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track cleaning car?


enginear joe
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 I've seen a lot of homemade cars for removing snow. I'm already running into big problems with all the neighbor's maple trees throwing tons of their seeds all over my track. I cleaned it while I was laying it down and it's all full of those whirly bird seeds the next day!

 I'm wondering if any of those snowblower cars could get rid of those seeds off my rails??

 Doesn't LGB make a car with backwards spinning brushes?

What do U guys do for track maintenance?

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Hmmm fortunately i dont have that kind of issue but would probably forsee myself just using a leaf blowed for that! If you wanted to use a special car I would think would need to develop something custom just for that with a pretty high speed amd powerful fan. Im sure you could and would probably use a high end 120mm fan or something. They make some crazy strong fans of that size.

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 I think I see a couple versions of that jet engine car here in the Niagara Falls CSX yard. Maybe I could borrow it???

I got a feeling it would blow away everything!!

I simply put a sponge with the scotchbrite side towards the track under my MTH coal hoppers. I push them around a couple times and they clean the track. They don't do anything with these seeds!! They will derail a train.

 I'm have to either blow them off the track with a custom car or vacuum them up??

When the ballast glues itself down I probably could use my leaf blower.

I got spoiled in the basement!!!

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I guess it would burn everything to cinders, yes  :D

 

Do you think you could reverse the airflow on one of those battery-powered handheld vacuum cleaners and mount it on a flatbed car like the jet engine above. Same method, but slightly more benign.

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 I've seen a lot of homemade cars for removing snow. I'm already running into big problems with all the neighbor's maple trees throwing tons of their seeds all over my track. I cleaned it while I was laying it down and it's all full of those whirly bird seeds the next day!

 I'm wondering if any of those snowblower cars could get rid of those seeds off my rails??

 Doesn't LGB make a car with backwards spinning brushes?

What do U guys do for track maintenance?

enginear joe

Here are some spinning brushes.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/261481633101?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

Tom

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The rail broom was the one I was going to recommend if no one mentioned it. Not sure if it is still available as just a motor frame and brush.   Mine is battery operated, since I run mostly LS.  I built it into an old Aristo track cleaning car with a hood over the brush.   I made it when I had a ground layout.   Got to stop every now and then to make sure the debris isn't winding around the shaft,  will stop the motor.  

   I adjusted the brush where it will also clean between the rails.          post-9-0-52910200-1401787909_thumb.jpg

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Nick, how good does that work for U? Looks great!

I wanted to get a Dyson vacuum the other day. It came with a free mini vac. I was hoping to sneak that outside on a flat car and see if it would work? It would probably not work out and she wouldn't pay that much for a vacuum. Rats!

I really like the idea of that blower in the video. How cool would that be if it could be pointed by the remote!

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Joe, it works just fine.   I usually use a Shay to push it around as the reverse motion of the brush has a tendency to push back on the locomotive  and I don't know if my rod locos can over come that.   Now that the brushes are lower than the rail it also cleans between the rails.   Doesn't take much, only one time around,  just got to be careful if any stuff wraps around the shaft,  my batteries aren't that powerful to just grind it up.  I only use it maybe twice a year.  

    I know, the stripes are not equal,  looked good when I did it,   LOL    LOL    

BTW, the curved area over the brush is nothing more than a cardboard tube that gift wrapping come in.  I gave it several coats of clear laquer to harden it, and DO DA.  

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Jim, your layout is just beautiful, and those bridge/trestles have me drooling, wish I could build things like that.

    Your endorsement  of the rail broom is much better than mine,  I believe yours is track powered so there fore more powerful than the one I have converted to battery.  Looks like you also used an Aristo track cleaning car, did you also leave the pads on the bottom to further clean the rails???   Great Accomplishment, and thank you for sharing. 

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My railbroom is powered by 8 AA rechargeable batteries. Put batteries to opposite end of car from brush to get good balance. The key to get the railbroom to operate good is the elevation above the track so there is not a lot of drag on brush but still low enough to clean top of ties.

I do have the cleaning pad on the Aristo car and sometimes pull an additional Aristo cleaning. Brush will not remove tree sap and cherry juice so pads are required.

 

.......................Jim

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What I did was cut a grove in the brush where it would have contacted the rail so the actual brush was just at rail height and the rest of the brush was below the rail in the center and just outside the rail.   But then again I didn't have to clean the rail since I don't use rail power on the outer oval.  

      My SS rail on the inner oval seems to never need cleaning.  I just run the LGB Forney around once and everything is OK, year after year.   I AM VERY LUCKY.      

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Nick, need to come clean on the bridges, the most work I have done was pop rivet kits together and paint. The bridges come from 3 sources and first two are out of business. Hope they reopen when economy picks up.

 

http://www.gardenmetalmodels.com/

 

http://www.lynellmodelsupply.com/index.html

 

http://mainlinebridges.com/

 

................Jim

 

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  • 2 years later...
 
 
 
 

I'll bet anything that that ballast is glued in place like the HO guys do.  Otherwise the vacuum would suck it up.  I can't read the German text, so it might explain that glued ballast is necessary with this vacuum car.

 

I LOVE the glued ballast on my garden railway.  I also use a lot of natural rocks, pebbles, stones, sand and dirt in my landscaping.  I glue all that too. I never have detrailments because of gravel or rocks near the rails.  I can clean the roadbed, paths and landscaping of my entire railroad in about ten minutes with a leaf blower.  It blows off all the leaves, dead flowers, wind blown trash, etc. using a leaf blower.  And the ballast always looks perfect and in place.  You could NEVER use a leaf blower with unglued ballast!  It's one of the best things I ever did to my garden railroad.  I used small  (about 1/8 in diameter) black aquarium gravel for ballast.  It looks much more prototypical than the 3/8" gravel everybody in our club uses.

 

I make my glue solution using one part Titebond III + two parts water + one drop dish soap (well shaken!)  I gently but thoroughly wet the rocks with a spray nozzle attached to a garden hose at low pressure before I apply the glue solution.  This aids glue penetration.  I use an old glue bottle to apply it. (don't let it wet the moving parts of your switches.)  Let dry without touching for 24 hours.

 

I have rocks that have stayed glued now for five years!  One big extra bonus is the mice and chipmunks can't dig holes in anything that has been glued.  I leave a small unglued area around plants so that I can water them.  The glue slows down soil water evaporation too which helps the plants.  Try it!!!

 

I can also use my shop vac to vacuum out debris that the leaf blower doesn't get from switches and crossings.

 

The Titebond III solution is great for making natural looking crossings out of sand too.

 

Here are some photos:

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jlcarmichael/

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Why not try a EDF electric  ducted  fan with a brushless  motor  say a 70mm one from hobbyking  heaps  of  thrust but would  need  a separate  4 cell lipo battery  and speed controler you could  build  your  own  jet blower car for around 100 bucks

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