027 vs 0 uncoupling tracks

[Anonymous]

I had an 027 layout when I was a kid, with the Lionel 027 uncoupler track. I am now building a real 0 guage w/031 curves and 022 postwar switches. I found the old 027 sections. What is the real difference, besides shimming the bottoms of the 027 to make them level w/the true 0 guage uncouplers with the magnet in the middle-pros/cons thoughts-(pondering if I should reuse the old sections or spring for real 0 uncouplers-The old sections are missing the buttons so I would have to buy some cheap pushbuttons at Radio Shack)Thanks

[Dr. John]

If I were you, I'd spring for the O gauge uncoupler section or the accesory/uncoupling section. You could make the O-27 section work, but why go to that much trouble?

[Big_Boy_4005]

As far as the size difference goes, no big deal there. Shims and mating pins will get the job done from a function standpoint.

Wiring may be just a lillle trickier than a couple of push buttons. There are a bunch of contacts inside the missing controller. The buttons will work, it is a matter of knowing what to hook them to. I'm sure there is a wiring diagram somewhere on the internet. try this. http://www.olsenstoy.com/


http://www.olsenstoy.com/

[Blueberryhill RR]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Dr. John

If I were you, I'd spring for the O gauge uncoupler section or the accesory/uncoupling section. You could make the O-27 section work, but why go to that much trouble?

I agree with Dr. John. I use 0 gauge track and 022 switches and 0 gauge UCS
tracks. The pushbuttons have many contacts inside. I would buy 0 gauge UCS
tracks, rather than fool with the 027's.

[Kooljock1]

The biggest useful difference is that you can wire the "O" Gauge version for continuous fixed voltage. This mean that no matter how slow you're running your train(how low your track voltage is) the uncoupler will work as you want it.

If you plan on running in TMCC, with the fixed voltage you don't need to worry about melting the coil.

I have all of mine set this way, and it works equally well in TMCC and conventional.

Jon [8D]

[lionelsoni]

The more modern open O27 magnetic-uncoupling sections need shimming on a flat surface anyway. The electromagnet assembly protrudes below the level of the table.

[Munster518]

Since where on this topic of uncoupling tracks, I had a question about mine? I have a bunch of the O gauge uncoulping tracks that I'm using for my layout but I also have these uncoulping tracks that don't have that center piece for uncoulping cars? It seems like there used for operating cars, but which ones, thats my question? thanks

John[:)]

[fwright]

Actually, the O27 remote/uncoupling tracks can easily be wired for fixed voltage operation. There have been several versions of the uncoupling track over the years, some with 2 wires to the electromagnet, and some with 1, so giving specific directions would be rather difficult. I figured it out by studying the wiring diagrams in the postwar operating/repair manuals or instruction sheets, and the underside of the tracks.

From memory - my reference books and trains are packed away waiting to be set up for Christmas. Hopefully, others can correct any errors in the next paragraph

For fixed voltage operation, it's usually a matter of cutting the connection(s) to the center rail and splicing a new wire to your fixed voltage. As for replacing the 2 button controllers for the remote operating tracks, you need to remember that to uncouple both accessory rails are "hot" and magnet is live. For unload, one accessory rail is grounded and the other is hot, magnet is dead. For this reason, I think you need 2 pole push buttons (might even have to be double throw because some contacts may be normally on) - the same as in the Lionel controllers.

yours in operating cars
Fred Wright

[fwright]

To answer John's question: The earliest form of postwar Lionel uncoupling used electromagnetic coils instead of the later magnetic disks or pins to release the knuckles. You can see the copper windings around the coupler armatures on these cars. The trucks had a shoe - same as the operating shoes - that picked up the current from the operating section rails and passed it to ground through the truck frame and the outside rail. With the electromagnetic couplers, both the operating cars and couplers used pickup shoes to the operating rails. Therefore, there was no need for a central magnet. Note the newer cars with the disks or pins to actuate the couplers cannot be uncoupled remotely without a magnet to pull the pin or disk down.

yours in operating remotely
Fred Wright

[BR60103]

John:
The extra rails were also used by a number of cars -- log unloaders and coal dumpers.
Northernpikefish:
the O27 sections are shorter than the O sections as well.

What's with the controllers being missing? I saw a boxful at a show yesterday that had been trimmed at the side of the track.

[GPJ68]

The difference in length between the O27 and O versions can be a concern. Longer modern operating cars, like the MTH ore dump and log dump cars, must be centered PERFECTLY on the shorter O27 sections to get them to work - as little as @ 1/8 inch to either side and one of the truck shoes won't contact the op rail. Same goes for the longer PostWar cars like the gray log dump, and I would assume the operating horse corral car.

Stick with the O sections - less hassle, same length as the standard straights, no shimming, no pin mismatch, slightly easier to wire for constant voltage (you definitely want to do that).

I've got a handful of O RCS/O27 1019 non-magnet sections that I'm thinking of cutting the ends off and joining 2 or more together to make a one long op track section.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all of the info guys. I think I will go to the real O.
TOm

[cnw1995]

Welcome to the forum, Tom I know what you really mean - as someone who enjoys 027 track, I want to share it is just as much 'real' O as 031 et al... [:)]