Hi all,

As some of you know am building a smallish layout in the spare bedroom until the loft is fixed and work can continue.

Am going to remove some of the track from the loft as can't afford new stuff. Its not damaged or anything but wondered if worth cleaning first. Hadn't been ballasted.

I saw an american youtube thing where a bloke cleaned all his track, straight after purchase, with fairy liquid I think but can't find it.

Questions,

A. Good idea?

B. What to use?

and C. The track was stuck down in most places with double sided sticky tape which is OK to get up again but worried about damaging the joiners. Its mostly peco set track so should I hope for best or replace with the joiners you can buy?

Sorry if stupid question but never ripped the thing up before.

Thanks Weave

Hi again,

Just to say I know about cleaning the track tops when laid, I just thought is there a way of soaking them in something to start afresh.

Ta Weave

Quote from: weave on August 03, 2012, 10:15:21 AM
Am going to remove some of the track from the loft as can't afford new stuff.
There is nothing wrong with recycling everything you can, it is your hobby and you are not here to make manufacturers rich.

Its not damaged or anything but wondered if worth cleaning first. Hadn't been ballasted.
In my mind you should always clean your track, it will have your fingerprints all over it, dust and other airborne pollutants that you can't see.

I saw an american youtube thing where a bloke cleaned all his track, straight after purchase, with fairy liquid I think but can't find it.
I don't think I would want to use Fairy Liquid as it leaves a film on everything.
Questions,

A. Good idea? Yes

B. What to use? I use IPA (Isopropyl Alcohol) but it is not cheap and can be difficult to buy over the counter from some chemists.

and C. The track was stuck down in most places with double sided sticky tape which is OK to get up again but worried about damaging the joiners. Its mostly peco set track so should I hope for best or replace with the joiners you can buy?
Check the joiners for damage when you get the track up, it should be easy enough to see any damage.  Sods Law means you will need to replace some of the joiners, so having some spares lying about would not go wrong.

Sorry if stupid question but never ripped the thing up before.
There are no stupid questions on this forum 

These are my thoughts, other may and probably will give you different advice as we all have our own "best" way of doing things and what to use but I would hope what I have written will not be too far off the mark 

cheers John.

Quote from: weave on August 03, 2012, 10:23:45 AM
Hi again,

Just to say I know about cleaning the track tops when laid, I just thought is there a way of soaking them in something to start afresh.

Ta Weave

If you've ballasted it then soaking in warm water breaks down PVA so you can get the track back. Unballasted nothing should be needed unless its got mucky for other reasons in which case a bit of soap and water will do fine.

Be careful with washing up liquid though - many of those contain agents designed to cling in a very thin film to the surface of the plates to make them stay shiny looking. Thats a *disaster* for painting and other things !

IPA can also be bought from Maplin, RS Components and Farnell.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/isopropyl-alcohol-28994  is just one example, the nozzle and aerosol  makes it very useful for other things as well, I use it for CD/DVD,cassette recorder heads.
Also used in conjunction with a cotton bud(Pound shops) for cleaning rolling stock wheels.

Peco do packs of fishplates to allow you to replace any damaged ones, they are quite cheap and are sold in packs of either 12 or 24, can't remember which. About £1.50 is the going rate. They also do insulated (plastic) ones for about the same price.

Cheers

Mark

Common sense says it's worth a clean. If it's been a few years up there then it'll have accumulated some surface dirt and dust.

Even a simple dunk in water and a careful clean with an old tooth brush and mild detergent, you'd be surprised how much dirt comes off even a clean looking turnout - I've done this a few times when I've had a track problem that needed the turnout lifting, prior to reinstalling it. Track rubbers take off the dirt on the top surface, but not the inside edges of the rails so these can get dirty and I suspect more of the dirt comes from this.

All worth doing so you are starting a fresh with everything as clean as it can be.

Cheers,
Alan

Hi,

I use surgical spirit to clean track, available from store pharmacy departments. I moisten a piece of clean tissue and grip it in the tip of long nosed pliers and then gently rub along top and inner edges including around the active areas of points, switch rail and stock rail. Dont smoke it's highly flamable, as is IPA.

As for fishplates I only rely upon them for track/rail allignment. each individual length of rail is bonded back to the relevant supply point to keep track/load resistance as low as possible. A bit easier with flexable track as there are longer lengths of rail compared with set track.

Hope this helps

Frank