Cleaning Solvents...a thing of the past.

Here is an interesting one for you guys. I'd like to hear what Lynn or John Bush have to say about this.
Having worked at the Black Hills Central for a while and having worked in the shop in the winter time I have had my chance to get dirty...every day I work. Some days, much more so than others. I wouldn't get as dirty if the engines were clean when we started disassembling them...and that would be nice.
I have heard about engines being stripped of all grease and oil and grime as well as the paint before being shopped on the big roads. The UP had a whole building for this purpose in Cheyenne and probably Omaha and the other big shops that I'm guessing had grating for a floor and a pit underneith and they'd spray the engines down. On the Pennsy they had tracks that the engines would be pushed into and be submerged. This would be a VERY, very nice feature. Those days are probably gone. Closest thing I have come to using that almost "melts" or disolves grease is a parts washer.
My dad tells me the stuff they used in the old days was called Oakite. Or that was an ingredient.
We have just been scraping the frames off. Just about the only option. I like to wet it down a little with parts washing fluid before hand sometimes but it makes very little difference and usually ends up just being a waste of parts washer fluid. The stuff that is baked on to the cylinders has to be burned off. Burn and scrape, burn and scrape. Almost easier just to sand blast it all.
What do you guys do at Strasburg? Roaring Camp?
Thanks,
Kevin Bush