Model Rail Christmas Gifts: Hornby Track Cleaning Coach

The Hornby Track Cleaning Coach (R296) popped up on Hornby's annual Top 10 Model Rail Christmas Gift list. It rolled (pun intended) into 10th place, but to my mind should have been higher.

Reading the reviews, there are a few negatives to go with the largely positive opinion of this tidy inexpensive solution to the perennial problem of dirty tracks.

This analysis of the R296 is based on a mixture of these reviews and personal experience. My own layouts are in a loft space and the garage -- both pretty dusty and prone to picking up dirt -- as well as the seasonal Christmas train around the tree in the sitting room.

This last is perhaps the worst, but due to fluff and not dirt: the tracks are pretty clean!

How Does the Hornby Track Cleaning Coach Work?

The point of a track cleaning coach is that it has to be abrasive to work. It scrapes the dirt off the tracks; replacing the need to go round with a track rubber.

A track rubber is an excellent low-cost solution if you can reach all the corners of your layout. In the garage layout, which is on wheels, I can. In the loft, where the layout is built into a corner, that's not the case.

Enter the track cleaning coach: two strips of wet and dry paper, held in spring-loaded clamps that force themselves onto the rails, pushed around by a suitable locomotive.

Most layouts that aren't actually grimy can be cleaned with a single trip around the loop. Obviously, dirtier tracks will need more attention, and for some only adding some form of cleaning fluid will have the desired effect.

So, for a lightly dirty track, this is the perfect solution. Points (a.k.a. turnouts or switches) don't unsettle it, but use with care, and consider cleaning them separately. They shouldn't usually be in inaccessible places on the layout anyway, for several reasons:

• if they're powered, they can go wrong;
• if they're manual, you need to switch them;
• if they're wire-in-tube, then they can suffer mechanical faults.

One point that most reviewers agree on is that you should also buy replacement strips at the same time because you don't get many in the box, and they will wear out.

Alternatives to the Hornby Track Cleaning Coach

I'm going to do a feature on this before Christmas, but 

• Gaugemaster track cleaning pads - hung below the axle this cleans but doesn't scrape;
• Dapol track cleaning wagon (powered) - drives around under it's own power, cleaning and scraping, but comes at a price;
• track rubber - from cheap to expensive: Rub Away, Peco, Gaugemaster;
• high frequency electronic track cleaner (Gaugemaster) - an always-on solution that activates when poor connectivity is detected between the loco and track: more preventative than anything else;
• telescopic track cleaning pads - part of a Woodland Scenics all-round kit that represents value for money, can reach tricky areas, but isn't as easy or fun as a motorised or mechanical version!

For ease of use, realistic price, and as a great Christmas gift for any model rail enthusiast, I'd go for the Hornby R296 Track Cleaning Coach.