I set up three ovals of KATO HO-scale Unitrack on my layout, not secured, and ran a few trains this weekend. I ran some F units with one or two passenger cars and they went great. But when I tried running an 11-car train, I had a number of decouplings. All my rolling stock uses Kadees–gauged to the correct height (give or take a few micromillimeters).
My layout is foamboard on folding tables in my garage, which is not even. I know what’s causing the decoupling–it’s up and down motion. I’m afraid I can’t do much about the garage and its uneven ground and there’s no place else to set up the layout in my limited space.
Is there any way of keeping the Kadees secured when there is up and down motion? I should think this is a common problem and there must be some common solutions other than leveling the floor and pouring new concrete.
At your local HomeDepot or lowes you should be able to get screw in table feet. Screw one into the bottom of each table leg and adjust until level.
If the folding tables have metal legs and you are unable to do this, try this solution :-
1:-cut some 1x6 lumber the correct length to run underneath from front to back legs.
2:-put an adjustable foot on each corner of the lumber.
3:-place one of these ‘supports’ under each pair of front/back legs
4:-adjust accordingly
The layout may end up 2" or 3" higher but at least it will be level and the trains should run better.
I may be totally out to lunch here, but why shouldn’t couplers be able to navigate a little unevenness without uncoupling?
When you have inclines on your layout you are probably going up a considerably steeper grade than what results from unevenness in the basement floor. There has to be something else going on here and it seems to me the fault lies with the couplers, nothing else.
I will admit my rookie status, but the reasons for the problem given so far just don’t make sense.
I agree with ereimer and ukguy, you need to do something to get those tables level and stop the roller coaster ride. That should help tremendously. Otherwise you’ll have to invest in a whole bunch of “shelf” couplers for all your rolling stock.
My first layout was something like that. I was using sheets of 4x8 plywood panelling, stacked 2 or 3 deep on top of whatever sort of old table I could get a hold of. In some places I had old broom handles propping up parts of the layout. What a nightmare!
The vertical curves in the track. Right now you have a “flat” layout that is uneven. You can fix that by leveling the tables. I’d also suggest having the foam board spanning between the tables so that the foam joints are only on flat surfaces.
You’ll run into a similar problem if you build hills and climb up over them. You have to limit the degree of grade change, and have your train gradually ease into the grades. For instance when going from a flat grade, try 1 foot at 1% grade, then 1 foot at 2% grade. You’ll need to do the same thing at the crest of the hill. Going from 2% grade go 1 foot at 1% grade, 1 foot at 0% grade, then 1 foot at 1% grade down, and then 1% at 2% down. Get the idea?
You CAN prevent the couplers from ever coming apart, but beware that it’s VERY secure. Take some 1 1/2 or 2 pound test fishing line and loop through the couplers tying them together. If you do it right it’s not that obvious, and works well. I’d consider this ONLY is you have a unit train that you’ll ALWAYS run together, such as a coal haul.
If the above leveling suggestions do not solve the problem, purchase a 1" diameter bubble level and slide it along your track. Any shift in the relative positon of the bubble will identify dips or bumps in the track you may not be aware of. I seem to recall some other comments in this forum that foamboard is not alwys perfectly flat.
Thanks to everyone at their suggestions. I should have made clear that the way my garage floor is that dips are relative. I can try levellling the tables but it’s more like “local” dips and rises, not consistent throughout one of the tables that makes up the three in my layout.
When I last was doing a model railroad as a teenager, I was using hook and horn couplers. Now, I’ve gone to Kadees. I thought when I read “magnetic” couplers that they were actually magnetic in staying together. I know that not to be the case now.
I will try the various suggestions and see if that fixes it. At least with the move to Kato 31 radius curves, I no longer have derailments for my longer rolling stock or six-axle locomotives. Slowly but surely I’m ironing these probs out…
As a side note, I have two Bachmann Branchline sets from the UK–OO Scale Virgin Trains’ Voyager and Super Voyagers. The cars and head-end units have these circular “female” recepticles that you connect with these plastic rods that snap in. I am not sure if they are prototypical but they are awesome. These train sets are the ONLY ones I can run at full speed over and over without any derailments. Every time I run them everyone that watches them is amazed. I would happily trade prototypical reality for a similar US system that kept my rolling stock together.
BNSF4Ever
All of the suggestions above are good, some table leveling may be required. The suggestion of using a bubble level that will fit between the rails is what I’ve done, but some times, in fact most of the time I just get down and run different rolling stock coupled together, especially at trouble spots and at eyeball level watch the coupled cars roll over the spot, observing how the couplers slide up and down in correlation with each other.
If I see a dip and coupler seperation, a piece of styrene shim goes under the track to level the spot and remove the dip. In just about every case the problem is corrected and the couplers stay coupled. Paint the shim a dark color to match the ties, cover with ballast and they disappear.
You could always try and shim the foam board, after leveling the tables. Sometimes I take advantage of the uneven earth’s surface I have created on my layout. Almost like the real earth’s surface with little valleys and mogules, but certainly bring them down to scale. I have had to actually fill some areas in to bring the track level up by using drywall compound to resurface the area. Let it dry and sand. Creates a nice drainage area next to the track, and provides some nice contours.
Sometimes I have to change coupler heights for a better match, and of course check the springs on your couplers to make sure they close. McHenry couplers and those that use the Delrin spring built into the coupler sometimes loose their spring and don’t close the coupler causing decoupling. Good tight coupling wtih good spring action can mean the difference when it comes to keeping your rolling stock in toe.
This seems to be a problem with less than 1 inch foam, I notice in all of the articles written about using foam as a base it is recommended that you use at least 2 inch foam. I have asked both Lowes and Home Depot about 2 inch foam and they don’t carry it. For me the two inch foam is hard to find. You may have to go to an insulation distributor.
Rob
WTRR