There is a Forum post in the Model Railroad Hobbyist Magazine by a person who sent a piece of dirty track away and had it analysed. Furthermore, there is some very interesting discussion around the subject in the same post.
I am copying and pasting the post here as sometimes, these posts on Forums have a way of disappearing and the information it provides is lost forever. To get to the post directly, click this link.
Anyway, here is the post and some interesting replies: -
After discussing the track fouling problem with a friend, he sent me a piece of heavily used, poorly cleaned silver nickel track which I then sent to the analytical lab for an analysis of the black crud that was presumed to be from using plastic wheels. The report came back today.
Drum roll please...
It has nothing to do with plastic wheels... sort of. The black crud is near 100% pure nickel oxide. Nickel (III) oxide to be specific. Saw the spectrograph output proving it. It is the natural oxidation of the nickel in the silver nickel plating on the track. Interestingly enough, it is deposited in such a manner as to suggest it was formed during an electrical arc. When viewed under extreme magnification it looks like random dots rather than a continuous film. The metallurgist explained to me it is likely microscopic irregularities on the tread of locomotive wheels and track face and/or common dust on the track is causing momentary loss of electrical contact resulting in nanosecond duration, nanometer long electrical arcs which cause the nickel to oxidize far faster than would naturally occur. One could never see this with the naked eye they would be so small. He is only guessing based on observation of the deposits but who am I to question his analysis? The oxide is also very tightly bound to the track. This explains why a Brite Boy is effective while wet wiping is not.
When asked about plastic wheels he postulates the plastic has nothing to with it. Rather, metal wheels due to their harder surface are far more effective at wearing away the oxide. The wheels aren't responsible for the problem, they are the removers of oxide and plastic is just a very poor remover.
Bill didn't have any specific solutions to the problem but he did give us some suggestions. He believes we would have the best luck if we applied to the rails a very hard, very thin, titanium or magnesium based nickel conversion coating. Say that in English I said. A very specific type of anti-corrosive metal treatment he replied. Not exactly something you will find on the shelves of Wal-Mart. I Googled a bit and sure enough these products exist although they clearly are for industrial use only. Sorry I don't have an easy fix but at least we know exactly what the problem is and it isn't plastic wheels.____________________________
Who says lab guys are boring? We talked trains for an hour!
This gives good credence to my observations that bone-dry rail arcs more and the oxide builds up faster.___________________________
By making sure the rail is damp with a thin lubricant film, there is less arching and so the build-up is a lot slower.
For this reason, using lacquer thinner or 90% isopropyl alcohol to clean the track is not such a good idea - it leaves the track bone dry when it evaporates.
But cleaning the track (and loco wheels) with mineral spirits works well, and I make no attempt to wipe the track dry or to wipe the loco wheels dry when cleaning in this way.
When observed with the room lights off, there is less visible arching on loco wheels and track cleaned with mineral spirits - and apparently less oxide build-up as a result. Some have swore by Wahl clipper oil for years, I suspect the effect is similar to mineral spirits.
Joe Fugate
Sat, 2010-09-04 10:16 — LKandO
I suspect everyone is right to a point. Consider:
Fact 1: Silver Nickel oxidizes
Fact 2: Silver Nickel oxide less electrically conductive than base alloy
Fact 3: Dust will accumulate on rails
Fact 4: Dust on rails degrades electrical contact
Thus: Preventing oxidation and minimizing dust is the solution
Fact 5: Oxygen barrier between rail and atmosphere will prevent oxidation
Fact 6: Dust collection is virtually impossible to prevent
Fact 7: Dry barrier will retain less dust than wet layer
Given these facts the logical steps to improving locomotive operations are:
1. Create an environment that generates least amount of dust possible
2. Remove dust from rails as frequently as practical
3. Treat rail with a surface coating having the following characteristics:
a. Dry
b. Electrically conductive
c. Thin film, to minimize dimensional change
d. Hard, to tolerate wear
e. Long lasting, to reduce maintenance
f. Non-hazardous
The picture becomes quite clear why Bill recommended the conversion coating. It fulfills the requirements exactly. Except maybe for the hazardous part, can't have everything!___________________________________
The oil applications, CRC film, graphite particles, and sanding each check some of the boxes in the ideal list but not all. To me this explains why there are fans of each method yet none are accepted as the total solution.
The solution: -
No Ox
Fri, 2011-08-26 11:40 — rfbranchI tried No-Ox ID A Special after seeing it discussed in this thread. My results have been similar to Don's. Since applying it about 18 months ago I've only cleaned my tracks once and that was a "top to bottom" cleaning where cleaned all of the track with isopropyl
The No-Ox definitely helps with locomotive pickup (especially for my small switchers) as I have an obsession for smooth operation on my layout. My pet peeve is to have to constantly coax locomotives along track. It takes away from operating sessions.
The track definitely gets dirtier quicker with the no-ox than without it as dust/dirt will stick to it more than dry track however the conductivity of the grease overcomes any conductivity issues that the locomotive would normally have for quite a while (almost a year in my case).
One thought I've had after some experience: cleaning all of your loco and rolling stock wheels before putting them on the layout might extend the time between reapplication significantly as i think this is where the majority of the gunk that settled onto my track since application has come from. The more you can do to create a 'sterile environment' for your railroad the less time you will have to spend maintaining it.
As to the price Don mentioned above, I purchased a Chapstick sized tube on eBay through the link Jeff Schultz supplied in the above linked thread for $4.95 which I think will last me for a decade at least as an application on my entire railroad only requires a pea-sized amount at most. However if you can find a cheaper alternative that works as well definitely take advantage of it!
