Track cleaning oil?

TrainNut

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Well not quite but, somewhere on here I read that you can use oil (the kind you use to lubricate hair clippers) lightly coated on the track and it really helps with conductivity. The person stated a name and I can't remember it now. Question - where can I find that stuff? Safeway? A hardware store? Thanks in advance.
EDIT: I found the thread that talked about this and it is called Wahl oil. Still same question - where do I find it?
 

farmer ron

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You are right, it is called wahl clipper oil, i would try where there is a local barber, that is where I get mine. I use a small glass bottle that holds about an ounce, lasts a long time. Remember only use a little as oil will attract and hold dust and dirt. I also use a product called "electron contact cleaner" it comes in a spray can and can be obtained at places like radio shack, spray it on a cloth and wipe the rails, it cleans as well as leaves a protective coating that helps with conductivity. Be very careful at any grades as any oil type based products has a tendancy to make the rails slippery. Ron..
 

RailRon

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My hairdresser ordered a small bottle of Wahl Clipper Oil and I got it after a few days - and I'm living in Europe! So it shouldn't be a problem for your hairdresser, since it's an American product. :thumb:

Like Ron already said: The important thing is to use the oil very sparingly, the rails shouldn't appear to be wet. In this case the oil would form a gooey mess on the wheels and then you are worse off than before. :(

Ron
 
F

Fred_M

Ron, This subject comes up every year, on almost every forum, but generally after Christmas. Walh clipper oil. Fred
 

RailRon

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Hehehe, Fred, there's a German proverb which says (loosely translated): Oiling and greasing is helping everything along.

Perhaps this is also true for internet-forums! :D :D :D

Ron
 

TrainNut

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dash10 said:
Ron, This subject comes up every year, on almost every forum, but generally after Christmas. Walh clipper oil. Fred
Yes I now see that and I'm sorry. After being a part of others forums, after a while, you notice the same questions and topics being brought up over and over. After a while, it makes you really gun shy to ask any type of question at all as somebody else is quick to point out that it has already been asked 10 times before. But like I said, I tried to do my part first and did the searches. After failing at that, I posted the question. Please excuse any repeat questions I may ask in the future.

Reminds me of a joke - a group of Cowboys were sitting around the campfire telling jokes. The only catch was that they had told all the same jokes so many times, they just numbered them for simplicity sake. The next joke, somebody mentioned good ol' #73. One of the cowboys started rolling on the ground in uncontrollable laughter. When asked why, he responded, "That was a good one. I've never heard that one before!"

You should number your responses to common questions. That way when somebody (like me) asks a repetitive question (unbeknownst to them), you can just reply "See answer #28."
 

farmer ron

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NEVER !!!! NEVER !!!!!! Stop or refrain from asking questions, that is how we all learn. We are very happy to have new people here on the forum, new modlers or experienced it does not matter. You never know when some one is reading the questions and replys and says, I was thinking about that too and gets the answer or oh yea I forgot about that one, it is a great refresher also. Glad to have you along for the ride..Happy Railroading..Ron..
 

brakie

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Absolutely..I don't care how many times a questions asked..You see the question is not always answered the same way twice as new forum members join in with their ideas or experiences.We can always learn something. :thumb:
 

Climax1880

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There is also another product that you can use to clean rails. It's called 'Goo Gone'. It was initially invented to remove the glue from objects that had price stickers on them. (that doesn't sound like good English does it?) Anyway, you get the idea. Goo-Gone is available just about anywhere, grocery stoes, hardware stores and even some LHS's carry it. Works for me.
 

Gary Pfeil

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For what its worth, I used to use Goo Gone and thought it worked well. After awhile I wondered why it seemed I had to clean the track everytime I wanted to run. I haven't done any scientific studies on the matter and I know lots of people say Goo Gone works great, but in my opinion it leaves residue on the rail that attracts dust and the dust prevents good operation. I suppose you could clean the residue off as a secind step but why bother? I've found that just running a track cleaning train consisting of my Tony's track cleaning car and a boxcar with masonite pad solves the dust problem. I haven't used any fluid cleaners for quite some time. I do clean loco wheels with AeroCars track and rail cleaner occasionally. But my track cleaning car runs dry. And I've had no problems.

Gary