David, I do absolut agree. I used in the past with German layouts and US layouts with 40' boxcars a lot of this little monsters:
https://www.conrad.de/de/noch-60157-h0-s...42007.html
More than 50% of the cars had them attached to one axis and they kept the tracks very efficient clean. They are not capable to clean dirty track but they prevent to become dirty. They did that extreme efficiently. I had no dirt over many years on my tracks. Problem is that they do not fit under modern 50'cars.
The idea to have in each train one cleaning car should prevent the tracks to become dirty long before a more intense cleaning is required. The challenge is to find a "track cleaning car" that is as universal is the little guys I used before. I will also make some tests with 50' boxcars.
The preventive cleaning applies for the wheels as well.
https://www.conrad.de/de/noch-60157-h0-s...42007.html
More than 50% of the cars had them attached to one axis and they kept the tracks very efficient clean. They are not capable to clean dirty track but they prevent to become dirty. They did that extreme efficiently. I had no dirt over many years on my tracks. Problem is that they do not fit under modern 50'cars.
The idea to have in each train one cleaning car should prevent the tracks to become dirty long before a more intense cleaning is required. The challenge is to find a "track cleaning car" that is as universal is the little guys I used before. I will also make some tests with 50' boxcars.
The preventive cleaning applies for the wheels as well.
Reinhard