As anyone who operates a model railway will know, the rails get dirty very quickly (a mixture of dust and oil ground up by the train wheels). One way to clean the tracks is to run your finger along them, or a cotton bud. However, an easier way is to let the train do it. There are various track cleaning devices available for the popular gauges but not for narrow gauge... or is there? Birches Green is a HOe scale layout which uses N gauge width track and the bogies and wheels of the rolling stock are pretty similar to N gauge size.
So would some track cleaning pads intended to be attached to N gauge rolling stock axles work on Birches Green? Well yes! One of the departmental wagons was been fitted with a pad and has spent some time going around the layout, picking up the muck!
