Centerline Track Cleaning Cars malfunctioning


IronBeltKen

Lazy Daydreamer
I have some Centerline track cleaning cars that are giving me fits. The towel rollers only actually roll for a few seconds...then they just stop and drag. This wouldn't be a major problem if it weren't for the fact that they derail when the frozen roller snags the point rails on a turnout.

I've tried (1) flipping the rollers with the towel edge facing or trailing in the direction of rotation, (2) making sure the rubber band was lying perfectly flat on the towel (i.e., not twisted), and (3) keeping the towel edges from protruding beyond the ends of the roller; nothing has worked. I'm sure I must be doing something wrong - I can't imagine Centerline selling these cars over the past several decades if they don't work.

Anybody else encountered this problem with your Centerlines?
 
I found the rubber band on mine was catching the car frame. Try just rolling the towel up around the roller, and pull the car that way.
Also, if you have too much towel wrapped around the roller, it will stop rotating.
 
I found the rubber band on mine was catching the car frame. Try just rolling the towel up around the roller, and pull the car that way.
Also, if you have too much towel wrapped around the roller, it will stop rotating.
Hmmm...."too much towel" could very well have been my problem; I wanted to make sure there was enough to absorb all the mineral spirits left on the track by the CMX car. I'll have to check into that after work today.

...thanks!
 
Mine will drag if I cut the towel too wide (J cloth brand here in Canada) or wrap too much. I don’t use a rubber band, I tie a thread around the roller so it doesn’t jump over switches or crossings. Sometimes I don’t even tie it but you can’t reverse or it unrolls and shorts. Keep us posted!
 
I use a sparely amount of AC to secure the toweling to the brass rollers on my two CenterLine cars. I stopped using rubber bands.

I did find that the rollers will find any track nails that worked their way up out of the sub-road bed. This casue them to derail. Of course this happened usually in a tunnel. I re-secured the nails using white glue and making sure that the nail heads were at the top of the ties.

Greg
 
Hi guys, thanks for the responses!

I got home from work late today because of some honey-do errands, so I haven't had time to putz around with the problem Centerline cars, to experiment with Terry's suggested remedy. I do believe I'll have to go a bit more sparingly on the amount of towel material I wrap around the brass roller.

Mine will drag if I cut the towel too wide (J cloth brand here in Canada) or wrap too much. I don’t use a rubber band, I tie a thread around the roller so it doesn’t jump over switches or crossings. Sometimes I don’t even tie it but you can’t reverse or it unrolls and shorts. Keep us posted!
Thread instead of rubber band...interesting! I know a taut thread will slide against the frame more easily than a rubber band. Only potential interference I can think of may be the knot[?]

I use a sparely amount of AC to secure the toweling to the brass rollers on my two CenterLine cars. I stopped using rubber bands.
. . .
That looks like a good way to keep the toweling flat. I was going to try using double-sided tape instead of rubber bands, but you idea - where the glue soaks into the fabric instead of sitting under it - seems like it avoids adding an abrupt bulge like I'd get from the piece of tape. Is the dried AC easy to clean off the roller when replacing the towel?

Just thought of another question: Would it be safe to have just a single layer of towel around the roller...or would that be too thin to prevent a short?
 
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Some diagnostic images of one of my "problem" rollers:

CenterlineProblemRollProfileView.jpg
CenterlineProblemRollUnraveledLength.jpg


...too much towel[?]
 
That looks like a good way to keep the toweling flat. I was going to try using double-sided tape instead of rubber bands, but you idea - where the glue soaks into the fabric instead of sitting under it - seems like it avoids adding an abrupt bulge like I'd get from the piece of tape. Is the dried AC easy to clean off the roller when replacing the towel?

I use an Exacto knife with a #11 to cut and scrape the old towel material off the roller. Takes a minutes or so for one CenterLine car roller.

Greg
 
Ok gents, a solution has been found!

I used Walthers 'Goo' to anchor one end of the towel fabric, wrapped it around just once and cut it where it overlapped by 1/4", then used a little more Goo to lay down the trailing end.

Here is a side profile close-up view:
CenterlineCorrectedRollProfileView.jpg


The slight bulge of the overlap doesn't interfere at all, it rolls freely in both directions.

Here are both of my problem cars, positioned so the overlap seams are visible, with a tube of the adhesive I used:

CenterlineProblemTwinsCorrected.jpg


I successfully towed them both in a complete circuit around the layout, over turnouts and whatnot. So I'm guessing now they're ready for prime time [behind a CMX]. 👍👍

Thanx again everyone for your input!
 
Glad to see you got r' done Ken!
What brand of material are you using? Looks very similar to J cloth.
Rick, that is what came with the first Centerline car that I bought [used] in 2013. I figured it was what got packaged with the car back when it was brand new, since it's exactly the width of the roller...[?]
 
I have some Centerline track cleaning cars that are giving me fits. The towel rollers only actually roll for a few seconds...then they just stop and drag. This wouldn't be a major problem if it weren't for the fact that they derail when the frozen roller snags the point rails on a turnout.

I've tried (1) flipping the rollers with the towel edge facing or trailing in the direction of rotation, (2) making sure the rubber band was lying perfectly flat on the towel (i.e., not twisted), and (3) keeping the towel edges from protruding beyond the ends of the roller; nothing has worked. I'm sure I must be doing something wrong - I can't imagine Centerline selling these cars over the past several decades if they don't work.

Anybody else encountered this problem with your Centerlines?
I don’t use rubber bands, I just wrap the towel with a loop or two of thread and tie it off. I’ve never had a problem with the factory cut wipes supplied by Centerline, try to match the type and size of the factory ones if you can. The made from “bamboo” towels may work better than plain paper towels if you can’t match the original factory wipes.
 



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