Wiper on tank car

[ejseider]

My son gave me a couple of cars for my HO set for Christmas.  One of them is a tanker with a pad between the trucks that rubs along the rails.  What is this pad for?

[OldTimer]

Can't be totally sure without a picture, but I'm about 99% sure it would be a track cleaner.  The way those usually work is that cleaning fluid drips from the tank onto the pad and as the pad rubs over the rails, it picks up dirt.  I suspect you'll find it is not real effective.
OldTimer

[ebtbob]

Hunt,

      Your are correct about this being a Bachmann track cleaning tankcar and that it is a dry system.   If you look closely,  you see that the pad is connected to the trucks.   When the trucks pivot on a curve,  the pad pivots with them.

[richg]

If there are no instructions with the car, the link below will give you a lot of info.

http://www.google.com/search?q=ho+tank+car+cleaner&hl=en

Rich

[jbsmith]

I have one of these Bachmann track cleaneing cars and it does do a good basic job keeping the track clean.
When the pad gets dirty you can remove the pad and put it a dishwasher to clean it. Use the silverware basket.
Just run the washer with a load of dishes. wait for it dry then reinstall on the car.

The pins that hold the pad to the trucks are small,,when removing the pins i Highly Suggest that you place a white
towel on your lap,,if you drop the pin,,the pin will most likely land on the towel instead of vanishing on the floor or even worse, the carpet if you have one.
If fact the towel on your lap trick works great whenever you work with any small parts.