Why does one particular spot on my track always get dirty?


KB02

KB02

Well-Known Member
I have one section on my layout that always get dirty before any other section of track. I can't figure out why. It's a 3' section of straight track with power feeders before and after. All Nickle metal track. I just don't get why this one section of track is the first to pick up the dirt.
 
When you say dirty, what do you mean? Is it dusty, oily, what? Could it be corrosion? Maybe the rail is pitted and holding dirt, or making bad connections (at the microscopic level) and building up carbon. Could it be a section of defective track?
 
I don't know if this might be your issue. Uneven track can cause momentary gaps between the engine wheels and the track, which causes unseen arcing, which in turn causes microscopic pitting and dirt accumulation. It may just be easier to clean that section more often rather than rebuild the track/roadbed if you have already ballasted the area.
 
I believe it to be intermittent contact between the sintered tire surfaces of wheels that pick up electricity and the rails. If you have a short ore car or other car with short wheelbase, place a smartphone atop it with a free circular bubble level displayed (get the app from the play store). Watch what happens to the bubble as the car is moved a half-inch at a time.
 
Is there an overhead or a wall mounted air vent that blows cool or warm air over this section of track?

Is the track the same brand as all the other track?

Greg
 
You say feeders are before and after the 3' section (no feeders to the section itself). If the 3' section is a piece of flex track, have you checked whether the 4 rail joiners on its ends are seated properly ? If one or more joiners are under the rail facing it instead of engulfing facing rail, engine and /or cars could be pushing one of the rails downward, intermittently causing a momentary microscopic open-circuit at the offending joiner(s).., this in turn causing train to jerk, resembling what dirty rail would do..but it's not dirt..
 
Thanks, all for the food for thought on this. To answer some of the questions:
It is dirty as in if you look closely at the rail, you can actually see the built up dirt on the top of the track. The track is the same brand as all the other track around it (Atlas Flex track, code 100). There are no air vents blowing air anywhere around it (which is actually something I have considered changing - my layout is in the basement where it gets cold in the winter).

I'm wondering if Willie might be onto the underlying problem. This section of track is at the beginning of a grade. Even though I did my best to make sure it was as level and even as possible, could be I wasn't 100% successful?
Selector said:
I believe it to be intermittent contact between the sintered tire surfaces of wheels that pick up electricity and the rails. If you have a short ore car or other car with short wheelbase, place a smartphone atop it with a free circular bubble level displayed (get the app from the play store). Watch what happens to the bubble as the car is moved a half-inch at a time.
Click to expand...
I'll give this method a try and report back on my findings.
 
Someone obeyed the instruction not to flush the water closet within a certain distance from a nearby station?
 
Just a thought, did you use a very abrasive track cleaner on this section of track that left grooves in the rail heads that is collecting the grime and dirt from the electrical contact of the locomotive wheels on the rails? This is more common than one might believe can happen.

Or, there might be liquid track cleaner that left a resdiue on the tracks that is collecting the grime.

Greg
 
Tried Goo-Gone and its gone from my layout forever. I don't believe it should be used as a track cleaner because ot the residue.

Greg
 
tootnkumin said:
Someone obeyed the instruction not to flush the water closet within a certain distance from a nearby station?
Click to expand...
I still can remember as a child going in a LIRR car lavatory and seeing the ties right through the toilet bowl !! Thinking back, man that must have been causing a lot of track enroute to become stinky and unsanitary, before septic tanks were added !!
 
My money is on the rail itself being made from a slightly different combination of metals. Even though it's all Atlas, there is the possibility that it was made either at a different time or in a different factory than the rest.

I have similar problems. I bought a good bit of rail used and from various sources, so who knows how old some of it could be. Lucky for me though, it's a "long-term-temporary" layout, so I can swap out different pieces as need be.
 
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Use a Track-Cleaning Roller Car like mine! (It's also available in the little HO scale.)

It uses an internally weighted roller with a machine-washable cloth outer sleeve.

You can use it dry or with the sleeve moistened with Isopropyl Alcohol.

No trouble getting to those hard-to-reach areas!

Just couple it to your caboose or the front coupler of your engine!

I have mine permanently coupled in the middle of my consist...the track gets cleaned every time I run my train!

To wash the sleeve, put it in a white sock so it won't get lost in the washing machine!

Mine came with 6 sleeves, so I always have a clean one at work.

GO FOR IT!
Brakeman Hal, age 84
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I've actually encountered the same phenomenon.
One section of PECO flextrack that got very dirty even though I had polished the railhead just like the others.
I think it was a batch with a bad alloy in the tracks!
I replaced it, and the new one behaves just like the others.
 
That's a great little cleaner car, Hal!
I actually just bought a bottle of mineral spirits for track cleaning and plan on doing a full clean of the layout in the coming weeks. We'll see if that helps a bit, too. In theory, mineral spirits are better than alcohol for cleaning track and help it stay cleaner longer. Wroth a shot, I figure.
 
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