Folks,
First of all I am a new user and overwhelmed by the information available on this site. I am about two months away from starting my third HO layout but as I’m still in the planning stages I have a few questions I could not find in the forum; Probably overlooked it in all the wealth of other info.
Because of room size I am forced to un-couple some of my cars on a curve, (18"rad.), using a wire wound magnet. I have not had any experience with this in the past other than I think it’s going to be a headache. Does anyone out there have any input on this? Should I try to work around it no matter what or is it managable? I would appreciate all the help I can get or direction to a previous article.
First of all, [#welcome]
Now, you are indeed setting yourself up for a headache. Is it absolutely necessary to uncouple on the curve? Could you uncouple on the straight, and puhe car(s) to where they have to be on the curve? Still, you would have difficulty in picking them up again. (Actually it’s this which is the bigger headache[banghead]) For the pickup, you could perhaps puhe cars to be collected along to a straigh section, couple and come back through the curve. Without seeing the track plan, it’s just generalities.
The uncoupling magnet should get the cars apart on the straight, but the coupler swing makes it tricky on tight curves, as you suspected. I take it you want a “hands free” operation, and uncoupling picks are not your first choice.
Folks with more experience may have a solution that will suit you better.
Regards,
A solution would be to install a kadee uncoupler on a straight right before the curve and then back the cars to where you want them, and then pull them away
Andrew
Seriously, there’s a good chance you’ll be in there with a pick doing a lot of that uncoupling on the curve by hand. I agree with Nigel, it should be avoided at all cost.
Maybe a little rethinking on the track plan would rid you of this situation. If you have a way to share it with us we might be able to offer some suggestions.
OK, you all confirmed my fear. I appreciate the input. I am going to have to put a straight section into my curve and re-arange the track plan slightly. I just have to scratch my head a little more with the limited space I have.
Careful how you scratch then![:D]
Seriously, though, you will be happier if you can get a straight section squoze in for the uncoupling. Remember that uncoupled cars can be pushed for a considerable distance, but re-coupling on a curve is a bear.
Have fun.
Watch out for how long a straight section you need. If one end of either car is on the curve, the couplings will start to move off the center line. Try it out with some track temporarily tacked down and a Kadee magnet just spiked in place.You might look at one of the larger, under-the-track magnets.