If the practice of holy-stoning sounds anything like what
goes on in the train rooms of model railroaders throughout
the entire civilized world, it might be time for a different
approach, because in truth many of us have fallen prey to
this same drudgery, the moving of a small piece of hard rub-
ber back and forth on a slender piece of track. No salt, no
blood – just paint, hairspray, and other grime.
Yes, the rumors are true. Some wild men do use abrasive pads
or very fine emery cloth or even sandpaper to clean their
tracks. Oh, the horror! Nasty, microscopic scratches, all the
better for giving gum, dirt, and other debris a place to collect
and cause trouble.
Given that all model railroaders are not equal in the eyes of the
IRS, we may freely acknowledge that others use expensive track-
cleaning machines and what my wife would call “harsh chemi-
cals.” All this to clean those slender bands of rail, it is a wonder.
Model railroad tradition credits not General John R. Allen,
USMC Ret. and US Naval Academy class of 1976 (who no doubt
also learned about holy-stoning decks) but John Whitby Allen
of Gorre & Daphetid fame with using the first Masonite track
cleaning pad.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
TRACK CLEANING CAR |
6
“Model railroad tradition credits John
Whitby Allen of Gorre & Daphetid
fame with using the first Masonite
track cleaning pad.”
