What goes into your maintenance train kit?

[Renovo PPR]

What equipment and supplies do you keep around to keep your trains in top running condition?

I have a kit just for my trains and I include the following in it.

Light machine oil. Lionel and even 3&1.

Grease such as Lubriplate.

Dry Powder Graphite.

Track cleaner and alcohol.

Small bottle with a needle cap.

Toothpicks.

Cotton Q-Tips.

Clean cotton cloth.

Small set of screwdrivers.

Small pliers, including needle nose.

Dental type picks.

Soldering gun and solder.

Multi-Tester.

Wire and bulbs for testing.

Spare rubber traction tires.

[FONT=&quot]Spare bulbs.[/FONT]

 

[N Gauger]

Kit??? Kit???!!!! KIT?!?!?!?!?! sign1 sign1 sign1 sign1

You're supposed to have everything in a "kit"???? ~ not spread out all over the workroom and layout in some sort of perverted "Organized Chaos"?????

That must be what I'm doing wrong

Let's see - Looking all around and under and in between....... the mass quantities of collectible junque i have scattered about........

Light machine oil. Got it - 4 different grades for the Climax in a box on the workbench, contains modeling cement, putty, jet glue and wood glue and Dry Powder Graphite.

Track cleaner and alcohol. -- Yep - Alchol is on shelf where errant elbows cant hit it, with the Goof Off (universal spray paint "from hands" remover) - Track Cleaner is on the bench - and the other bottle is on the layout - it doubles as smoke fluid for the Climax.

Small bottles -- strewn about filled with everything from ballast to water/glue mix.

Toothpicks. - in G??? Not!!! Miscellaneous paint brushes - used for gluing, dusting and some painting too. goldtoth1

Cotton Q-Tips. ~ yeah - and as soon as I find them, I'll put them "Someplace else, where I'll never lose them" ops:

Clean cotton cloth. - nope, but i do have about 20 rags, that i use and abuse - then wash and start over

Small set of screwdrivers. and a real screwdriver that I use for poking, prodding, prying and every so often i screw in a screw, because I have a...

Cordless drill - Used for everything I possibly can use it for

Small pliers, including needle nose., Diagonal cutters, mini channel-locks, miscellaneous pliers of all shapes and sizes

Wood clamps, about 40 for clamping and gluing my many wood projects

Soldering gun and solder.

Hack Saw for track and light wood cutting.

Multi-Tester. Also have a Capacitor Checker - checks for continuity

Misc. Small parts for many different cars and loco's I have taken apart over the years - i keep all the parts so i can re-use them on a future project.

Hundreds of pieces of wood, in every shape and size for building

Pieces of plexi-glass for building

Pieces of aluminum strips, misc craft beads and lengths of wooden dowels in most diameters.

Wire.... Hundreds of feet of wire - all different colors and gauges.

----- I think that's about it - This is an idea of the "on hand" stock i keep so when i decide to build something, i can concentrate on the ideas at hand, not what i need to go out and get

 

[Ralph]

Good lists of useful stuff! I think I have most of those items....SOMEWHERE on this disaster I call my work bench! Hmmm, resolution for 2007: get organized!
Ralph

 

[N Gauger]

Good lists of useful stuff! I think I have most of those items....SOMEWHERE on this disaster I call my work bench! Hmmm, resolution for 2007: get organized!
Ralph

Uhh Ralph... Wasn't that your resolution for Last Year???

Oh - I know - - You were actually organized for a short time in 2006, then you let it go...

Yeahhhh That's the ticket!!!sign1 sign1 sign1​

 

[train1]

He wrote out his list - and lost it on the bench !

 

[N Gauger]

He wrote out his list - and lost it on the bench !

bounce7 bounce7 bounce7 bounce7

 

[nkp174]

I rarely run trains now a days. I don't really have much track to run right now at my home, and I rarely get home to my dad's layout...which has fallen into disrepair.

I do have everything on that list, plus the addition of an extra transformer for solving the classic problem: it runs when I touch leads to the motor....but it doesn't when I place it on the tracks :curse:

Edit: forgot to add super glue. It's unbelievably handy when dealing with brass.

 

[60103]

Additional items:
Rolling stock cradle to hold upside down locos.
NMRA wheel gauge and back-to-back gauge.
Track cutters.
Spare nuts and bolts in common sizes (2-56, 00-90, whatever)
An X-acto knife with a triangular grip so it won't roll. And a sharp blade.
Definitely a spare power pack or transformer.

 

[Relic]

Due to my constant condition of terminal poverty I never did work a coupler gauge into my budget I started with a piece of flex track and have used the same GP35 to set all my couplers, works so far.