I would sand the dirt off the balsa wood pad and only change it when it got too thin. Thank you for your time and effort doing these videos.

Hi Julian. A a great idea ,i did something very similar but i used a piece of corduroy material with the ribs running across the track width, a couple of drops on isopropyl and it works well . Keep up the good work

Excellent video. I made mine using 1/8" masonite/hardboard and used the rough side for cleaning. If needed, it can be renewed with just a couple swipes on sandpaper. Instead of robbing wifey's knitting needles I had good luck with 8D roofing nails with the heads bonding onto the cleaning pad with 2 part epoxy. You only need approx. 1/8"+ holes thru the chassis for the nails to slide thru. It also helps if you choose a gondola, box or flat car since the underside typically needs no modification. Just use a quality car with chassis mounted couplers and decent weight. Just some ideas that may help others make their own. (it's well worth the effort and my tracks look like new without using chemicals or abrasives)

Thanks for sharing Julian. When I was watching you gluing, I knew those glues were going to be marginal in strength or worthless. My choice for styrene, ABS and other thermoplastics is an epoxy made for plastics. It does a bang-up job. Some of my joints will cause the parts to tear apart rather than the joint. J.B. Weld Plastic Bonder is my go to when joining 3D printed plastic ABS parts.

Cheers for this, Julian. You've got a lovely set up there, and that project has worked really well. Look forward to seeing this channel and layout grow. All the best, Thom.

What great idea, much cheaper than buying a ready made one.I have maybe an idea to improve the pressure on the rails is to add two springs to the knitting needles before gluing to the board or if you want some strength, put the needles inside the bolts equal distance apart and then the springs can move up and down the needle length and therefore applying equal pressure on the pad surface.Your layout looks like a lot of enjoyment to be had running your trains around it, great work .

Hi Julian - Slowly catching up on your channel, brilliant series mate. I saw the other video where the balsa wood cleaner was used on that huge layout, the proof is in the pudding so to speak and it was definitely taking the muck off that track. I was worrying about any damage but the layout looked just fine. Now having watched your video, wow the crud that it lifted off was unbelievable. Mine is N Gauge and the only issue I would have is replacing the balsa pad, so I will one build a small plastic tray with the lip slightly less than the balsa pad, so all I have to do is lay the balsa on the track and fit the carriage with the tray over it. Hopefully it would stay in place and be so easy to replace. That's if you have not done that already in the videos I have yet to watch. Looking forward to catching up. Regards Chris

INCHES FOREVER......... By far the most sensible form of measurement............ The land that brought railways to the world did it in yards,feet and inches........and in miles, furlongs and chains too.. James Hennighan Yorkshire, England

Great project Nicely done, great results from it

Thank you very much.I have been thinking of getting a cleaner car, but they are expensive, even for N scale. Now I have an alternative way of cleaning inside my tunnels and around my railroad.

Great how to Julian!!! Thanks for sharing. Cheers Onno.

I am impressed by the amount of grime in such a very short time ,I might convert on my many Lima tank wagons, thankyou great video

Such a fantastic idea i may have a go making my own thanks for sharing best regards Marko.

Great idea.

simple wood under a car rolling along during your play time. works great to clean every part of your track work, including the hard to reach spots.

Amazing idea. Thank you for sharing.

That's genius, I love it :-)

another great video, thankyou

Thanks for sharing!

Middleton Railway? There is something called that 25min ls down the road from me near Ekatahuna? And the nice man that runs it is called Colin too...

very clever

Talking of super glue,my wife bought E6000 glue from Spotlight NZ,it’s brilliant.Well worth a try.

Hi Julian, the best glue for styrene is Tamiya extra thin, slightly melts the plastic similar to mek-pak. However the knitting needles are abs plastic (very hard) not styrene, here in bunnings I buy a super glue with a special pen that primes the plastic first. This will even glue vinyl plastic. Cheers great idea may do one on an SR cct van.

I would of tried to find ad old scratched wagon instead of using that nice looking Tank wagon from Lima Nice video. Thanks.

Hi mate I have just finish conventional a lima bogie tanker into a track cleaning wagon in the same way you did with your lima wagon I could not get the same tanker wagon that you got it is not the 102t tanker wagon it is the shorter total tanker wagon in red livery and it works reaily well on my layout I am to build another one when I can get one. thanks for that mate clive

I would think that if you sanded the plastic before gluing, it would stick better or use two part epoxy glue for more strength(?) Great tutorial, look forward to more vids.

ANOTHER OPTION FOR THE PAD Draught Excluder Tape.. Easy to fit and change. Self Adhesive. Cheap to buy. Jmes Hennighan Yorkshire, England

Hi Julian, just stumbled across this video and found it very interesting, Just two questions....First, are you still using this cleaning wagon and Second, How do you clean the gunk off the cleaning pad, otherwise there is the risk of it being transferred back onto the track when it gets really dirty. Cheers Greg from "across the ditch"....Gold Coast, Queensland.

Hi I think this is a fab idea. I've only seen a couple of your videos so far, so I need to play catch up. I hope you don't mind me asking, but where did you purchase your cutting board, or is it one of your own ideas please?

Bob Smith Industries CA glue is my favorite, just have to be careful if you touch it your stuck, add baking soda and itl never come undone

Hi Julian. Nice video. Just to be a Clever Dick, would it not be better for the loco to PUSH the cleaning wagon? This would mean the loco is always running on clean rails! I also like the idea of using Velcro to attach the cleaning pads. Velcro can be bought as separate reels of hooks and eyes.

Thanks for the video! Just thinking: wouldn't it be an idea to replace the knitting sticks by bolts in the same diameter, with the bolt heads glued to the styrene? By doing this You will get more weight to the cleaning pad, You can adjust the weight by adding nuts or washers to the bolt and most important You can disassemble the unit for easier maintenence.

Hi Julian - After a good while are you still using your home built track cleaner and does it work after all this time? Regards Chris

Hi mate I have got the 4 old tri-ang track cleaning wagons and 2 of the new gaugemaster/pola track cleaning wagons they work really well but I think I will have a go in converting the lima tank wagon I have a really large layout clive

I would like to see a video of how "easy" it is to change the pad..

Great idea. I would imagine the styrene glues did not work is the knitting needles are not styrene. Styrene glues are designed to melt the plastic so they 'weld' together. Personally I would not trust super glue in that situation but that is just me.

Just one suggestion, instead of using nuts for weight why not use self adhesive wheel balancing weights for Alloy wheels. They are very sticky, once on they won't come off,

0.1 inches is equal to 2.54 millimeters.

So bare balsa wood cleans your track?????!