track cleaners and tracks

[CAMPBELL LYNN]

What are the best track cleaners from Bachmann/Willams for HO.  Also, what is the difference in the black and gray track, is one better than the other?  Thanks

[Doneldon]

Camp-

The easiest and most available track cleaner is the "Brite (sic) Boy" which you can find at any hobby shop or on line. A decent alternative is a course cloth, like terry, with alcohol or electric razor cleaner.

Every model rail has his/her own favorite, or maybe least hated way to clean track. That's because, at its best, cleaning track isn't a fun job. And not only isn't it a fun job; it also takes us away from running our trains. But the simple fact is that rails get dirty under even the best of conditions, and we all have to clean our rails from time to time.

A few ways to spread this chore out include using only metal wheels on our rolling stock and never using an abrasive cleaner. So ... no sand paper, no abrasive powders and under no circumstances, no steel wool. The last does more than damage rails; it also leaves little steel fragments which are attracted by the magnets in our locos and will damage them, too.

There are electrostatic rail cleaners but people seem to have mixed results with them. One old and effective thing to do is to rig a car, perhaps a box car, with a weighted pad which rides the rails under the car. There are manufactured versions of this or you can just make such a car yourself with a masonite rectangle for the slider.

Carefully cleaned, polished and lightly lubricated (razor oil, like Wahl's again) track will stay clean longer. Metal wheels will help. Do these
things and your track cleaning will be kept to a minimum. Drag a masonite pad around and track cleaning should be no more than occasional nuisance.

                                                     --D