Dirty track and YOU

Does your dirty track drive you crazy?

  • I never have track power pick-up issues

    Votes: 9 15.5%
  • I seldom have track power pick-up issues

    Votes: 33 56.9%
  • I often have track power pick-up issues

    Votes: 9 15.5%
  • My locos sputter and lights flicker to my utter frustration

    Votes: 7 12.1%

  • Total voters
    58
  • Poll closed .

doctorwayne

Active Member
sign1sign1sign1sign1 welll uh, being that the kitty litter is in the basement - and being that the layout is in the same room.. The kitties have access to the layout :( :(

It's either that - - or have the litter box in the kitchen or dining room :eek::eek::eek::eek:

The last cat that we had got a one-way ride in the country. ;)

Wayne
 

MadHatter

Charging at full tilt.
We don't have cats, but we do have dogs. The little one, Taia- as usual- is quite clever and she manages to walk (or rather jump) over my portable layout when it's on the lounge floor. The big one, Whiskey, thinks he is a bulldozer and just walks where he likes, oblivious to anything that doesn't invlove food, his tale also wacks everything as he walks by, lol.
 

nkp174

Active Member
It sounds like tracking cleaning issues for some of us involve more powerful solutions than oil & erasers!
 
L

lester perry

It has been a nightmare for me for several yearswall1:pwall1:p I recently posted here that I was cleaning all the wheels on my railroad of 300 plus cars. this was because a friend suggested it as a solution to cronicly dirty track. I have cleaned all track an I think all rollingstock then I had a stroke . So I can't say for sure it solved the problem. I have been home about 3 weeks and have run trains a littlebut not enough to say for sure if it helped. but I do know it was a lot of work. more input later.
Les
 
L

lester perry

The last cat that we had got a one-way ride in the country. ;)

Wayne
So its all your fault......................................I live on a country road and have around 5 stray cats living under my shed ,...... thanks a lot:rolleyes:

Les
 

doctorwayne

Active Member
Hey, Les, it wasn't that kind of a one-way ride. ;) We were living on a small fruit farm at the time, and got the cat for the kids. I had no train layout there, so the cat wasn't going to be a problem. However, the bigger she got, the wilder she got. One day the kids were playing in the bedroom upstairs, thumping and bumping about. I think that my wife and I were out on the porch having a coffee. The next thing we knew, there was a terrible crash, and when we ran into the house, the chandelier was on the dining room table. Turns out that the cat had been sitting on the table, watching the crystals of the light fixture sparkling in the sun as the kids thumped about. Finally, the temptation was too much, and she leapt up at the light. Her weight ripped it from the ceiling. :eek:
That got her banned to the enclosed back porch. She continued to get nastier and nastier. I walked by the window facing the driveway one day, and she leapt at the window, which was open. Luckily, there was an aluminum screen installed, but she fastened her claws into it trying to get at me. She looked like a moth plastered on the radiator of a car, spread-eagled and hissing. We didn't have a barn to keep her in (we had no cooler, so the produce went directly to market or the canners), so my wife asked her uncle, who ran a dairy farm, if he needed another barn cat. "Sure", he said, "I'll be visiting your Dad (who lived not too far from us) on Sunday, bring the cat over there and I'll take her home with me."
Well, just subduing the cat was a job. I finally got her by throwing an old army greatcoat over her, then, with some difficulty, got her into a very heavy-duty cardboard box. Wearing leather gloves, I finally got the box closed, and wrapped it with some tape and a couple pieces of rope. There were so many paws poking through the gap in the lid (of course, they were festooned with claws) that an observer would have thought that there were at least a half-dozen cats contained within.
When we arrived at my in-laws' place, the uncle gave me the keys to his car and said, "Just put the box in the trunk".
He later related what transpired when he got home. Evidently, the cat had managed to get out of the box at some point during the drive home. When the uncle opened the trunk, that cat came out like a Minuteman missile leaving its silo. They never saw it again. :-D

Wayne
 

myltlpny

Member
My layout's in a climate controlled bonus room, and the cats are banned. Not so much for dirt, as they like to get on the layout and walk around, toppling trees and knocking over rolling stock.
I run DCC so a clean track is a must. I have a track cleaning car I run around every once in a while and a Kadee wheel cleaner that I use on my locos fairly regularly. I've found maintenance is easier than troubleshooting.
 

steamhead

Active Member
Cats...!!! I wouldn't let them in the front door...much less anywhere near the trains....:eek::eek:

Getting back to the subject of the thread...I mentioned my TRACK GUARD in a previous post here...Thought I'd show a couple of pics so's you all that aren't familiar with it could take a look.
The first is a "ground hog's eye view" so you can get a better look at it. The second is how you'd normally see the trains.
 

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doctorwayne

Active Member
I just posted this in another thread, but it might be something to consider:

I've always felt that working lights contribute to the general paranoia about track cleaning: as soon as lights are observed to be flickering, :eek: out come the track cleaners. :rolleyes: Often, the loco itself continues on as if nothing is amiss, with no hesitation or faltering as it passes over the spot that caused the headlight to flicker. The flickering light draws the operators attention to a supposed problem. I'm not saying that some people don't have a need to clean track, but I think the problem may be exagerrated by this. I haven't cleaned track in over 15 years. :thumb::-D:-D

Wayne
 

MadHatter

Charging at full tilt.
Steamhead, that looks cool. Doctorwayne, you sure you never got a lion or tiger?? That didn't sound like a cat to me- wanting to attack people- sho!
 
L

lester perry

doctorWayne I understand abouthe cat. I was not accusing you of doing what it sounds like. just having a little fun. lost dogs and cats are a fact of life where I am. What I don't understand is the s.p.c.a. here will take your dog if its not on a leash even if it is in your yard playing with your kids.then you have to pay a fine to get it back. but if you call about a stray dog or take one to them they charge you a fee to take it. I know this because I have personally experienced both.
Les

Also to every one else, I know thi is off topic please forgive.
 

doctorwayne

Active Member
doctorWayne I understand abouthe cat. I was not accusing you of doing what it sounds like. just having a little fun.

I know, Les, I was intending to post the little story regardless, as I didn't want anybody to get the impression that I'd do that to any animal, even a cat. :p;)

Also to every one else, I know thi is off topic please forgive.

Hey, Les, it's just good to see you posting more and more as time goes by. Don't worry about it: we wandered off a while ago. :rolleyes::-D:-D

Wayne
 

MadHatter

Charging at full tilt.
Hey, Les, it's just good to see you posting more and more as time goes by. Don't worry about it: we wandered off a while ago.

Who sez u can't break da rules? Dey made 2b broken.

Ja, I'm hopless. We'll get back on track [pun intented] sometime. . . maybe. . . if we feel like it. . . I guess. :p
 

green_elite_cab

Keep It Moving!
I don't clean my track nearly enough, i'm gonna need to get a track cleaning train. Some of my wheels are bad to, but i have no time to clean them these days.
 

Mauiman

Member
Well I noticed some kitty cat pictures here so I think I should post mine here
IMG_0198.jpg


IMG_0199.jpg
 

MadHatter

Charging at full tilt.
Mauiman- your cats are camera shy, they don't even look at the camera.

I don't think you should let them know that you've put some pics of them up- they might just want a bit of revenge! :mrgreen:
 

countyofficer

New Member
Sorry to change topic from cats!!!sign1 But for keeping my track clean I use a leather like stick, about 5-6" long that electricians use to clean older open contacts for large eletrical boxes. Couple passes over the track than run my track cleaner car ( atlas vacuum) and problems are very minimal.:thumb:
 
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