Post 48 10/19/2017 revised 9-19-2023
Common Trains Run on the Layout – Maintenance Train and Homemade Track Cleaning Car
A track maintenance train is run when problems occur with the layout track, switches and signals.
The first car is a box car used for as a sleeping car with cots until a Bunk car is purchased or made.
The next car is a Lionel 6142 gondola with tie ballast and a back hoe. The gravel load was made from a piece of Styrofoam with fine roofing granules glued on. Then next is a red and yellow Lionel 6812 Track Maintenance car.
A Lionel EMD GM 19825 motor generator and air compressor car is next in line. My used car did not come with side doors but I like seeing the generator I added. You have to take my word for it that the car has an air compressor !
Following next is a Marx NYC 5590 Crane car and Lionel DL&W 6419 work caboose. Often a flat car with rails or ties will be in the train also.
A Real Layout Maintenance Car - A Homemade Centerline style Track Cleaning Car (revised 9-19-2023)
UPDATE: Since this was authored NO OX ID track treatment has been applied to the layout track and Track Cleaning has been eliminated and the need for a track a cleaning car eliminated. See page 5, post 48 on How I applied NO OX ID to my 027 track and eliminate track cleaning and improve train operation especially at slow speeds. Tracks have not needed to be cleaned since 12-2021.
Here are some of details of my Homemade Centerline Track Cleaning Car, a $3 to $4 version of the brass Centerline, O gauge track cleaning car and it works super.
The price of the Centerline Track Cleaning Cars is quite high listing for $133 plus postage. It is made from brass. The brass Centerline car is a work of art and not required to do a mundane job like cleaning O gauge track. I like the cars design as it has no pads to glue on to replace and no pad motor like the Lionel model.
I worked from a picture of the Centerline track cleaning car and made a body out of wood. The heavy weight of the brass for Centerline is not needed to clean the track as the roller brush rolls freely in the center of the car. The center pit of my wooden version was lined with aluminum flashing and glued it in with epoxy. This area gets wet from the cleaning solution and that would attack the paint and wood of the body.
I used 1 inch diameter mini paint rollers for the cleaning brushes and cut them 1/8 inch of less than the width of the pit (the rollers were the only out of pocket money spent). Pit is 2 7/16 in wide, 2 7/16 in long and 1 5/8 in deep using a part of 1 in diameter paint roller 2 5/16 in long. I used a short piece of ½ inch pipe coupling as weight inside the cleaning brush.
Rubbing alcohol is normally used the cleaning solution. Two or three extra dry cleaning brushes are used after the alcohol saturated cleaning brush and run until the all the wet solution is removed from the track and the dry cleaning brushes show little of the dirty picked up cleaning solution.
The dirty cut off mini paint rollers can be washed in the home washing machine by placing them in a small nylon net bag used for washing small items.
Another Track Maintenance Car
A Tie-Jector Lionel 5511 car can be dispatched if ties must be replaced. This is a great running motorized car that really throws out the ties. Only gripe is forward only operation. Small stakes must be placed along the track to trigger the injection of the ties.
The picture below shows a slot behind the engineer. Later issues of the Tie-jector had this slot added as heat from the motor was melting the car housing section under the ties. I cut a slot in mine and added some aluminum foil, held up with clear silicone caulking, above the motor to shield the housing from heat.
Charlie
