Magnet Uncouplers for N-scale

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
1

I am in the process of designing and constructing a new layout, and want to include magnet uncouplers in several areas. I searched and read the archives, but was hoping to get a little more current and scale-specific information if possible. To that end I would appreciate any advise you can provide. Some questions I have are:

  1. Most posts refer to rare-earth magnets. How do these differ from the type of magnets found in craft and hardware stores. Is there a specific type I should purchase?

  2. One concern I would have with the craft/hardware store magnets are that the softer varieties might sluff off particles. Is this an issue? Since these will be buried below the track, I assume a thin styrene plate over the magnet location will suffice to eliminate this concern.

  3. I have found rectangular magnets that would seem to offer the benefit of a greater margin of error in locating the cars when uncoupling. Would this work?

Again, any help you can offer will be most appreciated. As my layout will be a multi-level shelf layout built into custom bookcases, I really want to make sure I use the best practices possible.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Cordially,

Paul

2

Hi Paul I’m still learning about magnets and uncoupling in N scale, and hope you get some good replies that I can learn from. What I know so far is occasionally rare earth magnets do show up in craft stores – they are the silver colored ones that say “extra strength” and are very expensive and hard, no problem with anything sloughing off, but they are brittle so don’t go dropping anything on them. A less expensive place to get them is All Electronics http://www.allelectronics.com/ They call them neodymium magnets.

3

I have previously used magnets with N scale on a large layout. After trying different things, the solution that I came up with that worked for me was the following:

I used Kadee HO #308 under the track magnets. (I think that is the correct number) I cut them in half cross wise to make them shorter. (N is half the size of HO) I cut both the metal plates and the magnet material. They had to be installed just prior to laying the track over them. Make sure they are centered side to side. Next, I had to bend the coupling pins outboard slightly on all my cars and locomotives so that the pins on both mating couplers would not move the same way, but spread apart. Installing the magnets and bending the coupler pins takes time and patients. It is not something that can be done quickly. However, once you get them right, they will give you years of trouble free operation. You are going to have to work out how to burry them in your roadbed. I used homasote and just cut out squares for them. After installing them, I made sure they worked OK then added some caulking on each side to hold them in place before adding ballast and scenery.

4

I would agree that using the kaydee magnets is best. Although I work in HO I find that the rare Earth magnets (Neodium) are too strong and end up pulling the coupling so strongly that they can derail some cars.

Try using a spare piece of track with various types and locations for magnets to see if you can come up with a working combination. I have 2 under track magnets installed on my layout. One was causing unwanted uncoupling so I made it a hinge down one. I just use fishing line to pull it up when needed.

cheers