Centerline track cleaner

[Mike C]

Has anyone successfully used the Centerline track cleaning car ?  Mine SUCKS !  It won't roll , and the roller keeps trying to spit out of the rear end of the car . I've tried adding weight to the car frame , but I'm about ready to throw it to the curb . I'm thinking about putting a modified track erasser under it instead of the roller .

[Rasputen]

Mine works, I did also add some weights to the front and rear of the frame.  It sounds like the roller material is hanging up on the corner of the frame?

[Joetrain59]

Too much material on roller perhaps. And, did you tie a loop of thread around roller?
 Joe D

[Mike C]

Too much material on roller perhaps. And, did you tie a loop of thread around roller?
 Joe D

I used 2 sections of the material . 1 didn't seem to look like enough ?  Mayby too much ?  I also used the little rubber bands to hold it on , is it better to use thread ?  It seems like the rubber bands want to catch on the frame of the car .

[Joetrain59]

I think you answered you question right there. Instuctions say to use thread. Also read you can just CA the handi-wipe strip at it's end, to keep from unraveling.
 Joe D

[Mike C]

What are these things called instructions ?   Yep works just fine with thread . Thanks !

[Joetrain59]

One thing that would improve these is some downward pressure on the rollers. Or a heavier metal for the rollers.
 Could rollers be drilled out for tungsten discs?
 Just a thought.
 Joe D

[jereising]

In the for what it's worth category - I have a couple Centerlines but use the Aztec Predator instead.  The Centerline has the roller running straight ahead, while the Predator actually cocks the roller slightly to kind of skid it along the track, theoretically cleaning better.

I have run both with and without thread, and the one advantage to thread is you can back up without causing heartache - which comes in handy for cleaning single ended yard tracks.

As with everything else on The Oakville Sub though, I do it just a bit differently - I have five Predators and two dual Predators (A homebuilt two roller car in a slightly longer gon) and so bring nine rollers to the party.  I saturate the first two with Goo Gone and the rest are run dry.  A couple passes is all it takes, and it's not a pain because since I now use all metal wheels I only need to clean once a year or so.  (But the layout area is in a fully finished basement that tends to stay pretty clean.)

Works for me.

[Mike C]

Yea , this was my yearly track cleaning week . The track really wasn't dirty although there were some small spots of gunk in a few places . I ran the Centerline car around for a couple hours and didn't really get the pad dirty . I run metal wheels also and run trains fairly frequently so I don't get much dirt . Some of my wheels were a bit dirty , funny how the gunk will stay on the wheels and not the track .  But all the wheels and track are now clean so I should be set for another year or so ......Mike

[Rich_S]

Here's what I did with one of my Centerline track cleaning cars, they work great now.

http://www.fiferhobby.com/html/how_to_modify_your_n_scale_cen.html

[Joetrain59]

Never knew about that #2 cars.
 Joe D

[Mike C]

 Actually that was going to be my next idea ! LOL  I still might try it out , looks like it would work well .