FAQ#6 Rolling Stock Wheel Cleaning ?
Mark,
There is no easy answer, but this is what I suggest. First, if you have rolling stock with plastic wheels you should replace them with metal wheels and metal axles. The plastic wheels will pick up more dirt and they will be harder to clean. Metal axles versus plastic axles, because the plastic axles tend to not be tight in the wheels hence wheel sets will come out of gauge and you will have derailments. You can gauge the metal wheels and plastic axles and then ACC them together as a possible fix, but I would still check them periodically with wheel gauge.Now after all that said, to clean metal wheels you do not need to take them out of the trucks. I use lacquer thinner and Q-Tips . You may have to use an X-acto blade to scrape the built up dirt off the wheels or a wooden stick with angled end usually found for doing women's nails (cuticle sticks). I would find or make a foam cradle then put the equipment in and roll the wheels with your finger while cleaning. Is it a lot of work, YES, but it has to be done and if you don't let your equipment get to that state and periodically do your maintenance it won't be that bad in the future. The other part of this is standards and setting up your equipment so it operates properly and reliably.