Dapol Track Cleaner - Clean Track with Minimal Effort
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- Опубліковано 1 лип 2024
- I hate cleaning track, it's essential, but boring and can take ages. I've tried to speed up the process using track cleaning wagons before, but I've never found them to work...until now!
The Dapol track cleaner offers a variety of cleaning functions at a reasonable price point, but most importantly it works! In the short time I had it running it hoovered up loose ballast, dust and fluff. All things that we don't want on the tracks. I think switched to the chemical cleaner, the spinning polisher and the fluffy brush, and after only a few minutes I could see my rails were visibly cleaner.
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00:00 Introduction
02:48 Testing the Vacuum Head
03:34 Testing the Chemical Cleaner
05:48 Verdict
The CMX is more expensive but it is solid brass. It's easy to keep clean and maintain and...the IPA is much safer in the CMX and won't ruin the painted or printed-on plastic. I too have the Dap(as in Cap)ol cleaner which has a decent vacuum but a terrible type 7 motor and needs a decoder, something the CMX doesn't need either of. The noise from the Dapol cleaner prevents its use at sensitive times or where somebody may be unwell. the CMX cord (cleaning pad cord) can be washed out in minutes with washing up liquid. I agree that the price is the downside and when I purchased my CMX it was hardly much more than you paid for the Dapol cleaner so that was many, many, years ago...I only changed the wheels a few months ago.
I just oil the track, the longer the trains run, the cleaner the track and wheels are! For a very long track a sponge at the bottom of a weighted wagon is good for an oil change, but essentially the oil kills all sparks, so no deposits build up. It also keeps air out of the joiners too - a win-win.
I do like these track cleaners. One tip for those of us still using DC rather than DCC is to pull it with your lowest geared loco when using the vacuum head; then the vacuum runs fast and the loco pulls it slowly along the track.
I just ordered one of these looking forward to see how it works on my layou
Any good?
Never thought of a track cleaner Rob, but I think you have convinced me. Well done!
A great vid! Just be warned that it may generate unwanted static electricity that could insidiously zap & damage electronic components.
Thanks for your interesting review, Rob. Managed to pick one up today w/o instructions. I wasn't sure as to how to fit the accessories and your video helped a lot! 😀
Good review i am going to get one of those one day i think.I have a Gaugemaster track cleaning wagon but i had to take the springs out of the bottom of the pad as it was so hard for my locos to pull.
Hi again,well i purchased one the other day and i really like it,it made my track cleaner,although when you did yours you are supposed to abrasive pad then hoover and finally IPA with a polishing pad :)
Yeah, it definitely cleans. That order makes more sense.
@@LittleWicketRailway Post edit as i said it the wrong way round ;)
When mine is in scrubbing mode I put a 500g lead weight in the vacuum chamber. Now THAT makes it actually work 😂.
Great vid as per... I noticed you said your running this on analog... would i be correct in thinkinbg you have your set up to run dc or dcc?? if so it it just acase of setting it up as dcc with drop lines and the like but just connecting a dc power line and running it that way.. or have i over simplified this ?? cheers
Hi Dave, my old layout (the one in the video) can be run on DC or DCC depending on which controller I connect. For the review I decided to leave it as DC.
The new layout will be DCC only. So for the new layout I'll need to plug a decoder into the 8 pin socket.
@@LittleWicketRailway Ok.. great .. di you put droppers on the lines as perr dcc or did you run it as a single feed?. sorry if it seems a dumb question
You mention this model available in N-Scale, but the only thing I'm finding is the Tomix brand one. Is this the same manufacturer? And do you know if the newer Tomix versions are DCC ready?
Hi Andrew, yes, the N scale version is the Tomix brand. Good question about the N scale version being DCC ready though, I can't see anything that confirms one way or the other. I had assumed it would be, but everything I've read suggests it isn't DCC ready, apologies, I may have assumed wrong. Hopefully someone more knowledgeable about the Tomix version will enlighten us both.
My tomix cleaner was analogue but I hardwired a decoder in to it,that why you can adjust the vacume speed.
I have one of these and it is useless so I use it as a vacuum. The ONLY one to work is the CMX wagon.
I’ve had mine for 15 years when Dapol started to sell them, can’t believe the dust it picks up mind you remember it has one way other wise you get a dust cloud well sort of😂
Where can one buy this track cleaning car in the 🇺🇸
The vacuum cleaner is good on this but its not a good track cleaner in my experience. No way near as good as the CMX. Another alternative that is cheaper than the CMX is the Woodside Scenics Tidy Track cleaning kit with a rather useful cleaning wand!
The results of this track cleaner seem impressive. But the question I had after this vid was: how much of the original dirt was removed?
Would a subsequent manual clean have removed even more dirt, or was the track basically clean again?
I would imagine it would be very useful for hard to reach far corners and under tunnels but you might as well use it all the time.
@@ajivins1 As I said, it does indeed seem very useful, but it's unclear how effective it is if you don't compare it with other methods.
I'd love to have an automatic cleaning system, but I would want to see proof of its effectiveness first before spending a significant amount of money.
The effectiveness of this product is unproven right now.
@@diedertspijkerboer Got an old box van laying around? Make your own like Model Railroading did. It's better than nothing...
@@diedertspijkerboer Got an old box van laying around? Make your own like Model Railroading did. It's better than nothing...
@@ajivins1 Yes, I'm aware of diy options, but then the question is do I want to invest my time in it. That basically leaves the same question.
That is very 'tight'
2:50 That's your old layout?
I'm in the middle of a new build at the moment.
So, is this the new layout 👍
@@xavierobrien761 No, it's clearly his old one. His new build is still in the early stages. The footage of the cleaning wagon must be old footage.
@@User-3O3 so whats your point