Review: Tomix Cleaning Car

A Tomix Cleaning Car sitting on a siding along the Ikea Line

Well, I promised a review of the Tomix Cleaning Car quite some time ago, didn’t I? I don’t use the cleaning car that often, but it now has got enough hours (er, minutes?) under its belt to warrant a review.

Here’s the short version. Should you consider buying this car to clean your track? Yes!

Here’s the long version. I’d heard a lot of great things about this veritable Swiss army knife, and a few months ago, I finally broke down and bought one. I forgot, however, the matching Tomix cleaning fluid. So, I’ve spent the intervening months trying to find a suitable cleaning fluid that doesn’t require me to pay $15 in Express Mail postage for a $3 item.

The car itself is a surprisingly big model. Also, surprisingly heavy. I suppose it has to be to fulfill its duties. I worried at first that my locomotives would not be able to haul it up the 4% Tomix inclined risers, but those worries were ill-founded, so long as its not at the end of a 20-car freight consist.

Inside the car is a motor, albeit one that does not propel the car itself (hence the need, and the worry about, a locomotive). This motor can drive, depending on the attached accessories, a vacuum, a wet cleaning disc, or a grinding disc. Yes, a grinding disc, with what appears to about 100 grit sandpaper, just in case your rails were too tall. There is also a dirt chamber for the vacuum function, with an easy to remove screen to clean out all the accumulated dust. Finally, there is a small reservoir for cleaning fluid; at the bottom is a brass weight that serves to slowly meter out the fluid—don’t lose it.

For my first attempt at cleaning track, lacking the proper matching cleaning fluid, I used very dilute dish soap in water, in conjunction with the wet-cleaning disc. This was a mistake. Neither did the track come clean, nor was the hauling locomotive able to gain traction on the second pass, as dish soap is…slick.

The second time, I tried rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol. This actually worked pretty well for cleaning the track, but it also worked pretty well for stripping the paint off of the cleaning car.

After much hemming and hawing, and thinking I was about to shell out for expensive postage, I ran across something promising. I was shopping for Aercar lubricants, for my locomotives, when I found that they made a conductive track cleaning fluid (no. ACT-6006, for the curious). They promise not just clean track, but improved electrical conduction. I’m a sucker for a good sales pitch, so I bought it.

Let me say this for the Aerocar conductive track cleaner: It got my track clean, and quickly. Let me say this also: Tests with my multimeter reveal that it is pretty much not at all conductive. And let me say this too: It has the consistency of motor oil. I set up a figure-8 of track, with the standard 4% incline, and set my Tomix EF81 and cleaning car loose. Within one pass, I could see marked improvement in the track’s cleanliness (many sections of track were caked with black grime), but on the second pass, the mighty EF81 couldn’t climb the incline: It just spun its wheels helplessly. I had to retire the electric locomotive, and pull out the 0-5-0 (my hand) for another couple of passes. The track was cleaner than it had ever been, but was covered in a rather thick oily coat.

I found that removing the cleaning car’s sponge (which distributes cleaning fluid on the tracks) and installing a fresh (and dry) wet-cleaning pad, and giving a few more runs not only soaked up most of the oily residue, but picked up even more crap from track. Still, it was too slick for my EMUs to climb the inclines, which was disappointing.

The trick, as it turns out, is to wipe it off, as I did, then let the stuff dry for a couple of hours. When I came back after a wait, I found that all my trains ran just fine up the inclines, with no slipping. Best of all, the trains ran smoothly with no interruption on the newly clean track.