Does anyone remember a product sold as, I think, "Toy Train Clean" or similar name. It was in a translucent bottle and the cleaner itself was pink in color. It worked quite well on old Lionel and AF trains that had seen better days, although you still need to be careful about how hard you scrubbed and you have to avoid any decals. I believe it may have contained a bit of bleach.
I'm trying to find it again but the person who sold it may have gone out of business.
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What about JT's "b-Gone"? It's intended to clean up smoke fluid spills, drips, and spits. I have found through my experience, that "b-Gone" has never affected paint on one of my engines, rolling stock, or radio controlled AFV that uses smoke fluid. Perhaps it would work for for more general clean-up. I always bought the little spray bottles, but I see now that at least one retailer has a larger bottle: https://mrmuffinstrains.com/co...-b-gone-cleaner-8-oz
I use diluted dishwashing detergent and a soft toothbrush, a soft cloth on decaled and painted lettering/stipe areas, and dry with another soft polishing cloth. Don't soak anything with decals.
I finish with a spray of "low gloss" Armor All", and, again, dry with a soft polishing cloth.
Bleach as an ingredient? I'd stay away.
I've been using Sprayway carefully. It is a glass cleaner with no ammonia. It was recommended by the guys that installed our shower glass. I've never used it on any decals though. I spray a bit on a Qtip and wipe gently. I've never seen any paint residue on the Qtip afterward, only dirt (in fact that was on an area that I thought was clean!).
Like @Lionelski, I use Dawn diluted with distilled water on areas near the decals.
For both, I always wipe any residue off with a clean, soft cloth. I like tea towels, but my wife has started to notice that they're disappearing.
I currently use Dawn detergent as it is pretty gentle. However, it doesn't seem to remove deep seated stains. The pink cleaner I mentioned at the start was good at doing this, I suspect because it had a bit of bleach (very low level) in it. I'll have to try something with a little oxy clean in it. That might also work but I just thought about it and haven't tried it yet. Time to pull something ugly and dirty out of the junk box and try it since no one seems to remember the pink cleaner that I used to use.
I also might try the Sprayaway as I do have that for cleaning glass.
Lionel flyer, I was given 2 bottles of cleaner for trains & it is pink in color ,go to my profile & scroll down to train cleaner it's just a short way down & click on that ,in that post is a picture of the 2 bottles that were given to me by my brother in law & see if that's what you are looking for ,i don't know how to post a link to my post so just take a look & see if it is what you are looking for .You can contact me through my e-mail .
Well @lionelflyer, might the Antique Train & Toy Cleaner (to which Gerald M referred) be the stuff you were thinking of?
Hi Gerald,
Yes, I'm pretty sure that is it if it is pink in color. I searched for the Hampton Hobby Products but nothing comes up, same for Antique Toy & Train Cleaner. Is there anything on the label that might indicate the materials used to make it? I doubt there is any information but thought I'd ask.
Unfortunately, I don't have any left and if I did, I don't have the instrumentation to identify the materials. Does anyone have access to an HPLC to identify the surfactants used?
Lionelflyer ,It only tell's you what you can clean with it ,there is no listing of what it is made with ,if you want the 2 bottles i have just pay the shipping & i will send it to you it didn't cost me anything so i don't want anything for it ,& besides i don't clean my rolling stock other than a quick wipe down to get the dust off ,my e- mail is in my profile .
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