My Review of the Bachmann CN Track Cleaner/Impact Car.


Smudge617

Smudge617

Well-Known Member
I've wanted a decent track cleaner and after seeing this on the forum decided this was a bit different from the usual boxcar or tank car type cleaners available.

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It's nicely detailed and overall I was quite happy with how it looked, both the doors work, but would it work on the 60/40 layout seeing as my track laying is not the best and I have that split between the two which usually causes issues with some cars, happily, this one didn't.

The mechanism is relative simple, no spring, just a weight to keep it firmly on the track connected to the two trucks by a couple of clips.

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You can remove the pad by unclipping it, handy if you simply want to run the car without cleaning your track.

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The pad is easily removed by sliding it out the weight, so replacing it is very easy, especilly if you want to use the wet and dry method, although I have no idea if the pads would react with something like IPA.

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But probably easier to do this without removing the weight from the car, the clips don't look particularly sturdy, so could easily be broken I think.

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Downside.

The replacement pads aren't cheap, with postage it's cost me £23 for two, but if your track doesn't get dirty quickly, one pad should last you a while.

So far, I can't find replacement parts for the cleaning weight, no clips or any other part of the mechanism, but I'll keep looking.

Although it represents a Impact car the interior is just printed card. (But I'm sure some members will have various items that could well be used instead).

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All in all I'll rate this as a 8/10.
 
Thanx Smudge, nice review!
I have a couple of the Bachmann tank car cleaners on my Loram grinding train, they use abrasive pads tho I like yours better. I think the clips are the same tho, they help the pads on the track on curves.
Neat car!
 
Rico said:
Thanx Smudge, nice review!
I have a couple of the Bachmann tank car cleaners on my Loram grinding train, they use abrasive pads tho I like yours better. I think the clips are the same tho, they help the pads on the track on curves.
Neat car!
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Yes, it's a good idea to have them connected to both trucks, if not, you would have to have a much wider pad to compensate for the curvature of the track..
 
I have a Bachmann boxcar with the scrub pad, but not with the guiding retainer arms shown. I don't use it for 'cleaning' the tracks so much as a pusher 'sweeper' ahead of the locomotive towing my CMX track cleaner that is actually a 'cleaner'. My track room is quite dust free, but if I haven't used the rail system in a few months, which happens seasonally, I use the Bachmann car ahead of the locomotive to scrub dust or other removable accumulations. The CMX car then has at least 'bared' metal to let the kerosene or mineral spirits do their things. This process works very well for me historically. No more alcohol wiping or 600 grit paper.
 
I watched a video a few days ago by Jennifer Kirk where she tested the HO Bachmann Track Cleaning Brake van. I comes in four liveries and is a short four wheeled car. She gave it a very good review. It uses the same pads that the car that you have uses, since the car is short, the pad is fixed to the bottom of the car. It does have the same couplers as the Bachmann Thomas, Annie and Clarabell set that I have for the Grandkids, so I may order one and let Thomas clean the track.
She did use the car dry and with IPA on the pad.
 
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Allaman said:
Nice car. I use an extremely sophisticated method: my hand with a little piece of used cloth. But I only have a very small layout.
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Mine's also quite small (4'X7') But it's nice to run a train with this included somewhere in the rake, so I get two for one using this.
49fordv8f4 said:
I watched a video a few days ago by Jennifer Kirk where she tested the HO Bachmann Track Cleaning Brake van. I comes in four liveries and is a short four wheeled car. She gave it a very good review. It uses the same pads that the car that you have uses, since the car is short, the pad is fixed to the bottom of the car. It does have the same couplers as the Bachmann Thomas, Annie and Clarabell set that I have for the Grandkids, so I may order one and let Thomas clean the track.
She did use the car dry and with IPA on the pad.
Click to expand...
I think Bachmann uses the same pads for all their cleaning cars, the 2 axle Brake van is an OO scale wagon, the same as Hornby, although Hornby uses a sandpaper type pad, but as I have HO and OO I bought this one as I said in my original post, it's different and that appealed to me.
 
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