Hi Richard,

I've used these Noch pads and have had limited success. They do need some form of solvent ( I use "Shellite") and they do become dirty very quickly. They only clean the 2 rails, so you need something else for the centre studs. I use the Noch rubber for this and then spray an electronic conduct spray on them to resist oxidising and improve electrical conductivity. I've also, tried a unit that is a carriage with a vacuum cleaner - again, with limited success. For really good results, I'm sorry, the only way is with "elbow grease".

Regards
Greg

thank you , darren and greg, your experiences are in line with what I suspected. I'm interested in your concern about the center studs. I didn't think it was anywhere as important as the rails because of the rubbing of the studs by the pickup shoes.

richard

These pads are for keeping the rails clean, not to clean them if they are already dirty. I use two of them in all of my cargo trains (10 in total).
To thorougly clean the tracks I use a cleaner (like a pensil eraser) and then with a cloth I remove any dirt.

I have a LUX two car track cleaning set. One car is a rolling brush. The second is a static brush with a vacuum. They each have a pick up shoe which gives them power. I run them slowly behing my BR 81. It does an excellent job on my old M track. "Dead" areas I rub with rubbing alcohol using a cloth. Between the two I have no problems.