[peter bunce]

Hi All,

Can I ask for some opinions (is it any good?) on the Aristocraft track cleaning caboose please?

 

[Torby]

I wasn't too hot on the idea, till I saw one in use. I was impressed. Now I run batteries, so who cares about dirty rails?

 

[smcgill]

Track-man 2000 is one step up!!  /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/whistling.gif
I use them both!                               /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/w00t.gif

 

[George Adams]

Peter,
I have a Trackman 2000 and an Aristo track cleaning car as well. I won the trackman as a door prize a few years ago and I love it. (Ok my wife won it, she never lets me forget that) But to answer your question, if I was going to buy just one, the Aristo works just fine.

George

 

[markoles]

I have one and it works ok.  I use it to clean dirt and debris from my stainless steel.  If it was pure brass track,  I don't think it would do as good a job.  For a brass railroad, I think the LGB track cleaning engine is the best way to go, even if it is a little pricey.

Mark

 

[Dennis Paulson]

We have used 2 here for 10 years , most effective for the money , works great here , even used to clean up after live steam operations .

 

[Greg Elmassian]

It really depends on whether you are cleaning your track, or trying to remove the oxide.

I have stainless steel track, so all I want to do is take gunk off it, like bugs, dirt, etc. For me the Bridge Masters car, with ScotchBrite works best:

The aristo car is a piece of masonite and it tends to smear any gooey gunk, not pick it up, so you need to clean it with a solvent every so often. For dry rails it is ok.

It really depends on the type of rail, and what you want to remove. Give some more information, rail type, type of dirt, junk or oxide you are getting, what running problems you are having.

Regards, Greg

 

[lownote]

I have one--I ran it with the original pad for a while, then switched the pad surface following George Schreyer's tips I hot-glued a piece of drywall screen to the pad. Works well--you can see where it's passed over dirty track. I like the caboose-like appearance also. I assume there may be better ones out there, but this works well for the price

 

[Skip]

I converted a 2-axle aristo bobber to a track car - basically copied A Kramer's method, but used drywall screen. Part of the trick is getting the right amount of weight on the pad. The pad face is 1/8 Finnish birch ply, with a hollowed out block of wood above, in which big washers are bolted for weight. It floats on the track, and after about 3 passes, glitchiness disappears. I made a REAL NICE aluminum support plate for the drywall pad, until I realized I was going to run it on powered track.... oh, well. Hence the plywood.

However, the best method remains the drywall sander pad on a pole - A bit more work running around the track with it, but also does a much better job. If I'm lazy, I'll run the car, if I CAN'T run the car, out comes the sander/pole.../DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/blush.gif