We use the the track cleaning cars from North East Trains on the G&O garden railroad. Because it is a garden railroad, the G&O track gets very dirty between every operating session.
We push two track cleaning cars ahead of an engine. The cars need to be ahead of the engine so that the engine will not stall on dirty track. (Ron shows this arrangement in his video above.)
We put Goo Gone on the leading pad of the leading track cleaning car. The second pad of the leading track cleaning car is soaked with 91% isopropyl alcohol. The two pads of the trailing track cleaning car are left dry. The pads on the trailing track cleaning car soak up any liquid, including water, that may be on the rails.
We have tried other cleaners on the pads but the combination of Goo Gone and 91% isopropyl alcohol has worked the best.
The track cleaning train is run over the entire layout including all the sidings. This gets the Atlas track clean in a few minutes.
The North East Trains track cleaning pads can be washed and reused many times. We have used some of them for 10 years. They become stained but they still work if they are washed. Hand washing is best.
The basic car is best because it can withstand rough handling.
NH Joe
