goes anyway. When I ran track power, I soldered jumpers across every rail joint. I also backfed power to my locos via the lighting socket on the rear and LGB ball bearing wheels with wires that pluged into the backs of each piece of rolling stock, thence into the lighting socket on the loco.
Alot of work, but once done, it beats having to look for loose rail joints or wondering why the train slows at certain points.
Alot of work, but once done, it beats having to look for loose rail joints or wondering why the train slows at certain points.
stevedenver
Registered
Fairlie said:
I no longer use mine.
Honestly and briefly, they dont seem effective, although, theoretically , they must be.
They might keep track clean, once properly and thoroughly cleaned some other way, and then only if used daily, and with repeat passes. Obviously, you must always run the car with pads, which also gets a bit tiresome, unless you fit multiples. The small pads become tattered fairly quickly, and also become saturated with brass oxide dust rahter quickly too, so they must be cleaned (with something like the LGB smoke fluid) or replaced.
They tend to hang up, on joints, frogs and the like, less so when fitted to a car, like a flat or gondola, with a good deal of heft to keep the pads down, and to force them over odd edges , mis-alignment, etc. They work fine on R1, provided you have fitted them a car with the shortest wheelbase-ie 2 axel, no brake platform.
For what they cost, id suggest giving them a go, and seeing how they work for you.
if you can afford one, the track clenaing loco is superb, fun, easy to use, and worth its weight in gold on long railways.
Better still, albeit far more effort, and less fun, is the red cleaning block. It is imho, simply unbeatable for getting every spot clean.
I use both.
If funds are an issue, id spend on the red block before the undercarriage cleaning pads.
i have a rolling frame, into which fits a red cleaning block, which floats in the frame, and it is pushed or dragged, doing much the same as the carriage pad system, but with far more surface area. While marginally better, when add a 5 lb lead ingot on top of the red block for more abrasion, it must then be pulled or pushed by at least 2 or 3 stainz, an alco, a mallet, ,etc due to huge drag. It too has issues hanging up on joints and tracking with such weight on top should there be a slight twist in a curve.
My point being, the only gadget I've used that works really well, is the track cleaning loco. Should you decide to go this way, there are previous threads, with tips. Im happy to give my thoughts on tips for the loco should you ask.
Martino
Photography, The GWR, Aviation, Travel, Cars.
I have a whole arsenal of track cleaning stuff, but no LGB loco! 3M pads on poles, drywall sanding grids on poles, LGB red blocks (although I think the Train Line blocks are better) and of course the LGB 50050 springy leg things.
Mine are mounted on an LGB open wagon, and I have replaced the pads with dry wall sanding grid. There is a cow catcher from a Bachmann Lynn on the front to clear away twigs and leaves, and the wagon is propelled in front of a brake van as the first train of the day over the whole line. It clears away debris, sand and grit and gives the track a light clean. Works fine if the line has been used in the past couple of weeks and we're not suffering too much tree sap or the attentions of a boy dog!
Here's a photo....
Mine are mounted on an LGB open wagon, and I have replaced the pads with dry wall sanding grid. There is a cow catcher from a Bachmann Lynn on the front to clear away twigs and leaves, and the wagon is propelled in front of a brake van as the first train of the day over the whole line. It clears away debris, sand and grit and gives the track a light clean. Works fine if the line has been used in the past couple of weeks and we're not suffering too much tree sap or the attentions of a boy dog!
Here's a photo....