High Frequency track cleaners unsuitable for Dapol locos.

[Elvinley]

Thanks for the info. I may try running the railway without it for a while. The problem I have is difficult access to some areas.

[Newportnobby]

Not applicable to Dapol as I didn't have any of their locos at the time, but I approached Gaugemaster in 2010 regarding Farish locos as I too was concerned. Their response:-

Mick

As far as we are aware there is no issues between HF cleaners and N gauge unless a DCC decoder has been fitted. If however Farish have advised you not to use this type of device then maybe something is different on their more modern units. In this case you would have to go with the loco manufacturer.

Greg Spears
Technical Department

[EtchedPixels]

I use one with German Z scale (where it's actually really helpful). Thats DC locos, chunky electronics and seems to be happy. I agree it doesn't clean the track, so it's no substitute for actually cleaning. It'll keep stuff going over some dirt, and burn other dirt - leaving residue. With regular cleaning as well I've not seen any damage although I'm sure if you ran it dirty you'd burn on the dirt and worse.

It's a 1970's concept - model loco electronics has changed somewhat since then.

[Newportnobby]

Thanks for the info. I may try running the railway without it for a while. The problem I have is difficult access to some areas.

I promise when the Woodland Scenics Tidy Track range lands I will be buying the necessary items and will do a review if no one else beats me to it. It may solve your accessibility problem, Ian

[Elvinley]

Thanks for the info. I may try running the railway without it for a while. The problem I have is difficult access to some areas.

I promise when the Woodland Scenics Tidy Track range lands I will be buying the necessary items and will do a review if no one else beats me to it. It may solve your accessibility problem, Ian

I haven't heard of that - what is it?

[point blank]

I haven't heard of that - what is it?

See this thread for more info http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=3581.0 

[silly moo]

I do think that Dapol should publicise this new information quite prominently on their website and put the word out to their dealers.

I'm quite sure some people plonk their new locos on the track for a test run and then read the instructions or maybe it's a case of - if all else fails read the instructions!

Regards

Veronica

[K-N-Gauge]

Hello all
I use to run a gaugemasters twin track cleaner, when dapol relised the 14xx I had it running on my track and it would run very rough and would jerk constantly, when I removed the cleaner it ran smoothly and perfectly! That was back in 2004 I think so they do affect the locomotives even back then, so with the even newer stuff I would defantly not run one!

[Jerry Howlett]

- if all else fails read the instructions!

Regards

Veronica

Its a "MAN THING" 

[davidjhope]

Hi all,
I bought a couple of second hand Dapol 66's last year and have only recently got my layout all wired up. They both ran very noisey and quite a lot of small sparks. I put this down to being second hand and a combination of dirty track and wheels. I cleaned everything but the problem stayed so I have just excepted this. After reading about the relco units I have just unwired it and the problem seems to have got much better. Hopefully I havn't damaged them.
Thanks guys

[DarrwestLU6]

 
I'm new to the Forum and was reading the discussion about HF2 cleaners, as I just bought some on e-bay. Perhaps I only use them with old Minitrix locos and wire in a bypass switch. Some of the older Minitrix sometimes stall on points. I can have them "Off" with my newer Grafar locos on track. Or should I not bother at all and send them back?

[Bealman]

This is an old thread, and HF cleaners are generally frowned upon these days.

I would not recommend their use on any N gauge model railway.

An antique quick fix which didn't fix anything at all. 

[ntpntpntp]

I do wish people wouldn't call these things "track cleaners" - they are not. They create an HF arc which bridges tiny gaps allowing the DC current to flow. The do nothing to clean the track, at most they might burn through specs of dirt.

They kind of worked back in the 70s and 80s with older design models (no electronics) as long as your layout was quite simple. As soon as you have a lot of track joints and/or a spaghetti of wiring on your layout the effectiveness was greatly reduced.

There's no substitute for maintaining clean track ** and wheels including rolling stock not just locos**

[Dr Al]

I'm new to the Forum and was reading the discussion about HF2 cleaners, as I just bought some on e-bay. Perhaps I only use them with old Minitrix locos and wire in a bypass switch. Some of the older Minitrix sometimes stall on points. I can have them "Off" with my newer Grafar locos on track. Or should I not bother at all and send them back?

It's risky - it only takes one time for you to forget to switch them off and you'll risk frying something (at considerable repair cost).

As Nick says, they don't clean the track - I used them in OO briefly in 1996, and they did aid running, but the track ended up so filthy that a deep clean of it all soon became necessary anyway, so I was undewhelmed.

Worse - arcing created between wheel and track will ultimately only pit the wheels and track surface with micro-damage that will be more prone to picking up dirt in the long term.

Bear in mind that most modern N have a lot of pickup wheels, and even older Minitrix shouldn't really need this if basic cleaning maintenance is maintained.

Cheers,
Alan

[DarrwestLU6]

All sage advice folks, which I will heed, so I think I will return them to the seller! I've only lost out on the postage costs but that's cheaper than a new loco, so thank you!