QRL&PCo Boxcars

[Prairie Trains]

I've seen the same amount of dirt on plastic and metal wheels under similar operation conditions. It must be some argument to sell more wheels.

Plastic wheels rolling on metal rail builds up a static charge which attracts lint and fine dust particles. This builds up on the tread of the wheel and eventually is transferred back to the rail to be picked up by the metal wheels. Dirt on plastic wheels is usually hard to see, it often takes removing the wheel set and a metal scraper to peel a ring of dirt off. Metal wheels don't clean the track they just don't build up a static charge that can lift lint off the road bed like plastic does. This is less prevalent on small layouts and small switching layouts as cars don't run far enough or long enough to build up a strong enough static charge.

On our club members layouts we all used Aero-Locomotive Works track cleaner as it was recommended by Digitrax when we all switched to DCC. My track cleaning train consists of a Centerline Products cleaning car, the roller saturated with cleaning fluid and followed by several box cars with cleaning pads underneath. Some with Masonite for scrubbing and some with cotton wiper pads. This train is run as needed. My train room is fully finished including a drop ceiling, is vacuumed regularly and has an air cleaner that runs 24 hours a day 7 days a week. But the rails still need to be cleaned once or twice a year.