High frequency track cleaners

[Tautlinerterry]

Hello there, could anyone please give me their opinion on high frequency track cleaning. I was interested in the Gaugemaster twin track cleaner, in theory should be excellent but I did try using a relco years ago to not much success. If anyone could enlighten me, thankyou !? Terry

[TWICK9]

Hello Terry and welcome, I used Relco's on my last N gauge layout and while they worked I did have several motors burn out, on the present layout I never installed them and haven't had one burnout in seven years. so if your modeling in N I would advise you not to use them. If your modeling in OO where the motors aren't so small the Gaugemaster should be fine, some people say that the high frequency tends to pit the wheels on the Loco but I never found that with the Relco. Hope this helps.

[Flashbang]

Hello there, could anyone please give me their opinion on high frequency track cleaning. I was interested in the Gaugemaster twin track cleaner, in theory should be excellent but I did try using a relco years ago to not much success. If anyone could enlighten me, thankyou !? Terry

Hi Terry
Welcome to the forum
I endorse what TWICK9 (Brian) has said.
A word of warning - Do not use HF rail cleaners with DCC equipped locos or control systems. You will most likely cause termianl damage to on board decoders and possible the control system.

[Tautlinerterry]

Thanks so much for your help there chaps- realy appreciated- Terry.

[leader]

One thing that you should be careful of is touching both rails of the track when the HF rail cleaner is on. It will give you an electric shock especially if you touch it with a sensitive part of the body such as the fore arm. If you have damp skin, then you would need to be careful of touching the rails with any part of your body. I personally don't think that they work and actually form a build up of carbon on wheels and suspect track.

[kevin141]

i use them on my n gauge they work fine and i have had no trouble and locos work well

kevin141

[truckersteve]

I've used Gaugemaster cleaners on n and oo gauge layouts without any problems (except the occassional small shock when touching both rails at once). I think they're a bit of a misnomer, the don't seem to clean dirty track but will keep it clean once you've cleaned it by other means. I've had no problems with pitting of loco wheels.