That might work but it is not necessary in my opinion. Now that I have done the setup I won´t need to touch the height adjustment anymore.

@@summitrailway That is true, you deffo did an amazing job!

If I would make one of these I think I would use a splined shaft and free floating sandingpad. That way you can be a lot more precise with the backpressure of your sanding medium. you can hear the motor bog down a couple times while moving over switches or with grade changes. The floating splined setup should eliminate that and make sure that everything gets an even treatment. But that is for another time ofcourse this should help you with 95% of the track!

Thank´s for all your information. At my job we do have the black scotch bright, I will bring some home and try it out.

Interesting idea, this might work even better. But to be honest I like the simplicity of the system and it works at least good enough for me. There will always be some manual labour around the switches to get them spot on but for cleaning the bulk milage of the layout it works perfectely.

@@summitrailway Totally understandable, I didn't mean it should be done in order for the method to work. Just sharing some thoughts :) the real/big railways also use seperate machinery around switches. Those LORAM grinders would destroy switches and other equipment

I know a few guys with long term experience. One of them recommeded to use the scotch bright steel wool which I will do. You have seen the test yourself, it works the best but is not to agressive with the brass track.

Thank you, it is still work in progress so you might be interestet in checking out the next viedos. Right now I am working on light´s, buildings, signals and so on...

Thank´s for your help! I will look it up and maybe try some different grits in the future. I have a lot to learn about this cleaning wagon since this was just the first try to use it.

@@summitrailway Pretty dang good for a first time!

Thank´s, I am glad you´re enjoying it!

Oh for sure! It will save me so much time and effort. That results in more time running my trains!

I am glad you like the wagon, it is a hughe help around the layout!

Thank´s for your advice, I will look into that. Glad you´re enjoying my videos!

Thank you!

Good pointers, thank you! Track cleaning on a garden railroad is mandatory and very time consuming. You can do it by hand but is is far from easy and enjoyable since you have to clean several hundred meters of track once the layout ins finished. On top of that is the danger of damaging lights, signals and buildings whilst stepping around in your layout. A lot of those problems are solved by using such a track cleaning wagon or the LGB track cleaning locomotive. The hight adjustment seems fiddly at first but once you have the hight adjusted there is no need to change it anymore. I´d much rather have a simple and robust solution like this than a complex hight adjustment of the whole motor assembly. Your pointer about the localised wear is defenetely true. Thats another reason why I dont like to run the scrubbing pad. It really tears into the track if you are not moving. If you are using the scotch-brite or the polishing pad this is not an issue. You might see a spot where it is better cleaned than the rest of the track but it doesn´t damage the track unless you are running it a extended periond of time in one spot.

Thank´s! Currently I am spending a lot of my spare time to build the layout. There is not much time left to run some trains but I promise those times will come and you will get to see many trains on my layout! I don´t have a track plan, especially not of any area that has to be build yet. If you know the sation area and the goods area you know the whole layout up to this point in time. I know where my tracks will end in the future but I don´t know how I am going to get there. I can tell you for sure that there will be a second station and some track in between.

To use a spiring you would have to re design the whole driving assembly but it would be possible. I am fine with the washer solution. Once it is adjusted I don´t need to fiddle wiht it anymore.

Exakt, das system funktioniert super. Einfach und effektiv! Vor allem fährt man nicht ständing mit der Lok auf stromlose stellen die widerum die Reinigung unterbrechen wie es bei der LGB Reinigungslok der Fall ist. Der Langzeittest steht noch aus aber bis jetzt bin ich sehr überzeugt von dem Wagen.

I do konw of the fear to scratch the track surface. I never had any problem using scotch bright or some track cleaning sponge personally...

It helps for sure. I do have a friend who replaces all of his plastic wheels for metal ones because of that reason. It also gives you weight at a low center of gravity which improves the run characteristics of the wagon and it sounds much better when rolling on the layout. Right now I don´t have the money to change all of my plastic wheels but I try to run as much metal wheels as possible.

Combining the cleaning with the "play" is not a good idea. You need to run the cleaning wagon slowly along the track to ensure a good cleaning. You can simulate a constrction train during your normal train operation and run it then. For me it will always be one loco and the cleaning wagon, thats the most efficient way to do it.

Thank you Anita. I will try to make a layout tour at least until the end of this year. Right now it is difficult because of time reasons, I want to stay focused on the layout build as long as the weather permits. Unfortunately I am gone nearly all week because of my day job...

Very helpful for sure!

This is beyond my measurement skills. Out of experience I can tell you that the oxidization is not the main porblem, it´s dust, dirt and other stuff ontop of the tracks which makes you lose the track power. If the oxidized track is clean of all this stuff you can run your trains no problem but I have to admit it looks just way better if it´s polished up.

@@summitrailway Thanks for the reply. You can use the ohms setting on your multi-meter . connect one end to the rail feed, then connect the other end to the (same rail) to the clean area and read then that same end to the dirty area. there should be a difference. Higher ohms is more resistance (oxidized ). Be sure that you don't get connected between two hot rails , you could damage your meter or blow the fuse in the meter

If you change the design of the drive assemly this would be a possible solution. But the washer system is not an issue once it´s adjusted since you don´t need to touch it anymore.

If you have the abilitys and tools you can build such a unit yourself. The parts should be available pretty easy. Good luck with you build!

You can buy the cleaning unit here: www.der-gartenbahner.de/polier-schleifwagen The price varies according to the optional equipment you choose.

Der Wagen ist gekauft, du findest ihn hier ... www.der-gartenbahner.de/polier-schleifwagen

Good to know, thank´s for your tip!

Not really, you have to understand that the cleaning device is manufactured by "der gartenbahner". You can find them right here... www.der-gartenbahner.de/polier-schleifwagen

Thank´s!

The setup is just once, now that I have done it I can simply set it on the track and use it. The wagon is cheaper than the LGB cleaning loco, does a better job of cleaning and has no power issues due to the battery inside. When cleaning uphill the LGB loco tends to stop or lose traction. With the wagon I can choose an appropriate loco to push it uphill. Thats my take on the advantages of the cleaning wagon.

I think he bought it: It looks like a der-gartenbahner product

You can buy this cleaning set up here: www.der-gartenbahner.de/polier-schleifwagen

That´s right, your spot on!

The wagon itself is form Piko. The Cleaning device is retrofitted.

@@summitrailway I was asking about the red and white engine.

Das ist auch eine Variante die zum teil funktionieren könnte. Ich persönlich habe mit der Stahlwolle meinen Vavoriten gefunden, das funktioniert super!

Does the Scotch wool pad leave tiny bits of wool around the track? If so will those tiny bits get into your motors on the locamotives.

I do not own one single battery powered loco, they are all powered by the track. So it not only does make sense to clean the tracks, it is mandatory to be able to run the trains. It will slowly remove some of the track metal but so does the LGB track cleaning locomotive. My friends use the LGB loco extensively for the past 10 years on the same track and haven´t had a problem with track wear yet.

Yes it does leave some tiny resedue behind. The loco gear box and motor are usually enclosed pretty good so it won´t be a problem. Otherwise you would have problems all the time with dirt, sand, stone and all the other debry around the garden layout.