Gaugemaster Track Cleaner

I own 1 of these units and they do work. The most noticeable thing is they only work with DC. When the unit senses a stall it sends a small spike (voltage I think) that creates a spark between the track and the loco wheels. This arc is supposed to "bake" the dirt off the track and your wheels, and it does do that. The way I use mine is with an AZL SD70 and 2 Marklin cleaning gondolas to pick up residue. If I let my track sit too long the loco under straight DC will stutter and Stall. Once the gauge master is added no more stalling. I let the loco by itself run for 10 min than add cleaning cars to pick up residue and run for another 10. I’ve had it for 3 years of service using the same loco with no problems. I also recommend getting the alcohol pads for once and a while cleaning. My 2 cents, it makes running a DC layout MUCH more fun with far less stalling. Another fun fact, it has a light on it that lights up when it senses a stall and fires. For the first ten min you can watch it go from a fast flicker to almost never going off.

I have a small DC only layout that I intend to add one to soon. I have read other comments that also say it works well. I pull and aztek track cleaning car in my consist and it too is a good unit. After about five laps, things are running like a swiss watch. I also made a cover for my layout from parachute material and two dowels glued to each end for a little weight to anchor it down. It works for me. I have a Si. Bernard that is a wallking hair bomb waiting to go boom and the cover keeps me from constant hair removal from trucks and such. And yes, I use alcohol and coffee filters wrapped around and old disposable razor to give an occasional deep clean to the track. Coffee filters are cheap and don't leave lint. Clean track is a happy track.

That's more than you ever wanted to know about track cleaning, Enjoy.

Trey

Hi Dave,
I have 3 of the Aztec cars and they work great as long as the track is clean enough to keep the engine moving without stalling. The Aztec cars use a rubberized abrasive wheel set at a slight angle to create some drag and not just roll on the track. This leaves a residue on the track just like the gauge master, at least once the rubber wheel starts to build up with dirt. When using my Aztec car I like to follow with maklin gondola as a wiper. This can be done with alcohol wipes as well. I'm just being lazy. Again the best thing about the gauge master is how it keeps the engine from stalling. At that point hook up all the cleaning cars you can, just makes cleaning faster. I do agree with dieselfuelx and Trey that a good alcohol cleaning is important once in a while depending how often you run your trains.

I was looking at the very short technical note on the gaugemaster site, how do you provide the 16 VAC to the box? It is not sold with a power supply, correct?

Im using the Ac side of my marklin transformer.