I have several places on my layout that I need to park cars while switching. The final siding destinations are flat. I have used a block to stop cars, but there must be better methods and even perminent methods.
Two methods I've seen:
One is to have a pin that comes up in the center of the track. It can raise and lower. Raised, it is just above axle height. Lowered, it's "gone". You can use a switch machine or just a mechanical system, like a string.
Properly designed and built, it would only be apparent when active. And then it would be concealed by the car above it.
The other one was enough weeds between the rails, growing to an adequate height, to stop the car from rolling. This method is simple, but it's always there to do its trick. It's probably better used on the industrial spur, rather than the "main".
For "parking cars while switching", the first version looks superior.
Ed
For the pin method Ed refers to, you can use a switch machine below the track to move the pin up and down. Nothing fancy, usually you can find twin-coil switch machines (like old Atlas ones) at RR flea markets for a few bucks each.
What?!? You don't have working brakes on your train cars?!?
Jim
When I built my layout it was perfectly flat and nothing rolled; however, a few years ago Virginia experienced its first earthquake in a long time and now the layout isn't as perfectly flat as it was originally. I now use some sewing pins with yellow heads that my wife graciously supplied. It's the easiest and least expensive solution I could come up with. Hope y'all had a great Thanksgiving.
Some time ago, there was an article in MR about building derail units to use as temporary brakes on sloped sidings. Such devices could also work as actual derails should a parked car accidentally roll down the slope toward the main line.
Hornblower
Hello all,
Like this thread...
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/11/t/260145.aspx
Hope this helps.
"Uhh...I didn’t know it was 'impossible' I just made it work...sorry"
You could put a flywheel or motor and decoder to a few cars and no more rolling, just saying... good luck!
Steve
If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough!
An idea from way back, which probably was in the old MR column "Kinks" (an eyebrow raising term today but back then it meant a helpful hint or clever idea) about using the bristle from a hairbrush, inserted into a small hole drilled into a tie, and high enough to just catch the axle. Flexible enough to run over by a moving car pushed by a locomotive, but could hold a loose car in place to keep it from rolling. Or so the guy said who presumably pocketed the then-going rate of $2 for a submitted and published "kink."
Slightly OT but not really, is that the advent circa 1960 of Delrin smooth rolling trucks, first from Lindberg, then Athearn and Mantua and others, revealed to a lot of guys for the first time that their good old layouts had this "siding on an incline" problem and something needed to be done about it.
Dave Nelson
This thread was very timely since it motivated me to finally install a "hand brake" in a location where I frequently have to hold cars on a grade while cutting off the power for set-offs or pickups.
Here's a look at the main components I used:
car_stop5 by Edmund, on Flickr
Not shown is a 1/8" brass tube and flange which passes through the roadbed. I made the aluminum bracket with slotted holes for adjustment. Finer adjustment can be made at the actuating cable clamp.
car_stop4 by Edmund, on Flickr
I used a Hump Yard Purveyance Armstrong lever to actuate the rod. These levers come with about a meter of Bowden cable and the "throw" is about 5/8" which gives a good height to extend the pin when engaged in holding cars. The lever has a "click" at each end of the throw to hold it in place.
http://www.humpyard.com/
car_stop1 by Edmund, on Flickr
Here are the components after mounting:
A- Yellow Bowden cable from Hump Yard Lever; B- Brass flange with tube for passing through sub-roadbed; C- Microswitch for actuating fusee when pin is up; D- Fusee Animator from Logicrail; E- fine wire going to tiny LED to simulate a lit fusee.
car_stop by Edmund, on Flickr
The lever after mounting to fascia. This is near a corner so the likelyhood of bumping the lever is reduced.
car_stop2 by Edmund, on Flickr
The stopping pin shown extended. It will actually engage about 2/3 of a coupler. In practice I will probably engage it with the car axle.
car_stop3 by Edmund, on Flickr
About a car-length away is the fusee that indicates when the pin is up which will (hopefully) alert the engineer to the obstruction! The fusee is bright and looks very realistic and flickers randomly. The red tube is a short length of 30ga. wire insulation.
Once the pin is retracted the fusee continues to burn for an additional ten or twenty seconds (selectable on the board) then begins to "fizzle out".
I've been meaning to install this setup for years and finally got around to it last night
Thank You,
GMPullman that's a great install!
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My old Athearn gons with scrap metal loads pretty much stayed where I put them, until I replaced the old plastic wheelsets with new Intermountain metal wheelsets. Then I found how un-level this siding was. The patch of overgrown tall grasss solved the problem.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
GraniteRailroaderGMPullman that's a great install!
Thank You, Granite—
I hope others can gain something from the photos and ideas.
Regards, Ed
I also like your idea of the fusee to warn operators that the brake is up. Very cool!
BobL609 When I built my layout it was perfectly flat and nothing rolled; however, a few years ago Virginia experienced its first earthquake in a long time and now the layout isn't as perfectly flat as it was originally. I now use some sewing pins with yellow heads that my wife graciously supplied. It's the easiest and least expensive solution I could come up with. Hope y'all had a great Thanksgiving.
I remember that earth quake. I was working in Alexandria near the Mark Center off of 395 when it occurred. It was 5.9 or 6 depending on the source. Are you saying that actually tilted your layout? It should still be level. Thats the wierdest thing.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
I’m not saying the ‘quake did or did not tilt the layout but I didn’t have the problem before the ,quake. I have to fall back on the old axiom “if it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, the ultimate conclusion is that chances are it’s a duck“.
riogrande5761 BobL609 When I built my layout it was perfectly flat and nothing rolled; however, a few years ago Virginia experienced its first earthquake in a long time and now the layout isn't as perfectly flat as it was originally. I now use some sewing pins with yellow heads that my wife graciously supplied. It's the easiest and least expensive solution I could come up with. Hope y'all had a great Thanksgiving. I remember that earth quake. I was working in Alexandria near the Mark Center off of 395 when it occurred. It was 5.9 or 6 depending on the source. Are you saying that actually tilted your layout? It should still be level. Thats the wierdest thing.
Thank You, Hornblower!
I mulled over several ideas and settled on the fusee.
It has a lot of "railroad flavor" and the best advantage is that it is bright and can be seen from any angle so hopefully will draw the attention of the engineer!