Thinking about getting a Tomix Track Cleaning Car But!!!

[bc6]

What type of coupling system does it use?

[Martijn Meerts]

standard rapido

[clem24]

My track cleaner just died all of a sudden. I've hardly used it too (maybe like 4 times?!?). 

[Claude_Dreyfus]

My track cleaner just died all of a sudden. I've hardly used it too (maybe like 4 times?!?). 

I'm not sure they're too durable. I've had mine for a good few years, got it when they were first released, but it only lasted a year or so before the motor conked out 

[Shashinka]

Are we all talking about the TOMIX cleaning car itself, the vacuum motor dying or are we also talking about the bundle where you can buy the cleaning car along with the ED-engine engine?

[Martijn Meerts]

Something to remember is to never run the cleaning car motor at full speed. The thing has almost no resistance, so it'll run very fast and the bearings will get so hot that the plastic around it melts.

[quinntopia]

Something to remember is to never run the cleaning car motor at full speed. The thing has almost no resistance, so it'll run very fast and the bearings will get so hot that the plastic around it melts.

AMEN to that!  I read on a forum (not here) some time ago that these cleaning cars would 'work fine' on a DCC layout as is (of course, there are other threads that weren't so sure)! Take my word for it, the first time you put it on a DCC powered layout will be the last time! It ran REALLY REALLY fast, and then.... stopped.  Its now a paperweight  !  

Just goes to show....don't believe everything you read in a forum (and I can't say the poster lied, it DID work, for about 45 seconds!  

I've ordered two more, with the plan to add the decoders and make them DCC safe this time.  I'm wondering how to set the CV's for the decoder to ensure the motor doesn't run at too high a speed? Anyone seen any CV recommendations for this car (sorry to take this somewhat off topic!)?

[Martijn Meerts]

Something to remember is to never run the cleaning car motor at full speed. The thing has almost no resistance, so it'll run very fast and the bearings will get so hot that the plastic around it melts.

AMEN to that!  I read on a forum (not here) some time ago that these cleaning cars would 'work fine' on a DCC layout as is (of course, there are other threads that weren't so sure)! Take my word for it, the first time you put it on a DCC powered layout will be the last time! It ran REALLY REALLY fast, and then.... stopped.  Its now a paperweight  ! 

Just goes to show....don't believe everything you read in a forum (and I can't say the poster lied, it DID work, for about 45 seconds! 

I've ordered two more, with the plan to add the decoders and make them DCC safe this time.  I'm wondering how to set the CV's for the decoder to ensure the motor doesn't run at too high a speed? Anyone seen any CV recommendations for this car (sorry to take this somewhat off topic!)?

Depends on the system you use.. Many systems output 16 volts by default, some can't even be set any lower than that. At 16 volts, the cleaning car will start, and stop again pretty soon after, never to be started again ;)

On 12 volt, it should be able to run about 4-5 minutes before overheating. In this case the protection mechanism in the car *should* cut power to the motor, but that doesn't always seem to happen quick enough.

I've converted 2 of them to digital. 1 is DCC, the other Selectrix. The Selectrix one is controlled using a computer program (the whole layout is computer controlled), and the program sets the max speed to speedstep 10 I believe it was. On a DCC decoder you should be able to set the max speed value, or adjust the speed curve so that the speed never gets more than half max speed or so.

[to2leo]

Yikes, glad I read this thread.  I have been using my Tomix track cleaning train since 2006.  I never did make it run full speed.  I also make sure to clean it after each use.  The car vacuums just fine but hearing from this forum, I think I should get another soon.

I also use only Tomix cleaning fluids and nothing else...would that also be the case that my car lasts to this day?

[CaptOblivious]

What type of coupling system does it use?

As other said, Rapido, but there are articles out there showing that a conversion to body-mount MTs is pretty straight-forward, if that's your druthers.

You could probably (and I can check this for you later tonight) swap out the Rapidos for truck-mount TN couplers, too.

[bc6]

What type of coupling system does it use?

As other said, Rapido, but there are articles out there showing that a conversion to body-mount MTs is pretty straight-forward, if that's your druthers.

You could probably (and I can check this for you later tonight) swap out the Rapidos for truck-mount TN couplers, too.

Thats a good thing to know since I have no trains with rapido couplers.

[CaptOblivious]

What type of coupling system does it use?

As other said, Rapido, but there are articles out there showing that a conversion to body-mount MTs is pretty straight-forward, if that's your druthers.

You could probably (and I can check this for you later tonight) swap out the Rapidos for truck-mount TN couplers, too.

Thats a good thing to know since I have no trains with rapido couplers.

What do you fit your locos with? I ask because you will need a locomotive: I don't know of a single EMU model whose motor car is strong enough to pull it! It is quite the heaviweight, nevermind the pads dragging on the tracks.

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Are we all talking about the TOMIX cleaning car itself, the vacuum motor dying or are we also talking about the bundle where you can buy the cleaning car along with the ED-engine engine?

I'm referring the the cleaning car itself - the loco I bought with it was the very nice, but somewhat underpowered, Tomix DE10 (a brown liveried example which is still running). The cleaning car was heavy and the DE10 stuggled on anything other than straight level track. Another point is that the track cleaning process - thin disks of wetordry paper - very quickly found you out if your track laying was a little suspect!

[to2leo]

I used Kato C57 which has rubber tires to pull the power sucking Tomix cleaning car.  I tried others and met with CaptO's result.

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Most recently when the unit has been run purely for demo purposes motive power has either been the JFR DF200 or a British class 60 (which carries a fair amount of power, just as its prototype)...

[Shashinka]

DF200, that's the engine I Was thinking of.

[CaptOblivious]

My Tomix EF81 could probably haul three of these things uphill…very powerful. My Tomix DE10 just sits down and asks to be carried when I couple a cleaning car to it