TRACK CLEANING CAR |
4
strap had to be added over the trucks to keep it from steering
itself off the tracks. With threaded stock and nuts holding all
this together, Mike Ruby’s deluxe car weighed-in at 10.5 ounces.
Model railroaders have been known to overbuild, but that’s
usually in the benchwork department. With due respect to
Her Majesty’s navy (see the sidebar “Holy-stoning and the Brite
Boy tradition”), Mike’s car could be seen as sort of a tribute to
the tradition of iron men and wooden ships, or to quote Lord
Nelson: “desperate affairs require desperate measures.” I also
know Mike’s pike has 4% grades.
With sensitive sound systems misbehaving at the slightest crud,
I believe it’s wiser to assemble a small fleet of inexpensive, easy-
to-build track cleaning sleds rather than heavy-weight dread-
naughts, regardless of grades. So while what follows hardly
qualifies as a new and different approach, it is cheaper, faster,
and more simple.
The el-cheapo
I belong to the never-throw-things-away-until-they’re-torn-
from-your-cold-dead-hands club. So, I still have a small fleet
of Train Miniature cars with barebones underframes. They are,
after all, old cars – the kind one would typically find in mainte-
nance-of-way service, even if not painted MoW gray.
Years ago, all these TM cars were stripped of factory paint and
molded-on grabs. They were then repainted, detailed, decaled,
weathered, and turned out looking pretty much like the newer,
$30, built-in- China models, except for their missing uncou-
pling levers.
