SteeleThis Posted February 13, 2023 Share Posted February 13, 2023 Hello and thank you in advance for any assistance. I am a first-time poster and a newcomer to this community and I am looking forward to any insights. Recently, I completed an indoor train track in my dining room, but I have encountered continuous problems with the track. Despite cleaning the track thoroughly and letting the train run, within a few hours, a thick layer of black buildup (as seen in the attached photo) accumulates on the track. As a result, the engine often has difficulty or stops operating after a few hours of use. I have done a fair amount of research and initially believed that the issue was due to my train cars having plastic wheels. However, after changing the wheels to stainless steel and cleaning the track, I am still facing the same problem. I am curious if anyone could shed some light on what might be causing this buildup and provide some advice on how to resolve this issue. My only theory is that the buildup may be caused by the engine's power pedals dragging on the track. While I don't mind cleaning the track, having to do so after a few hours of enjoyment seems unreasonable. I would be grateful for any advice or suggestions you may have. -James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayman4449 Posted February 13, 2023 Share Posted February 13, 2023 Hi there and welcome You have encountered what I suspect is the black carbon dust that I discovered is created when running track power trains on brass track. For my outdoor layout I run all Stainless steel track (with stainless steel Splitjaw direct rail clamps at all joints) and had run hundreds of hours without needing to clean track or having noticeable buildup on the wheels. Fast-forward to a trainshow I and another person setup in Georgia where I deployed large amounts of brass track and after 1 day of running I started noticing that at track joints where there were gaps between the rails I found piles of black carbon dust. (The buildup was happening because I had little scotchbright pads on one truck per train to clean the top of the rail just for good measure and the pads were catching the carbon and dropping it off in the cracks). After 2 full days of running, bring the trains home and run my first passenger train and all my passenger car lights were flickering. Take the first car off and all the wheels had black buildup on them that I had to clean off. Had to clean all the passenger car wheels. Had never seen that in all the years of running stainless. I have no idea how or why you get carbon dust when running brass rail but it is a thing. It may very well be what you indicated, oxidation (possibly from tiny sparks that you cant see). From what I know so far there is nothing you can do to eliminate it except for go with stainless steel track. Raymond Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Posted February 14, 2023 Share Posted February 14, 2023 I agree with Rayman and the micro-arcing and maybe binding with natural dust in the air. I remember years ago reading about some restaurant that had an overhead g scale train running around that used an open grid construction. They eventually had to enclose the bottom of it as black carbon dust was drifting down on the patrons etc. I've had large buildups of carbon in track joints and switch frogs also when using brass track. Piko makes a small track cleaning engine which is nothing more than what Rayman made. That is small pieces of a scotchbrite pad mounted on a car truck gliding along the railhead. The o gauge 3-rail world has the same problem esp. when using tinplated steel track. Turn the lights out and those things spark like crazy! I used to run trains over a piece of paper towel lying across the track slightly dampened with naptha to get the black crud off the wheels. I think that o gauge using ac power seems to exuberate the problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Posted February 14, 2023 Share Posted February 14, 2023 Interesting thread.. I would say run a track cleaning car in you setup once in a while... Lets see the only cleaners that are offered are the LGB track loco and the other machine mentioned. The fallen flags of this group is 1st :the Track man 2000 (great cleaner), 2nd would be Aristos track cleaning caboose Are there any being I missed . ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteeleThis Posted February 15, 2023 Author Share Posted February 15, 2023 Thank you all for the quick replies. It is a relatively small space, so I don't think it is too late to switch track types to stainless steel and I'm sure I can sell the brass track on ebay. My final question: Does anyone have an opinion or recommendation on stainless steel track brand or where to purchase? Thank you. James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rayman4449 Posted February 15, 2023 Share Posted February 15, 2023 https://hrtrains.com/ in Florida used to be a place you could reliably get Stainless steel G scale track. I think they still have it. Overall it is getting harder to find. There may be options like the nickel plated brass track but I have no experience with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Posted February 15, 2023 Share Posted February 15, 2023 Maybe Train-li 's nickel plated brass track https://www.trainli.com/track-c-92 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteeleThis Posted February 15, 2023 Author Share Posted February 15, 2023 Thank you all for the responses. I'll post an update after I save up for some track modifications. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry B44 Posted February 15, 2023 Share Posted February 15, 2023 SVRR carries it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Posted February 15, 2023 Share Posted February 15, 2023 51 minutes ago, Jerry B44 said: SVRR carries it. https://www.sunsetvalleyrailroad.com/home.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Posted February 16, 2023 Share Posted February 16, 2023 On 2/14/2023 at 9:20 AM, Sean said: Interesting thread.. I would say run a track cleaning car in you setup once in a while... Lets see the only cleaners that are offered are the LGB track loco and the other machine mentioned. The fallen flags of this group is 1st :the Track man 2000 (great cleaner), 2nd would be Aristos track cleaning caboose Are there any being I missed . ? Haha!! The blower train...that is awesome! You pretty much have it all covered! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Posted February 16, 2023 Share Posted February 16, 2023 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yardtrain Posted February 18, 2023 Share Posted February 18, 2023 SplitJaw just purchased H&R trains stainless steel track. Website is Railclamp.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Posted February 18, 2023 Share Posted February 18, 2023 That is great news! And they cut the rail sections down from 10' long truck only freight to 5' UPS able shipping. I always wondered why H&R never did that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.png.a4fb2273837361b3bbaa7a1d8a4c8996.png){kind=logo}
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.