Product Feature – Trix Wheel Cleaners in HO / N

Most model railroaders are aware of the need for clean track to keep your trains running. Stalling & lurching locomotives can be one of the most frustrating aspects of the hobby, particularly with today’s digital sound-equipped locomotives.  One factor in smooth running that is often forgotten about is cleaning locomotive wheels. Having pristine track is not going to help if your locomotive is running on ‘tires’ of dirt and grime that are preventing the electricity and DCC signal from reaching the decoder and motor.   The fact that most European models in N and HO come equipped with rubber traction tires on some driving wheels means keeping the remaining pickup wheels clean is doubly important.

The best tool we have found for cleaning locomotive wheels is the TRIX wheel cleaner brush.  Available in N scale and HO (not for Marklin AC, sorry), the Trix wheel cleaner is compact to store and does not need any messy fluids or disposable cleaning pads.  Simply place the wheel cleaner on your track and track power is transferred to a pair of narrow ‘brushes’ (made of soft brass wire). Holding your locomotive pickup/driving wheels gently on the brushes while the power is applied and wheels are turning will gently scrub the grime from the surface of the wheels. 

The flexible bristles of the brushes are very effective at making sure the entire wheel surface is clean, something that can be difficult to achieve with hand cleaning or other tools.  For longer or fragile, hard to hold locomotives, multiple cleaners can be easily be connected together to create one longer wheel cleaner.

You can buy the Trix 66602 HO and Minitrix 66623 N scale wheel cleaners on our store’s main web site. Add one to you next order!

 - Chris C.

Something new...

Welcome to the Euro Rail Hobbies and More blog, the latest addition to our web site. For those of you finding us for the first time through this blog, we are one of the largest dealers of European Model Railroad products outside of Germany. We stock Marklin, Trix, Roco, Fleischmann, Brawa and many more manufacturers, large and small. Located just outside Vancouver, Canada, we have served customers around the world through our retail store and online storefront at www.EuroRailHobbies.com since 1989.

Check in often as we have plans to cover a range of topics here including some modelling tips and tricks, some product overviews and reviews, and some customer's work on a 10 x 7 foot N-scale layout set in southern Germany during Era III/IV. Hopefully you will find some of what we post here informative and useful for you own hobby, and of course, feel free to comment on our posts and share your opinions and knowledge.

Chris, Euro Rail Hobbies & More webmaster