Love Lane, B.R. (E) c.1956-59

Eastsidepilot

Eastsidepilot

Western Thunderer
Totally enjoyed the experience of being involved with an exhibition layout for the first time, although I had to return home on the Saturday so I did the trip twice which meant I was totally knackered by mid-night Sunday when I got home, but it was all worth it.

Got to thank JB and Susie for maintaining the point work at a critical time ! plus all the other Guys in the team some who have put in a massive effort and others who's time has been limited for various reasons, but all played their part.

I think the Love Lane crew would agree we owe a special thanks to the other JB, Oz 7mm, for opening up his home to house Love Lane and let us all run riot :D and especially his wife Janet for feeding us all for with out them none of this would have happened in the first place.

Still more work to do :D............

Col.
 
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Scale7JB

Scale7JB

Western Thunderer
Yep many thanks John, some of us have even slept at John's after late night modelling sessions!

Thanks also to Richard Carr for his work behind the scenes and his loan of diesels and coaching stock. The layout would have felt quite empty without them. Hope you can make it to the next show.

JB.
 
Boyblunder

Boyblunder

Western Thunderer
Simon, you mean this? Super Glue Corporation | /Zap | Rail-Zip 2
I hadn't heard of it before your post. We were cleaning the rails at least twice a day with either IPA or Aldi Eyewear cleaning wipes which cost 99p for 50 and 4 or 5 wipes folded up in a small spring clamp can clean the whole layout in about 20 minutes. However I was surprised how quickly the black muck re-appeared. So I'll order some Railzip to compare, snag could be there is about 93 meters of track on Love Lane so it may be expensive if it doesn't last as long as the manufacturers say.
 
SimonT

SimonT

Western Thunderer
That's the stuff. We were in the same boat as you with cleaning on Aberbeeg; I saw Suzi cleaning and remembered the experience when we were at Warley, the awful black residue from the floor. Constant cleaning went away when we started using Rail-Zip.

I clean all the wheels in the run up to the show and we clean the rails off about once a year (IPA). Set up, put a drop of Zip on each of the up rails and the same on the down and test a couple of locos over the layout. You may need a little more on the odd spot on the layout and the odd drop if there are loads of locos. Using Zip even stopped the arcing on the aluminium cassettes. My bottle is about 10 years old and did Aberbeeg, The Back End and Laramie until Pete bought his own bottle; it is half full - a little goes a long way. Keep it in a clip seal bag as the bottle does leak after time.

If the only snag was a mis-behaving set of points blades, I am very jealous of the standard you achieved. It took us a while to work up to that level of reliability.

Are there some photos of the Sentinal? It deserves to be seen, absolutely beautiful.
Simon
 
Steph Dale

Steph Dale

Western Thunderer
Before trying Rail Zip, you might like to try a good quality branded lighter fluid. It's cheaper and more widely available which can be a great advantage.

Simon,
What does it say is in Rail Zip? There should be something on the side of the bottle or a manufacturer's safety data sheet (MSDS) somewhere.

Edit: my second attempt found the MSDS: it's Hydrotreated Light Naphthenic Petroleum Distillate. You might find lighter fluid a very good substitute.

Steph
 
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SimonT

SimonT

Western Thunderer
The DCC Concepts guys are very clear that Rail-Zip is Automotive Transmission Fluid; it certainly looks and smells like the stuff. It is not intended as a cleaner but is meant to help electrical contact. My recommendation is based on ten shows with a very big train set where it transformed pick up reliability. Rail-Zip is viscous, not a property of lighter fluid.
Simon
 
Scale7JB

Scale7JB

Western Thunderer
With regard to the rail zip and ATF, I did look it up a couple of days ago after it was suggested, and a few people were saying they had tried it and caused absolute havoc with sticky residues etc. Is there a chance they just used too much?

I don't think we had any pickup issues at Warley unless I missed some. The only one was the L1 which was sadly caught in the best video that was shot of us. This was entirely my fault though as I hadn't put a stay-alive in it yet, and it stayed in the loco yard all day. Rectified by Sunday though with a new chip and speaker.

JB.
 
SimonT

SimonT

Western Thunderer
From my experience of Rail-Zip - less is more. Hence clean wheels for each show and clean track once a year. It won’ t sort poor pick ups but it will deal with the dirt stirred up in places like the NEC. I do use it at home, but very rarely.
Simon
 
Boyblunder

Boyblunder

Western Thunderer
Thanks for ordering the Rail-zip Richard, very interested to try it. I’m no chemist but I am a member of the Institute of Road Transport Engineers so I have had an interest in lubricants. I would be surprised if Rail-Zip is simply ATF because that has lots of additives, some of them not very nice. Lighter fluid is naphtha transportable in some types of plastic bottles so problably ok on commercially produced rail chairs etc., not sure about 3D printed ones and in its purest form I wouldn't expect it to leave a useful residue. It may also contain benzene which is not good in contact with your skin. You prompted me to look in the garage for my can of Super Servisol, the stuff I’ve used for years to clean, lubricate and protect electrical contacts on boats. My tin is so old it doesn’t have any safety warnings; the current version is Servisol 10 and according to the safety sheet it’s not so good for the fish and it’s main hazard is butane propellant, should be ok on most plastics. Perhaps we can do a comparative test, cleaned with alcohol no lubricant, cleaned with alcohol and Rail-ziped, cleaned with Servisol and left.
 
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