Hi! What method do you all use to uncouple cars? I have tried serval methods and nothing seems to work good. I’m not opposed to using a (magic) wand. I have used Kadee magnets, got disgusted with them, currently i am picking up one end of the car just enough to uncouple it. Any comments will be welcome.
On my switching layout I tried Kadee magnets, they worked OK but it was a little difficult to get everything to work right…plus it greatly limited where I could uncouple. For now I’ve gone back to manually uncoupling like I did on past layouts. You can still use the delayed uncoupling features of the couplers, so I can uncouple a car on the main and push it into a siding and then back out leaving the car there without needing to do anything more. I’ve gotten good enough at lifting the car up slightly, sliding it over a little, engaging the couplers in the delayed position, and putting the car back down, that sometimes when I’m showing someone the layout they don’t even notice me doing it and can’t figure out how I got the car to stay in the siding when the engine backed away.
The Kadee megnetic ramps do work, but you need to have all the couplers mounted at the proper height. Check with the NMRA gauge or the Kadee guage. Make sure none of the couplers are sticky. Lube sticky ones with powdered graphite.
If you decide the magnetic ramps are too much trouble (many do) you can uncouple Kadees with a pointed wooden rod, like a sharpened pencil. Food stores sell wooden skewers that are just the right size. Work the point into the closed pair of knuckles with a slight twisting motion and the cars will uncouple.
With all the advances in motors, details, dcc and painting, couplers still remain old school. Someday someone will come up with a revolutionary coupler that doesn’t have the ghastly brakeline hanging and will electronically uncouple through dcc or some type of light gun. Until then I’m stuck picking up an end or stabbing it with a stick[sigh]
That’s the method I use about 95% of the time.
We use shish-ka-bob skewers with some graphite from a pencil tip rubbed on the end. I’ve tried Kadee’s, Accurail’s, and a couple of other coupler picks and have found the skewers the easiest to use.
You could try Sergent Engineering Couplers. No light gun, but I’ve found them to work pretty well. Other’s mileage may vary.
I use Kadee magnets, but now more the bamboo stick:
Wolfgang
kadee magnets work best for me if i remove the ties and build a platform from strip styrene to mount the magnet on. that places the magnet at rail height instead of just above like kadee recommends. i started this method when my atlas locomotives began snagging the magnet with the close clearance of their gear box covers.
all my layout is operated with FM walk around remote control and all the switches are hand thrown so a coupler pick is the most common method of uncoupling used. i find the rix magnet uncoupling tools work pretty well also.
magnets are used only on some of my industrial sidings and spurs and at strategic locations in the main yard.
the main yard has 11 double ended tracks. 4 a/d, 6 classification and 1 running or by-pass track that remains clear. only the classification tracks have magnets for uncoupling and only on the drill track end.
of course, the delayed action sometimes results in having to couple up the track or “make the joints” just like we did in the real world but that is a common everyday occurance in switching anyway.
cars from the class tracks often get set over to the a/d side of the yard by a “trimmer” engine that works off the lead at the other end of the yard. in that operation, just like when shoving cars into industry and interchange tracks, i use the pick or rix tool to cut the engine off and sometimes uncouple it from a convenient location with a pick, use the pick to offset the couplers and then shove the cars to the desired location.
this next statement will open a can of worms with some guys but here goes. KADEE-KADEE-KADEE !!! you are asking for trouble if you mix the different kadee clones with the original thing. acumate, mchenry, etc. are truly miracle products. when they work as well as the original kadee’s, it is a miracle.
and now for a final word on achieving dependable operation. lube the draft gear boxes and knuckles with some for
Have you ever seen a real train without the “Ghastly” brake line. Without the brake line the train brakes wouldn’t stop the train. Check the couplers on a real train next time you see one. I use ONLY Kadee couplers and if installed properly work extremely well. The Kadee wantabe couplers are junk si go in hte trash upon arrival.
Well, you can knock Kadee magnets, but, I have used them more years than most of you have been alive and they do work if properly installed. I use them in particular on industrial sidings that are hard to reach any other way. I have them on the throat of my main classification yard, and they work great. I use the skewers out on the mainline and they work pretty well. I seldom have to or want to grab them and lift them to uncouple, especially the shelf couplers.
Bob
I use a metal pick.I bought 4 of them from “The Toolman”, located in Texas.A quick description of these is simple.Picture an X-Acto knife blade handle,with a 3 sided pointed tip on the end of the handle.These picks are used by clay making artists.These picks are awesome at uncoupling Kadee coupler equipped cars.Insert the pick between the couplers and gently move them apart, or push aside the “trip pin” on the bottom of the coupler.
Rare earth magnets flush with the bottoms of the ties or a Rix uncoupling tool with a rare earth magnet glued to each side to increase the pull (sorry no photo yet but this is what the raw tool looks like):
Karl
I’m also a Kadee supporter, and have been since I started using K couplers long before anyone ever heard of magnetic uncoupling.
Two items:
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If you don’t like the ‘brake hose’ trip pins, just turn them 180 degrees and hide them under the car. I can even do it with steam, since there are no pilots on Japanese coalburners.
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The biggest problem with magnetic uncoupling is unwanted break-in-twos over fixed magnets. Possibilities for avoiding same range from electromagnets to putting clear nylon bristles in the way of truck axles to keep the slack stretched out.
I have had good success with ‘snap-down’ magnets - standard Kadee magnets, put down when needed and removed when coupling isn’t desired at that point. They snap down to chunks of steel imbedded in the roadbed under the ties.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Aw, don’t do that. If you have Kadees, the skewer method works well. There are also some official handheld uncoupling tools (Rix makes one), but routinely picking up your cars to uncouple them is something no modeler should be doing–the constant handing and skin oils aren’t good for them.
I dunno. The ones I see on the prototype look nothing like the Kadee trip-pin.
MTH’s new SD70Ace will have automatic couplers controlled by DCC They have video a link on their site. http://www.mthhotrains.com/models/SD70ACe.asp
I came across this on youtube and it seems fitting for this topic. Having an automatic uncoupler in the engine is ok, but in each car…[tup].
MTH’s new SD70Ace will have automatic couplers controlled by DCC They have video a link on their site. http://www.mthhotrains.com/models/SD70ACe.asp
big deal, i have had accumate couples doing this for years without the electronics.
grizlump
1Trak,
You’ve started 2 threads with a friendly “Hi!” but have yet to respond to them. [%-)] Have the responses that you’ve received from fellow forum members been helpful?.