I was given a Visa gift card, and with nothing else on the list, I put it toward a Piko Clean Machine from Trainworld. Now I just have to wait for it to get here so I can see how well it does on my track.
Piko Clean Machine
- Thread starter Huh? What?
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Depends how dirty your track is, give the track a good clean first and this little loco will do well. I have had one since release in the uk and it goes out most days, weather permiting, and helps to keep the track surface just right and has cut down the useage of the lgb track cleaner, a set of recharged batteries last around 2 hours. One of the pads has just started to split so I reckon it will go through two sets (as supplied) per summer. Great machine!
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Just noticed in the July issue of Garden Rail (Gaugemaster Add Page 27) that Piko appears to be adding Battery RC to 3 of these 25Tonners which includes the Track Cleaner. Not seen this before and looking at Topslots they list them. I find this to be a very interesting development and wonder just how far Piko will go with Battery Power. Prices are just under the £300 mark for these 25Tonners.
Jon, Piko announced this in amongst their 2019 New Releases end of last year. I immediately cancelled my pre-order for original loco and replaced it with a pre-order for the RC version. Will post on here when it arrives and have given it a run round the track.
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Yep, there's even a discussion somewhere here on the radio controlled one... after all the discussion surprised you missed this one... it was dominating the forum for a while.
At the time, I was under the impression that the R/C ones were imminent, but appears they are taking some time...
Greg
At the time, I was under the impression that the R/C ones were imminent, but appears they are taking some time...
Greg
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Do remember the 25T’er dominating things for a while but not the fact that they were doing RC ones. Oh well. But Glad I did mine as I did, I doubt the standard RC one will be able to have Sound Functions linking to a My Loco Sound like I managed to shoe horn in.
I ran it for a couple of hours when it came in the other day, and went through two sets of Duracell AAA batteries. Did a fair job on the filthy section of track. Now it's been running on NiMH rechargeables for two hours and is starting to run down. When I change the batteries out for the set on the charger, I'll change out the pads as well. I want to totally run the batteries out before putting them back on the charger. More on this later.
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So far your battery life parallels other's, so that is good. Will be interested on the wear on the pads, to me they seemed a little small, i.e. would not last real long due to small amount of material.
Greg
Greg
The 900 MAh NiMH batteries ran two hours, twenty minutes from a full charge. Total run time on pads is roughly four hours. I'll post pics of new pads versus old pads in a bit.
My Battery Radio Controlled one lasts much longer than that but it does have 10 AAA Rechargeable Cell Pack stuffed in with My Loco Sound as well. Had I have wanted to I guess that the Battery Clean Machine would have made things a little easier on the Conversion, but a Track Powered one was cheaper and I had no need of Track Cleaning. Link to my thread on the Conversion:-
Modifying a Piko 25 Tonner to Battery Power.
Now I imagine that some on here will be wondering why he is doing that when there exists a Battery Powered one already? Well the answer is that I have no need for a Track Cleaning Loco, I want one that is controllable (the Track Cleaner to the best of my knowledge can only be made to go...
www.gscalecentral.net
I have already noted that Piko is offering a RC Version of the Clean Machine and others. Will be interested to hear how well they last on Battery Power.
Here is a shot of brand new pads next to pads that ran four hours over filthy track. to be honest, to the touch, they didn't feel much different.
Looking at those Pads (this is the first close up I have seen of them) they appear somewhat abrasive to my eye, possibly causing small scrape marks. For my Money if I were still into Track Power I find the LGB Cleaning Block much kinder.Here is a shot of brand new pads next to pads that ran four hours over filthy track. to be honest, to the touch, they didn't feel much different.
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They look worse than they are Jon..
The pressure from the 'pickup-springs' is very light, hence it takes some-time to clean the track.
The pressure from the 'pickup-springs' is very light, hence it takes some-time to clean the track.
I would say 'yes'.. A nice little loco..
It will clean the track - eventually.. Obviously, nothing like the LGB track-cleaner. It is much better for a 'polish' than to remove 'crud'.
There is now a rechargeable battery pack available from Strikalite, as well:
Scroll-down to Product ID: 997
PhilP.
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I brought one for Mizzy. (Chief PW Engineer!)
Seems to run for a while on its batteries, although I will look at the Strikalite offering....
Seems to run for a while on its batteries, although I will look at the Strikalite offering....