Talking T Gauge

victorian t gauge · Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 6:50 am Post subject: dirty wheels

i seem to be having a bit of trouble keeping the wheels from collecting grit. i have fluxed and solderd all the track joins, prep washed it down before painting the rail sides brown and then applying a light ballast (destroying the set track look Smile

). once set, i sanded the rail tops and ran along the inside rails waith a tooth pick to make sure no ballast would foul on the flanges. i had then wiped a clean rag over the entire rail top, and cleaned the wheels. i can only manage to get a few miniutes running at only a moderately slow (half) speed before the train jolts and stops shortly after with another fine coat of gunk starting to appear on the wheels.

could i have sanded a possible plated coating off the rail, oxodising the rail quick? perhaps not have gotten rid of all rail contaminants as well as i thought? or should i give the aluminium paste a go?

B 67 · Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 8:10 am Post subject:

Oh dear! Sanding the rails is possibly not amongst the best of ideas in any scale. And especially on steel rails. I've found that a fine rail cleaning block (such as Peco) will easily remove paint.

Although I have some thoughts on possible reasons and solutions, it might be quicker if I see for myself. At least this is possible with us. Wink

I don't know if there is a plated coating on the rails - but this is common with other types of steel-railed track. I know that once cleaned with abrasive (emery) paper, it tends to do what you describe. With the exhibition fast approaching, we'll need to find a solution quickly.

In the meantime, others may have suggestions too.
_________________
Darren,
Stratford,
Australia.

victorian t gauge · Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 8:56 am Post subject:

hmmmmmmm.... my thoughts exactly!! renee and i are at work now, stripping t tree branches for trestle uprights. i may have to drive down perhaps thurs or fri after work. i think i might get onther 4 car set also. i would be soooooo disapointed if nowa nowa wasnt running well for the exhibitions! Sad

David K Smith · Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 1:16 pm Post subject:

I would not say conclusively that sanding the rail is the problem (I sanded mine, and have not had any issues, nor hav I noticed any plating--I certainly would have considering what I did to the rail to make the switch). But I suspect given all that you've done to your track, it could be any one step or, more likely, combination of steps.

One suggestion I'd make is to carefully and thoroughly swab down all of the track with alcohol using a brush. I'd also remove the trucks from the cars and soak them in alcohol as well, and give them a good scrubbing with a small, stiff brush. If after this thorough cleaning it still craps out, I might repeat the cleaning and then possibly try the oil trick.
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—David

http://www.t-gauge.net/
http://1-450.blogspot.com/

B 67 · Posted: Tue Feb 17, 2009 2:25 pm Post subject:

I hope the sanding isn't the problem. I guess the thought going through my mind was coarse sandpaper. I've seen numerous problems from this over the years. Presumably Paul has used a very fine grade, and if so, you're probably right that it is not the problem.

It may well be something to do with the glue used for ballasting. I've noticed that for a few days after ballasting with PVA, the rails in other scales go dirty very fast (visibly yellowing), but as the glue dries out, this stops. It may be something to do with the soldering too, or the paint.

The kinds of steel rails with plating that I was familiar with were those from Hornby, Tri-ang and Lima. Some US makes did it too, but most that I saw were brass rail. Anyway, with these, many people cleaned the track with sandpaper (or similar) and the plated coating was removed, which saw the rails blacken quickly or rust. This is not something I'd expect to see with Eishindo's steel rail. If it were to be plated, wouldn't a nickel-silver plating be nice?

We could come up with all sorts of possibilities, but hopefully Paul can drop by with the layout soon and together we can try and fix the problem - unless of course he tries your (David's) suggestion and has success.
_________________
Darren,
Stratford,
Australia.

rmyers · Joined: 19 Nov 2008 Posts: 73 Location: Evanston, IL USA

David K Smith · Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 2:07 am Post subject: Re: dirty wheels

victorian t gauge · Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 6:09 am Post subject:

i have used a local brunel models" red flux (looks like water) im not sure what the chemical make up of it is, but it worked well. soldering the joins was quite easy and the plastic base didnt even look like melting, as i thought. altho care was taken to solder as quick as possible, as to put minimal heat into this. i also soldered the controller wires to the track in place of the plastic pin that would usually slot in there.

Tim Watson · Joined: 20 Feb 2009 Posts: 3 Location: Hertfordshire, UK

I am new to T gauge, but would suggest that the track surface should be polished with a series of abrasive papers up to 1200 grade to be truly mirror-like. There could be a rough surface which is harbouring debris. Also, painting the rails could be producing fine debris from the action of the flanges: there is a lot of slop in the wheel /rail relationship and so the paint could be caught by the flanges and end up on the rail top.

I will chemically black the rails, after soldering, to remove the shiny steel appearance.

Tim

victorian t gauge · Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 10:27 am Post subject:

G'Day Tim, welcome aboard!, thats a good point you raised there. i cant remember the grit off hand, but it was very fine. it felt like newspaper. i think i will try polishing down the surface further tho, to a mirror like state. i have a bottle of wheel black, but have not used it yet. hmm, do you think if we blackend the rail tops also with this product, would it also be conductive still? (im thinking of a lightly used branchline).