The track itself holds up fine and stays out all winter. The ballast gets washed out somewhat, the same as it does when we have a really heavy rain. Other problems include deer wandering through the yard and heat expansion causing the rails to pop out of the tie strips. The repair is easy but time consuming. I have to remove the rail joiners, slide the tie strips off, and then slide them back on.
The brass rail, unlike the HO, is easy to clean. I have a 3M metal cleaning pad attached to a mop handle and run it around the track before each operating session. Takes about 2 minutes to do 140 feet.
About the only other maintenance involved is Roundup to kill grass and weeds in and around the track.
Tom
Life is simple - Eat, Drink, Play with trains
Occupation: Professional Old Guy (The government pays me to be old.)
Have you ever tried applying a VERY little amount of ATF to the rail? I use it to clean my indoor HO rail and it is nickle silver, but I wonder what it would do for an outside application. I haven't used more than 20 small drops in 5 years. The track and wheels stay clean as a whistle. Too bad they don't make rail anchors to stop the expansion.
Charlie
I've heard of using ATF. I have used Wahl's Clipper Oil on my ns track on the HO layout and really like it. Not sure how either would hold up being exposed to rain, etc. I may give that a shot, particularly under the tree where tree sap can sometimes cause problems. I have used brass cleaner but it's v-e-r-y tedious.
Tom
Life is simple - Eat, Drink, Play with trains
Occupation: Professional Old Guy (The government pays me to be old.)
A Bachmann B&O shell is used as base to get a B&M GP9.
The 18xx are reworked 17xx GP9 (mostly electric reliability and a minor motor (+50Hp) improvements). 1725 and 1726 had a derailment and were the first engines to be reworked in 1981. 1726 was more serious damaged and followed later. Guilford stopped the B&M reworks when they got in power immediately.
The paint scheme after the rework had still the white vertical bars at the ends and the white sill line but with the new bold "Boston & Maine" letters at the hood. The white bars and stripes got painted over some time later.
Here's one of the earliest diesels in my collection.It started out as an standard Athearn GP9 before Doctor Wayne transformed it into this CNR classic.
Blue Boston and Maine Geeps are growing well this season. BM 1715 is a former PRR shell that arrived yesterday morning in the mail.
That completes my Boston&Maine, Main Central and Guilford roster so far.