What Do You Use To Clean & Polish Your Live Steam Loco's ???

Richie

Richie

Rio Grande Railroad , Mountain biking , Gardening
Have just been reading some old copies of Garden Railways and came across an article in the December2009 in the Raising steam by Jeff Young on cleaning & polishing your loco using Harley Davidson's spray cleaner & polish to remove all the grime and reidue . Have had a look on E bay but can't seem to find any but did come across some motor trade cleaner would this be ok to use ??? What do others use on there loco's ??
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/190687661301?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649
 
Mine get a wipe down wiv an oily rag! and when I want to clean and flush out the motion I give it a spray with brake clean and oil afterwards
 
yep me too, cotton swabs and pope cleaners for the hard to reach places too,
and if i want it really clean- a good dousing with acetone -which really strips all the oils without damage to the paint-dries nicely too
 
stevedenver said:
yep me too, cotton swabs and pope cleaners for the hard to reach places too,
and if i want it really clean- a good dousing with acetone .....
Click to expand...

Doesn't that sting a bit? Personally I just take a shower..... :rolf:
:bigsmile:

Jon.

PS: Is a Pope Cleaner the charlady at the Vatican?
"Can I do yer now, yer Holiness...?" :bigsmile:
 
Acetone are you sure? I use acetone as a paint thinner and stripper. Is there a difference from one side of the ocean to another?
Thanks
Steve
 
If you have an older loco with celulose paint acetone will strip off the paint. It used to happen in London that really angry women used to pour their nail varnish remover over their ex-boyfriends cars as revenge leaving a trail of bare metal!
 
tough crowd....
one little typo


actually i do use acetone
i use it on my aster frank s
and my roundhouse 24 SRRL

because it evaporates so quickly, it seems to not have any effect at all on the paint-
it is correct that if you take a acetone soaked rag and rub paint-some color haze will come off-i have never had this issue-it will eat certain plastics however-and again ive never had an issue

it is a good solvent and leaves a nice clean surface-detergent and hot water will do the same-but with more effort

now , back to the Pope jokes you lot!

The Pope dies and, naturally, goes to heaven. He?s met by the reception committee and, after a whirlwind tour is told that he can enjoy any of the myriad recreations available.
He decides that he wants to read all of the ancient original text of the Holy Scriptures, and spends the next eon or so learning the languages. After becoming a linguistics master, he sits down in the library and begins to pore over every version of the Bible, working back from the most recent ?Easy Reading? to the original script.
All of a sudden there is a scream in the library. The angels come running to him, only to find the Pope huddled in a chair, crying to himself, and muttering, ?An ?R?! They left out the ?R??.
God takes him aside, offering comfort and asks him what the problem is. After collecting his wits, the Pope sobs again, ?It?s the letter ?R?? the word was supposed to be CELEBRATE.?
 
now youll pay!!!!!

The Pope goes to New York.

He is picked up at the airport by a limousine.

He looks at the beautiful car and says to the driver, "You know, I hardly ever get to drive. Would you please let me?"

The driver is understandably hesistant and says, "I'm sorry, but I don't think I'm supposed to do that."

But the Pope persists, "Please?" The driver finally lets up. "Oh, all right, I can't really say no to the Pope."

So the Pope takes the wheel, and boy, is he a speed demon! He hits the gas and goes around 100 mph in a 45 zone. A policeman notices and pulls him over.

The cop walks up and asks the Pope to roll down the window.

Startled and surprised, the young officer asks the Pope to wait a minute.

He goes back to his patrol car and radios the chief.

Cop: Chief, I have a problem.

Chief: What sort of problem?

Cop: Well, you see, I pulled over this guy for driving way over the speed limit but it's someone really important.

Chief: Important like the mayor?

Cop: No, no, much more important than that.

Chief: Important like the governor?

Cop: Wayyyyyy more important than that.

Chief: Like the president?

Cop: More.

Chief: Who's more important than the president?

Cop: I don't know, but he's got the Pope DRIVING for him!
 
Richie said:
Have just been reading some old copies of Garden Railways and came across an article in the December2009 in the Raising steam by Jeff Young on cleaning & polishing your loco using Harley Davidson's spray cleaner & polish to remove all the grime and reidue . Have had a look on E bay but can't seem to find any but did come across some motor trade cleaner would this be ok to use ??? What do others use on there loco's ??
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/190687661301?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649
Click to expand...
Depends how dirty. I don't let my platework develop grime and residue. Generally I just polish with a light mist of non wax furniture polish. Accucraft locos I spray degrease and wash the running gear, drip dry, and re-oil every so often. Roundhouse or any loco with rustable parts I use paraffin and oil below footplate. and the above polish on the platework. A one inch paintbrush is handy for running gear. coal fired is another ball game and there is another thread on this.
 
Many thanks for all the advice will check out the other thread :thumbup:
Both my loco's are Accucraft a C-16 and a K-27 i always clean them stright after steaming with a cloth while the loco's still hot but i do find the C-16 very hard to clean due to all the fine details the engine seems to get covered in steam oil which is very hard to remove .
 
Richie said:
Many thanks for all the advice will check out the other thread :thumbup:
Both my loco's are Accucraft a C-16 and a K-27 i always clean them stright after steaming with a cloth while the loco's still hot but i do find the C-16 very hard to clean due to all the fine details the engine seems to get covered in steam oil which is very hard to remove .
Click to expand...
Ah yes ? I understand. May I suggest that you check out a 'chuffer' for these locos http://www.summerlands-chuffer.co.u... corners. This will keep your model pristine.
 
tagorton said:
Richie said:
Many thanks for all the advice will check out the other thread :thumbup:
Both my loco's are Accucraft a C-16 and a K-27 i always clean them stright after steaming with a cloth while the loco's still hot but i do find the C-16 very hard to clean due to all the fine details the engine seems to get covered in steam oil which is very hard to remove .
Click to expand...
Ah yes ? I understand. May I suggest that you check out a 'chuffer' for these locos http://www.summerlands-chuffer.co.uk/. I imagine that with the standard Accucraft exhaust these will be very easy to fit. they are generally a replacement for the exhaust fitted as standard ? just unscrew ? and screw in! Not only will it increase your chuff but it will divert all the steam oil down between the rails.

Given that you are here talking about Accucraft, then there is nothing to rust. In which case I would leave to cool right down and suggest using a spray degreaser from your motor factor in conjunction with a half inch paintbrush, leave to stand a while then wash down with an ordinary garden hose set to 'jet'. Let it drip dry in the breeze, carefully re-oil all working parts with heavy motor oil and then just dust the bodywork and boiler with a stiffish modelling paintbrush (or the smallest 'normal' paintbrush you can get your hands on) that will get in all the corners. This will keep your model pristine.
Click to expand...
Many thanks for that Tag :thumbup: Have just had a a chuffer fitted to the K-27 made and fitted by John Campbell , this loco wasn't so bad at throwing out the oil as most of the oil comes out of the cylinder drain cocks will get John to fit one of his chuffers to the C-16 at a later date .
 
Sian, on the Windmill Farm Railway is polished every day using Pledge and she glitters.
I know I have polished her.:clap::love:
 
All the old books say you should use steam oil and cotton waste. (at least on full sized ones) The first is getting kind of spendy, the second scarce as hen's teeth.

And then there is the fact that it leaves everything sticky to better catch dust and grit.... unless you're going to be doing it several times a day
 
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