WATCH THE VIDEO:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-7mGEECnfU

SHINE-O-MATIC     Brand New HO Track Cleaner Car  (comes in complete kit form -includes Kadee couplers and trucks with metal wheels) (Developed by A-Line) Fits Athearn or other 40' box cars  (box car not included with kit)  

First time ever available on the market from A-Line. Developed and tested on home and large club layouts.

• Easy to assemble, complete kit .
• Trouble free operation!
• No complicated moving parts!
• Most effective way to clean track!
• Non abrasive cleaning
• Can be used dry or with liquids. We recommend Mineral Spirits .
• Can be operated in both directions, pushing or pulling
• Shine-O-Matic cars are optimally weighted so more cars can be run in a train without excessive drag

We found  that during development testing the S-O-M car worked great not only for cleaning mainline track, but for cleaning industrial sidings as well. By using small switcher locomotive and S-O-M car you can move in and out of these areas with ease. And not have to try and clean these areas by hand and end up damaging buildings or scenery. You could even put several of your S-O-M box cars into your OPS sessions and be cleaning the track while switching out industries !

We are also working on a 50' box car  Shine -O-Matic !   Let us know what you think and would you be interested in one ?

As shown in pictures above, white Cleaning Strip material is wrapped around the slider block and held with specially designed reusable keeper piece. As the Cleaner Strip gets dirty, just rotate the block to new clean position. When one side of strip has cleaned the track up, flip strip over and use the other sides. You can buy more Cleaner Strip material from us.

       See all our additional Shine-O-Matic HO products to buy below

SHINE-O-MATIC - How it all Began

I am a member of the La Mesa Model RR Club at Balboa Park in San Diego CA. On a regular basis I run trains at the club and get a chance to talk with friends there and observe the operation. One of the subjects that comes up often is track cleaning. We talk about what equipment to use and what works best and is consistent. La Mesa uses a combination of brass tank car for dispensing liquid cleaner fluid (mineral spirits) and a set of track cleaner cars with brass rollers, with cleaning pad material wrapped around the rollers. Normally the cleaner pad is wrapped around a roller and put into a car. As the car is pulled the roller rolls over the track to clean it. The problem is, you can not back up the car or the pad will unroll.

Watching the train run around the layout I thought how rolling over the layout was not actually cleaning and picking up that much dirt. It seemed to me that a cleaning car that slid over the tracks would pickup a lot more dirt. It would also do it faster than one that rolled. My designing began, using a sliding block, not a roller devise. I also wanted to have the cleaning car be stealth, so I made it fit a standard 40’ box car length. It needed to be simple to assemble, operate and maintain. The cost needed to be reasonable and the unit needed to be able to operate wet or dry. 

   I needed strip material that was strong, heavy weight, had good absorbing characteristics and could be used wet or dry. The material I had made was white, thus showing the amount of dirt that was being picked up. Because of block design it gave four surfaces to be used without changing the material. Just rotate the block in the car to a new clean side.

 You also had the advantage of turning the cleaning strip over and using the other side. Therefore, providing eight cleaning surfaces, before you threw the strip away. The Shine-O-Matic  cleaning cars with blocks now make up the new Cleaner Train for the La Mesa Club. They have been running ever since with no problems and excellent results.

 We got all the components together and packaged the first kits, they were advertised in our monthly PPW-Aline.com E-Blast. I took the time to contact our first customers by email to get their feedback, which was extremely positive. The Shine-O-Matc Track Cleaning Car is available in kit form and assembles in about 15 mins. - Kadee couplers and trucks with metal wheels included.

Thanks    Joe DElia Jr.

Inventor: Shine-O-Matic Track Cleaner Car

Owner: Aline/Proto Power West/Arrow Hobby/New Rail Mode

La Mesa Model Railroad Club Testimonial:

Over the years we have used several track cleaning systems but none were as effective as the Aline Shine-O-Matic system. This system has allowed us to reduce track cleaning time and cost and is much more reliable than old systems and does a significantly better job at cleaning our railroad. There is no better track cleaning system on the market for home layouts or large super layouts in museums.

Mike,

La Mesa Model Railroad Club Member and current president of the club.

         Helpfully hints and suggestions to get the most out of your SHINE-O-MATIC track cleaner    

Make sure white cleaner strip is wrapped tightly around the slider block.

Do not use flat blade screw driver to push keeper strip into the slider block notch. This will damage the keeper and not allow it to hold the cleaner strip material tight in the slider block notch. By using a simple wooden dowel and washer supplied with the loader block fixture (SOM - 1006)  will make the operation quick and easy.

Go to our web-site   ppw-aline.com   to find the   SOM-1006   slider block loader fixture and how it works and the accessories that come with it (washer and wood dowel)

Purpose of slider block loader fixture is to give you an extra hand to hold the cleaner strip tight around the slider block as keeper is inserted  into slot in the block. Make sure the cleaner strip is tight and flush with the sides of the block. Excessive material, especially at the notch area of the block will cause the block not to slide up and down freely. This will cause poor operation of the S-O-M System.

Rotating the slider block periodically is very important for the best cleaning results. If you continue to use dirty cleaner strips, you are defeating the purpose of removing dirt. Instead you are just spreading it around, because cleaner strip is overloaded with dirt! 

S-O-M is the only system that gives you the ability to perform this operation, because of it's design. The slider block can be rotated even while the train is moving. At any point in the cleaning process you can visually see how the cleaning  process is working and make adjustments as necessary, by rotating the slider block to a clean surface!

We have found after many hours of testing, that using the system of applying mineral spirits fluid to the block periodically instead of dumping excessive amounts of liquid on the track tends to give you more control of the ratio of liquid necessary to loosen dirt and then get picked up by a dry cleaner strip. We have liquid dispenser bottles available.                                                                Go to:    SOM -1007

By running   two  S-O-M together you have the ability to use S-O-M wet or dry literally at the same time. This is what makes the S-O-M the only track cleaning system that can accomplish this with very little effort, also without any abrasive material!

Fast, Efficient and simple cleaning at an extremely low cost.

After all the track cleaning equipment sold to the hobby over the years, SHINE-O-MATIC by A-line is the first trackcleaner  equipment that gets the job done !

Try a Shine-O-Matic  and prove it to yourself !

We welcome all thoughts and ideas to make S.O.M. the best it can be.

Thanks:

Joe DElia  (Inventer)

owner : A-line / Proto Power West/ Arrow Hby

WATCH THE VIDEO : 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-7mGEECnfU