Lionel 027 unload track

[GPJ68]

Fred,

FYI, there is an O27 equivalent to the O RCS track w/o the center magnet - I believe the # is 1019 - looks just like the RCS only in O27 length and profile (I have a handful packed up). I think it wires up slightly different though - two wires get switched around on the screw terminals of the track piece. Greenberg/K-Line mention it in their respective PostWar repair books.

I can't check any of my coil coupler cars at the moment (they're 300+ miles away), but I'm pretty sure the coil coupler shoes are mounted in the same place/side as the operating cars (without coil couplers). There were one or two op cars (the Merchandise car for one?) from the coil coupler era that had two shoes on each truck, one on each side (I think).

I personally would stick with the O guage RCS/UCS pieces to use with O track, and not try to shim and fit the O27 piece to save a few bucks. Actually, I'm going to do the reverse and use some RCS sections in my O27 layout - it gets frustrating fussing around trying to get the longer cars to sit perfectly on the O27 length op tracks to make a good connection. The O27 pieces will be regulated to uncouple only areas, or for op areas using only shorter O27 cars (the 3469 ore dump, 3461 log dump, short milk cars, etc).

GPJ

[BR60103]

Thamk you Fred. My Lionel experience was 53 to 60. I thought that some of the bigger locos (the F3s) had coil couplers. I never had any, so I can't say.

[fwright]

David

I never thought about it. I'll have to dig up an early operating postwar car (if I have one) with the electromagnetic coupler and see if the pickup shoes are on the opposite side. That would be my best guess, but that means that the early postwar operating cars such as the coal dump would have to have 2 shoes on a truck, which, if I'm not having a senior moment, I believe I have seen such an animal.

The electromagnetic couplers had a short production life, rapidly giving way to the present magnetic pin/disk uncoupling system. I don't think the electromagnetic couplers were sold with the few O27 sets in the days of their production, and I don't believe the O27 operating track went into production before the demise of the electromagnetic coupler. I've never seen an RCS equivalent -operating track with 2 full length operating rails and no center magnet in O27, which is what was originally sold for the electromagnetic couplers.

I'm guessing from memory that the non-operating cars with electromagnetic couplers have the shoes in the correct place for the O27 operating track - it would only be the operating cars that did not. Lionel used the same controller for both the O and O27 operating tracks, so the same unload/uncouple scheme was used - just 2 fewer operating rails on the O27 track than on the UCS.

The gist of all this for an operator like me - if I'm correct about 2 collection shoes per truck on an operating car - is that I cannot uncouple 2 consecutive operating cars with electromagnetic couplers over an O27 operating/uncoupling track. Pretty rare limitation for me!

I'm not an expert on postwar Lionel by any means - I just operate some of it, and I don't mind doing wiring modifications to get desired voltages and get around missing controllers. Maybe somebody more knowledgeable than I can chime in.

yours in Lionel uncoupling
Fred Wright

[BR60103]

Fred: I've wondered for 50 years: what are the other 2 rails on the UCS section for? Does it have anything to do with the electric couplings?

[fwright]

First I assume you are talking the combined operating/uncoupling track with 2 button controller marked with "unload" and "uncouple". Yes, with 4 exceptions in functionality (I am assuming there is no difference between the model # you cited and other O27 production) I know of:

The O27 piece is not set up to run off fixed voltage, but rather the track voltage - same as the O27 switches. You can clip one wire of the control cable and take it to fixed voltage and it will work. I would have to study wiring diagrams or my past mods to know which wire it is. It is more than likely the same wire as the O piece since the controllers are the same. The O piece has screw terminals for attaching the controller cable instead of already being attached. If I'm not having a senior moment, either the number #1 or #4 wire gets left off and replaced with a fixed voltage source - the O directions tell you which one.

The O27 piece is shorter. Longer operating cars will have to be positioned more precisely to get both shoes on the operating rails - the longest cars (like the new milk cars) very precisely.

The O27 piece has only 2 operating rails instead of the 4 on the O piece. If you are operating cars such as the postwar barrel car or double bin ore dump car that require only one of the two operating shoes to be on the operating rails (both shoes hot, grounds to the outside rail), you will have to check that the orientation of the shoes where you will operate the car and the O27 operating rails are correct. You may have to reverse the track or the car to get the correct oreintation. FWIW, you use the uncouple button, not the unload button (I think) to make both operating rails hot. The unload button only makes one operating rail hot, and grounds the other for "normal" operating cars.

With items like the milk platform, you may have to adjust the distance from the track to the platform to get proper operation. The O27 operating track is a real loose fit in the milk platform. And of course, set the accessory platform heights for O rather than O27 if you have shimmed the track up to O height.

I have inserted O27 operating/uncoupling tracks as the transition track between my O main line and my O27 spur on more than one occasion. I have also rewired all my O27 uncoupling/operating tracks to be constant voltage. Actually, I use a separate phased transformer that I can vary the voltage on for the operating tracks. Not all operating cars work well on the same voltage.

Hope this helps and makes sense

yours in operating cars and accessories
Fred Wright

[Anonymous]

I would like to revisit the uncoupler track topic w/one more question. What is thedifference between the 6-12746 (new 027 w/2 button controller) and the 0 guage with same controller? Would the 027 function the same, as long as I shimmed it up?
Thanks
Tom