Wheel scraper

Wheel scraper

There are 2 factors that help your locomotives to run reliably, clean track and clean wheels. The locomotive wheels are fitted with pick ups and the power goes from the track into the wheels and then via the pickups to the locomotive’s motor, or, in the case of DCC setups, the locomotive’s decoder. If there is dirt on the track, the wheels or the pickups, then your locomotive will not run reliably.

This is where this wheel scraper comes in. About the size and shape of a small pen, it has a small metal scraper in place of a nib, and at the other end it has a wire to connect to one track connection of your model railway power controller. To use the wheel scraper, you will need another wheel scraper, or a wheel brush (Peco PL-42), to connect to the other track connection on your power controller.

This second device is placed on a locomotive wheel that is on the opposite side. You will also need something to hold the locomotive securely in an up-turned position so that the wheels are uppermost, A Peco PL-70 Loco Servicing Cradle is ideal.

Thus with the scrapers (or scraper and brush) connected to the power controller, set the speed to a medium value and place the scrapers (or scraper and brush) on the locomotive wheels that you want to clean, one on each side of the locomotive.

The wheels will start to turn and the brushes (or scraper and brush) will remove the dirt from the wheels. By holding the scraper on the rear surface of the wheel flange, it will remove dirt from the rear surface of the wheel where the pick up makes contact.