Selector
Well-Known Member
I don't see a choice on which I can vote, so I'll just respond here.
I use metal tires and I don't clean. If I find a spot where pickup seems to have fallen off, I use 600 grit paper and gently wipe the rail top.
Recently, just out of curiousity, I placed several dabs of Dextron III Mercon automatic transmission fluid here and there along my rail system and ran trains. It did no harm, but I can't say it actually solved any problems because I don't tend to have them to begin with.
I will admit to two trouble areas on my main, but those are always attributable to two bad solders between rail ends. I finally embedded a thin short filament of wire between the rails inside the blob of solder, and that seems to have solved the problem of the rails moving and breaking the solder blob. But, once again, dirty rails don't seem to ever affect my rail system. I can go for weeks and weeks between moving a single item of rolling stock, and my system works.
I use metal tires and I don't clean. If I find a spot where pickup seems to have fallen off, I use 600 grit paper and gently wipe the rail top.
Recently, just out of curiousity, I placed several dabs of Dextron III Mercon automatic transmission fluid here and there along my rail system and ran trains. It did no harm, but I can't say it actually solved any problems because I don't tend to have them to begin with.
I will admit to two trouble areas on my main, but those are always attributable to two bad solders between rail ends. I finally embedded a thin short filament of wire between the rails inside the blob of solder, and that seems to have solved the problem of the rails moving and breaking the solder blob. But, once again, dirty rails don't seem to ever affect my rail system. I can go for weeks and weeks between moving a single item of rolling stock, and my system works.