There is an area on my layout where the track has a slight peak over an extremely short distance and it causes uncouplings because the couplers end up one high and one low, so they can’t keep ahold of eachother. Is there a product out there to force the couplers to stay together, or a technique? I was thinking about just tying string around both couplers. It only occurs on a few cars, the others dont have the problem. Any advice would be appreciated!
The obvious solution is to fix the track. If for some reason that is absolutely impractical, you can use Kadee #118 shelf couplers. Like the prototype they represent, they will tend to stay together better. John Timm
FIX THE TRACK!!!
John, do you have a coupler height gauge? It is a must even if your track is smooth.
You say it only happens to a few cars? How is the coupler height of these car’s? Are they dead on perfect with the coupler they are hooking to or a little off? With there being a hump, they are going to need to be perfect. You might move them toward the rear of the train so there is less pull on the couplers.
Does the couplers have a lot of up and down movement? I have had a few where the lids of the pockets where shot and I used screws to hold the coupler lid down tight and it fixed the problem.
All so, who made the couplers and what style are they? If they are brown plastic knuckle couplers more than likely they are Bachmann’s and will never stayed coupled.
Best thing and in the long run the easy way is to fix the track. What is causing your hump anyway?
Cuda Ken
I agree with the others, it’s your track. I had the same problems on parts of my new layout. All I did was pry up part of the track before the hump and squirt some latex caulk in there.
I’ll jump in and agree on the track as well. This time 6 months from now you’ll be operating your layout and saying one of 2 things.
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Another uncouplin:, damn that hump!!!
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I’m glad I took the couple of hours to fix that hump 6 months ago.
Good news and bad news regarding the suggestion to use shelf couplers. The cars will stay coupled but they may derail instead. I tried them and that is what happened to me. When the rear end of the lead car rose, it lifted the front end of the trailing car off the rails with resulting derails.
Solution: fix the track. Good luck!
I should say that the reason I have this problem is because the table the track is on is bowed because the wood wasn’t straight enough. So at the end of the table, where the track goes to a bridge and onto a flat/correctly built table, the track is flat. But on the other end where the table is cresting, it in turn causes the track to crest. So it will be a huge undertaking to fix this problem, if there is not a quick fix because the table is huge and would have to be rebuilt. The track and roadbed are all laid down and I have scenery EVERYWHERE!
John:
If the problem area is small and the peak not too pronounced, it may be possible to just adjust (re-do) the road bed in the area and not require a complete re-do of a large area of the layout.
Joe
You have a pic of the problem area? Sometimes you can raise the area around the hump rather than lower the problem spot.
I have a video of the problem area…if you look closely you can see the cars bowing up and then back down. I have got it to work on occasion such as in the video:
Looks like the problem is that the bridge is a little too high. That can be fixed with a section of incline starter. Here it is:
http://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/Item/ST1412/page/2
John, If the video is that spot that’s causing the uncoupling, it appears to be a problem at the bridge transition at the abutment. There’s either a sag in the bridge, the bridge is too low or the abutment itself is creating a hump back to the stock rail. Slight shimming at this spot to either the approacing track to the abutment or even lifting the bridge may help.
As to any sagging/ bowed framing under the plywood base, You can actually "sister/ double that bad joist to remove the sag. This wouldn’t require any rescrewing from the top if done correctly. If a straight joist isn’t strong enough to to lift the section, either cut an arc/ crown or find one that does. If for some reason the pine is too fleaxable to lift and hold the bowed joist, use poplar or even go to a 1x maple. I had to do this on a large span under one of our yards for the club.
I do this all the time with sagging floor joists. This should be a simple matter on the benchwork.
First check your coupler height…A slight peak shouldn’t cause the couplers to uncouple…
If the couplers are at the correct height then fix the track.
As a update.After watching your video 3 times I highly suggest you check your coupler height.That IMHO may be the problem since none of the passenger cars came uncoupled and the dip isn’t that all that bad-I had worst on 2 of my ISLs.
I can see the longer rolling stock having problems. That’s a pretty significant drop off. I’ve had problems with similar on my lift out section. I wound up lowering my 8x8 section of the layout 2 inches to correct.
John, Just watched another video clip of the Genesis steam. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_CMw9XAwPY&NR=1 That is one massive drop just past the abutment. Your only fix is to shim that track leading to the bridge.
Looks like your track has plastic road bed, correct? It all so looks like there is about 6 inches of sectional track that goes to the bridge, am I correct?
Looks like if you could pull out about 6 inches of track where the hump is. Use cork road bed to build the rail up to the other rail height. Then sand the cork roadbed for a smooth transition to the bridge. Cork roadbed is pretty easy to sand, I was able to get rid of some high spots on my new bench by doing this.
You may have to use a layer or two, your road bed looks pretty thick compared to my cork.
You could all so pull up some track and used a sanding block on the wood deck. It would take longer, but I have done that as well.
Cuda Ken
Any up dates?
The problem has subsided and seemed to have dissapeared. I re arranged a few cars and it just seems certain cars don’t work well together. That is a quick fix that seems to have worked. However, I plan on doing a modular layout in the future and use corkbed and track versus EZ track (which is a nightmare, especially switches) so that will be the long term fix…a flat layout with modules and real track versus the kid stuff ez track. Thanks for all the suggestions!
PS. I’m buying some shelf couplers too, just for future pains in the rear.