what kind of oil/grease is needed to service an engine also what is needed to clean the wheels/track
FM,
I use "Hob-E-Lube" Gear Lube (it's a heavy gear oil) on the worm gear and the truck gears, a little, not a lot; and just a tiny drop of conducta-lube (very light plastic compatible conductive lubricant) on the wheels, axles, and bearings that support the wheels. I also use the conducta lube (tiny drops) on the drive rods of my steamers, and their accompanying tender axles, to aid in current pick up in the tender.
My track cleaning is endless. I have a garage layout, so there's lots of dust, exhaust, temperature and humidity swings. I usually use some rubbing alcohol on an old t-shirt, and wipe the tracks continuously until there is no more black stuff coming off the track onto the t-shirt. Then I put a few drops of conductalube on another piece of t-shirt, and rub the tracks again, to get a fine coat, which prevents corrosion, and aids in current flow to the locomotive.
When I'm feeling really lazy. I run a train (all metal wheels), put a few drops of oil on the track (here and there), and let the train spread the oil around. It works. BUT any dirt on the wheels are transferred to the track.
I recently added several more pairs of track feeders to my layout. I have been able to cut back a little on cleaning because of it.
Regards,
Jonathan
ok thanks ...there seems to be a few different grades of hob-e-lube is the thicker one better
I bought the one called gear oil. The oil is amber in color (careful, I'm colorblind), and has the consistency of a gel. It comes with a long applicator tube that looks like a coffee stir stick. There is a heavier hob-e-lube. It is meant for larger trains (O & G). That's more like a heavy grease. You don't want to use that on an HO engine (too thick).
Caveat: that's what happened to be at my hobby store. Other folks will recommend the Labelle lubrication products. I'm sure they're wonderful. That stuff is not available to me locally.
Regards,
Jonathan
for some years i have used labelle 102 gear oil with a puff of labelle 134. a drop or two on a gear. a film is all that is needed.
For wheels, a little alcohol om a paper towel.
for track cleaning i use an old mdc/roundhouse boxcab with the track cleaner option, with a digitrax decoder in the loco. i find cleaning disk on ebay.
lex