Tomix Cleaning Car

[Rita Seliba]

Yesthe soft brush works well and it will keep it moist with your desired track cleaner (I always just use plaing old 70-90% isopropyl alcohol). I usually procee the tomix car with a heki tank car I have that just puts lots of cleaner down on the rails on a dragged pad, the with the centerline roller wheel cleaner that really is a good scrubber,mthen the tomix to do the final buffing! Also run it around as the vacuum as well,magazine the stuff it collects. I also have small box car that I put a good strong rare earth magnet under and it finds very interesting slivers of metal now and then that other things don't pickup.

If you have a smart phone or pad you can also try the google translate app and take a picture of the Japanese and then you swipe the line you want translated. It works pretty good to get in context stuff from stuff like this ir import a picture from the web. I was pleasantly surprised by how well it worked on some tomytec diagrams!

This is the one I have and I got it as one of our club members who has a giant kato unitrak layout in his basement that gets mega dirty used one to great results. I got mine for like $40 lurking ebay for a while.

OOhhh this looks interesting. I had no idea how the thing worked. Thanks for the video! I guess I would need to buy one to test it out physically... It's quite tiring and difficult to find a really useful wheel cleaner. I have a Tsugawa manual wheel cleaner but it doesn't work that perfectly...

I have a couple of those tracks, they work okay, but they don't reach every part of the wheels. They don't replace a good manual wheel cleaning, but if you run trains through one every now and then, it definitely increases the time between manual cleaning sessions.

I have one of these wheel cleaners. It's quite an old one (10+ years) and the cleaning pads work from side to side. It's good but it's definitively better used in a layout context, installed somewhere hidden and used just to keep the rolling stock cleaner during use.

ive used qtips, fingernail and toothpicks on rags, fiberglass contact cleaners etc to clean wheels manually. these new little pointy applicators look to be great as they are very dense and seem to hold up well with isopropanol. seem to be the best combo for direct wheel cleaning as well as around motor contact, etc where you need to get into a tight space.

Cleaning discs are changeable and comes with 1x Vacuum fan disc, 3x Dry-type disc and 3x Moist-type disc (vacuum fan disc is attached to the car).

Car is not motorized (motorized locomotive is needed to pull this cleaning car)

Some of you may have read my contribution on the theme of Tomix N-scale motorized track-cleaning vehicles on the German Railways section of RM Web - but since those photos were lost from the site and since I have made one or two changes, here we go again. The machine in question is available in the UK, mine were bought direct from Japan from Plaza Japan, whose prices are generally very low - but whose postage charges are quite steep. On the German TT-Board site there has been a lot of discussion about the re-gauging to TT of the very over-scale N-gauge Tomix track vacuum cleaner and polisher - indeed one contributor sells professionally rebuilt Tomix machines through his website (www.digitalzentrale.de). The discussion centred around the pros and cons of using bogies or chassis parts with power-pickups as in the original Tomix design. The Tomix track-cleaner has a powered rotating brush, which can be easily replaced with a supplied fan to make a vacuum cleaner, along with a fixed track brush and an onboard tank for cleaning fluid. As in the case of other colleagues from TT-Board I decided not to add power pick-ups to TT freight bogies (in my case from Roco) but to power the machine by jumper connection from a semi-permanently coupled loco. After experiments with a Piko Taurus and a Zeuke V180, which were not especially successful thanks to the weight of the track cleaner which has some meaty zinc blocks inside it, I settled on a BTTB Ludmilla which had been an unplanned acquisition in a job-lot from E-Bay. As you can see from the attached photos the original bogies with pick-ups and N couplers were removed and replaced by Roco bogies which were modified with a distance ring made from poly tube. The original self-tapping screws were re-used. Peho coupler mounts were glued on to both ends of the machine and a small hole for the jumper cables drilled carefully in one end of the body shell. Those jumper leads were then soldered inside the Tomix to the original connections to the now removed bogie pick-ups, and were then cut to the correct length and soldered on their other ends to home-made copper plugs - ex mains-cable earth wire - which fit the sockets made of brass tube under the cab windscreen on one end of the Ludmilla. Inside the Ludmilla the brass sockets are simply wired to - and soldered to - the motor leads. To anyone who is sceptical and believes such a machine to be a gimmicky toy my answer is - try it and be amazed! On its first full test-runs round my layout I was amazed how much fluff, dust and loose ballast was vacuumed up. Before most operating sessions I run the Tomix in a cleaning train which also contains one or two Tillig freight wagons with Noch cleaning pads attached. Problems? Not really, apart from the fact that the plastic employed by Roco for the freight bogies is resistant to most adhesives - Araldite worked in the end.

