Tomix Track Cleaning Car English Zip [TOP]

[Note: This thread deals mainly with conductivity issues relating to the internal electrical connections between the wheels and motor in my Kato Portrams (where access is extremely limited), and less-so with general track-cleaning methods].

A similar issue occurred once to me in a 3T, but I have no idea how that happened. It seems to be a lot more common in the Portram though, and I've heard of people trying different things to try and fix it, e.g. cleaning the tracks, or changing the main controller.

I've tried swapping the motor, I've swapped the control box, I've switched off the motor and tried to manually pull the wheels off the rails, I've tried swapping the wheels for another set, I've tried swapping the control box for another, I've tried swapping the track cleaning mechanism for another, I've removed both control boxes and tried to force-fit them back together.

I've had this problem in the Kato for over a year now, though the issue appears to be much worse on track with less than ideal conductivity (i.e. the wheels just won't disengage from the rail, even when the motor is switched off). As I say, this only happens in the Kato though, and not in the 3T, so I'm not sure if this has been reported or not.

I also found it very hard to find a practical way of cleaning the rails because they were insulated. It was very easy to introduce conduction between the rails and the ties when the track was being cleaned and it was extremely difficult to prevent it happening.

I used to own a Kato Portram and after moving from the UK to the US I was looking for a good track-cleaning solution. After reading the various material on the Kato forums I was left feeling like a fool, as I had never realised that the rails and ties were part of the track and that the track was insulated on the inside by the ties.

I bought a Kato Portram a while back and was initially dismayed to find the track was electrified on the inside of the ties - meaning when you ran over the rails in the middle of a curve or level track the ties needed to be insulated, and therefore the rails had to be insulated. This meant that the track rails had to be insulated and then insulated again because the ties were electrified. This is a very time consuming and inefficient system and I found it rather upsetting that it was not something I was aware of on my previous track-cleaning set.

1. If the rail was insulated on the inside of the tie (as it is with Kato Portrams) it was insulated on the outside as well; if the rail was not insulated on the inside of the tie there was a huge risk of conduction. Even if the tracks were insulated on the inside of the ties there was still the problem of rail-tie conduction.

Picture 1 Picture 2 Lot 325325. MARKLIN MAXI TRAIN SET, 1 ga, 54561 BR18478 loco & tender, mounted on display board, w/5484, 5483 box cars, 54841 track cleaning box car, orig boxes & inserts minor wear, C8. 827ec27edc