Track cleaner from Piko

AustrianNG said:
Ideally, the loco will be very heavy with a powerful motor and the cleaning block slung under between the wheels will be sprung to keep a reasonable pressure on the railheads to maximise cleaning.
If the cleaning pad(s) are just lightly skimming the top of the rail, the cleaning effect will be limited.
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I was thinking, the weight is likely not heavy with a little loco like that but surely there will be some space to add more?
Also, a track cleaning car would need clean rail already - to have a loco push it around. If this things works in 3 to 4 passes the way they say it does then it is a winner and I have no issues using it. At that price, i already like the paint scheme so if it does not clean track well I only paid 30 more for a paint scheme i like!

I have seen the damage from an LGB cleaner loco that got stuck on the rails! This thing seems like it would just sit there if it got stuck, no damage done. (Not having a scrubbing/mechanical mechanism would be good in this case.) Let's just see if it works! If it does, that price is a good deal and will save time. Maybe i can even run cars behind it while it cleans!?
 
If you read the posts, it is battery power, so it does not need clean rail to operate it.

It's clearly not heavy, have you seen the pictures or the video?

piko_cleaner.JPG


So you see what is known as drywall sandpaper, a coarse fiberglas mesh coated with silicon carbide abrasive.

There are 2 small pieces of white double stick tape holding this hand-cut piece to the pickup shoes. This is the video where Piko introduces the loco... you should recognize the gentleman holding it.

So this is clearly a prototype, small light, not the real thing, no extra motor or mechanism. They already stated it works on AA or AAA batteries and the batteries are not in the "highly detailed cab"..

Greg
 
Greg Elmassian said:
If you read the posts, it is battery power, so it does not need clean rail to operate it.
It's clearly not heavy, have you seen the pictures or the video?
Greg
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Hate to "feed" however that is what I said... Not sure you read correctly!? I was responding to someone saying a track cleaner car seemed more worthwhile. I was saying since this has its own power, it is better than a track cleaning car - as long as it works.

As for weight, I am sure the 3D printed sample has little to no weight - as seen in the image. What I had said was surely we will be able to find space to add more weight if we want to. (This was something people were mentioning before as being a problem if it was too light. So I was suggesting a fix to that might be possible. Though obviously not 25-tons :D)

I am curious if the track cleaning pad/system/whatever works well. If so... it should do well
 
We shall indeed see, but the observations so far that with the small "hood" and the battery box for conventional batteries there won't be much space, and combine that with the fact that with a small battery pack, adding weight might not work since more current/power from the motor might not be available. They made a lot of comments in that video and other places about having this nice open realistic cab, so no place to "hide" weight there.

I'm just hoping they use some kind of suspension for whatever they use as an abrasive pad. Frankly I am surprised they would show what obviously has no relation to the finished product, specifically the track cleaning part, but of course the shell was devoid of a lot of detail and 3d printed...

Sorry I misinterpreted what you were saying, I see that now you were trying to contrast, between between track powered and not track powered.

Greg
 
Seems to use the pick up skate springs to bring a very course abrasive pad on to the rails. Of course we don't know the final outcome but course abrasives are considered detrimental to clean rails as the resultant scratches hold dirt and detritus. Cheap and cheerful - it will probably work a bit but what are the down sides.
 
Well I ordered one on Saturday, my local stockists says he has already taken quite a few orders and that there has been a lot of interest , partly for it being a cheap battery loco ( £172) and partly for it being a track cleaner . I wonder if there is a speed control for when its running on batteries or if just has one set speed as I don't plan to chip it but just run it on batteries.
 
steinman said:
Well I ordered one on Saturday, my local stockists says he has already taken quite a few orders and that there has been a lot of interest , partly for it being a cheap battery loco ( £172) and partly for it being a track cleaner . I wonder if there is a speed control for when its running on batteries or if just has one set speed as I don't plan to chip it but just run it on batteries.
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I wouldn't say it is a 'cheap battery loco', but a cheap loco that will run (or be assisted by) batteries..

Surprised you could pre-order?? - I was under the impression it would not be available until Q4??
 
PhilP said:
I wouldn't say it is a 'cheap battery loco', but a cheap loco that will run (or be assisted by) batteries..

Surprised you could pre-order?? - I was under the impression it would not be available until Q4??
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Hi Phil , I ordered one from Darren at Top Slots and Trains on Saturday, another member of this parish was there and also ordered one , Darren has it down as a 2nd quarter release although we all know these dates often gets pushed back. Darren's web site allows pre order of the loco
 
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PhilP said:
I wouldn't say it is a 'cheap battery loco', but a cheap loco that will run (or be assisted by) batteries..

Surprised you could pre-order?? - I was under the impression it would not be available until Q4??
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Phil,

Gaugemaster is the authorised UK importer for Piko stuff and this item has been listed and available for pre-order on the Gaugemaster website since the item was announced by Piko.

As I understand it all UK dealers have to get their Piko stuff from Gaugemaster who only sell to the public at the recommended retail price. What UK dealers charge is up to them and my local dealer certainly does not charge the price shown on the Gaugemaster website.

My local dealer, just like steinman's, has been taking pre-orders ever since the new items were announced by Piko.
 
Piko America says due date is in October, Germany site says 2nd quarter? I would guess October is more likely if there is no info leaking out about it, or images.

As for pre-orders, there are a few U.S. companies that take pre-orders with no down payment. (They charge you once it ships.) I would imagine a pre-order just reserves it for you, so you don't have to wait for it or deal with it being sold out.
 
Sorting through my varying NG Trip images the othe day I came across the little Locy below that I took at the Roaring Camp and Big Treesline in California back in 2000. Besides the Colour, Cab Window and door I reckon it is a pretty close match to the forthcoming Track Cleaner.image.jpeg
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apart from the door being in the wrong place
 
Listing does say 'scratch built', but am guessing the motor / gearbox for the cleaning part is commercial??
 
About as relevant as the 3D print 'thing' Herr Piko was waving about to a loco that probably doesn't exist yet?
;)

At least you can buy the one on EvilBay, right now.. :nod::giggle::giggle:
 
I looked at the video starts at 2.41
https://www.largescalecentral.com/f...t-nuernberg-toy-fair-2018/view/post_id/357676

My interpretation of the video is that the loco is primarily for normal operation as a switcher that can have an optional cleaning device added and possibly both battery and track power selectable modes.
I think the abrasive is passive i.e. no movement and is just dragged around by the loco in battery powered mode so that track can be cleaned then switched to track power when track powered running is restored.

Abrasive like this may be what they are looking at. https://chestnutproducts.co.uk/product/net-abrasive/

I think what they are proposing is very similar in size to a small cane train type loco I have.
It is a beast whose chassis is made out 4 pieces of 4mm steel and the body work out of 1mm steel with a standard motor block and 10 AA cells in the battery, it weighs 1.7Kg and pulls 8 metal chassis wagons with ease
To get the weight to say 1.5 Kg (maybe do not need it that heavy) add some steel plate on top of the motor block or alternatively spring load the abrasive pad holder and you should have plenty of downward pressure to drag a piece of abrasive across some railheads to do the cleaning task.
 
stockers said:
apart from the door being in the wrong place
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Yup I said that as well Alan.

Listening to the great mans vid again he said it is a GE25, these appear come in a few varieties judging by a look at some of the pics I found in the net. Here are a few at random, with or without side cab door and even a Wizzy Cranks variation. Now that would capture a few minds. Though I have to admit the Front is a bit different, in fact looking at a lot of pics no two appear to be the same! Plenty of scope for the craft knife to wield some changes. Great.

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