The word 'Drehgestell' means 'bogie'. Do you mean the bogies you find on the Digitalzentrale website? They are the standard Tomix N ones, probably left-overs from his rebuilds. Sadly, he appears to have stopped selling the ready -made Tomix rebuilds and the bits to do the job yourself. But if you can get hold of Roco TT freight bogies it easy-ish to do the conversion - see my article

That sounds an interesting idea! Do the Hornby bogies carry the coupler pockets? If not, surgery on the bogies will be needed to allow clearance for the pockets which need to be cemented to the underside of the Tomix body. The Roco freight bogies are designed with one end open to allow space for the coupler.

Ah, good question! I use my regauged Tomix only as a vacuum cleaner with a fixed brush lightly touching the rails. If you need a polisher, then you will have to adjust the TT bogie mountings so that the track is just touched by the polisher disc. Any real pressure by the disc on the track will stall the Tomix motor and potentially cause it to fail and will also make the vehicle difficult to move. A question of experimentation, I think!

You can also order almost all locomotives and train sets in our delivery program in DCC or Selectrix Digital. Since both locomotives and decoders are always sufficiently in stock, the conversion time is usually less than 2 working days.

The rail cleaning trolley can be used for cleaning, as a vacuum cleaner or as a grinding trolley. 3 grinding and cleaning pads are included in the packaging. This wagon is absolutely indispensable and saves tiresome rail cleaning work, can also be used in places that are difficult to access. We directly recommend the use of 2 trolleys. You can have one permanently polished and use the other directly behind it as a vacuum cleaner.

Functionality:

It is operated using 12V DC voltage and being pulled or pushed by a motorized vehicle. The analogue version is not suitable for digital model railways, as the permanently applied current overloads the motor and triggers the heat protection switch.

You can purchase the car directly from us in the digital version. We convert the car with a Doehler and Haass decoder which we solder.

Cart Length: 120mmManual-Anleitung

Subject to change, errors excepted and subject to being unsold.

Prices incl. German VAT excl. shipping.

* Recommended retail price (RRP). The naming of the manufacturer's non-binding prices is without guarantee and subject to any price changes by the manufacturer.

** The right of withdrawal is excluded for individually digitized articles if the individualization has already started.

The track cleaning car by Tomix is the best vacuum cleaner on the market for cleaning your track, even better than the household vacuum cleaner. Not only does it vacuum, but it also can be used to either lightly abrade your track or use a cleaning fluid on the track.

The Tomix 6425 Track Cleaning Car is designed for N scale enthusiasts who seek to maintain their model train tracks efficiently. This innovative cleaning car features interchangeable cleaning discs, including vacuum fan, dry-type, and moist-type discs. While it requires a motorized locomotive to pull it, its compact design and compatibility with standard NEM coupler-pockets make it ideal for all common N-scale systems. With the option to use cleaning liquid during polishing, this versatile vehicle unifies vacuum-cleaning, polishing, and grinding functions into one handy solution for optimal track maintenance.

The TOMIX N Scale 6415 Wheel Cleaning Track is designed to simplify the maintenance of your model train wheels. With its innovative features, this track cleans wheels effectively while the vehicle runs, making it convenient for hobbyists. The built-in overcurrent protection ensures safe operation, while the compatibility with conventional TOMIX rails enhances its usability. Additionally, the included wet and dry cleaning heads offer flexibility to achieve clean wheels effortlessly. Enjoy the aesthetic appeal of the beautifully painted ballast and sleepers while maintaining your rail vehicles to the highest standards.

Maintain your model trains with ease by investing in the TOMIX N Scale 6415 Wheel Cleaning Track. Its advanced features ensure your wheels stay clean and operational. Embrace hassle-free maintenance and improve your hobby experience now!

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