@dan 77 posted:Tom, I will post my results after it arrives and I actually use it. The regular WD-40 was not designed to be a cleaner, so it is no surprise that it was not effective.
Greetings of the Season,
I received the CRC contact cleaner & protectant. Well, it might clean contacts however it did not make a dent in the black gunk. It has naphtha as an ingredient, but that doesn’t work anyway. Very disappointing. Still waiting on the Benzyl Alcohol - it is supposed to remove electrostatically applied powder coatings, which is how the black gunk is generated.
I did discover that Easy Off oven cleaner does dissolve most of the gunk, but quite often leaves a bit behind which tends to be totally impermeable to any known solvent.
I have been pouring over related articles and comments in Model Railroad Hobbyist and found the statement that no liquid is effective to clean the gunk. That certainly has been my experience. Goo-gone does sort of work with a lot of elbow grease – for me – but needs to be followed up with a non-polar solvent. Not a big deal, I’ve been using mineral spirits.
Keeping you track clean after you have cleaned the wheels and track is another matter. There seems to be two main schools of thought and your choice is largely determined by the environmental conditions of you layout room. Dust free, or not. If you are dust free, use NO-OX-ID A Special (a small tube is available from Amazon – a life-time supply) sparingly on your track. If the conditions are dusty, then the graphite treatment is preferred.
Good luck,
Tom Stoltz
in Maine
