In between college football today, I took some time to take on adding No - Ox to the rails. I figured I'd try it in and around Waupaca, then attempt some switching at the industries there to see how it helps. Have not treated any locomotive wheels yet. I figure that will come later, as the fleet is rather large. I might do so for a couple locos after, just to observe the difference.
First, I cleaned the rails with a mildly abrasive track eraser. The one pictured is Life Like's version. Its about the consistency of a pecil eraser, and for all I know it may be. Then I applied some isopropyl to the rails with an old (clean!) sock. As you can see, it doesn't take much more than a foot of rail or so to get a spot dirty. I would then move my finger to a different, cleaner part of the sock and continue. Then, a vacuuming of the rails is a good idea to remove dust, track eraser crumblings, and sock fibers.
Per directions, I then applied it to the railtops using small smudges like the above.
(Finger not to scale, Tee Hee)
When I could no longer feel like the stuff was between my finger and the railtops and that it had disappeared from the end of my finger, I would get another small dab and continue. I've got the feeling that I still over applied it using this method. I could also feel how it can make the rails slippery too. I'm going to let the stuff sit on the rails a few hours, then wipe it off with another clean sock. I'll report later on my results...
