Hi again, I have a question about a track piece. I recently purchased a lot of track at a yard sale. I am very familar with all types of track pieces. However, I have a piece of track that I do not know what it is used for and would like clarification. It is a curved 18" radius rerailer track piece but it has a depressable copper strip down the center of the track. I am familar with uncoupler tracks but this isnt one of those. Does anyone know what this track piece is used for? I can provide a picture if necessary. Thanks.
HO Scale? Can you post a picture?
What gauge is the track?
RR Baron
That sounds like the uncoupling ramp that some guys fabricated to use with Baker couplers (the kind John Allen and Whit Towers used). That brass or copper strip would lift up the bottom arm of the hook - and you had to lift the hooks of BOTH couplers for the cars to uncouple. It was a very reliable coupler which looked nothing like the prototype of course.
If indeed this is what it is, then it goes way back. I am not aware that there was a commercial version of a Baker uncoupling ramp but I may well be in error. These days I usually am ....
Dave Nelson
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greg - Philadelphia & Reading / Reading
gregc ?
Thet's gotta be a "one way" uncoupler for those ever-popular X2f's.
But the OP mentioned a copper strip. Hopefully, a photo will ensue. Sounds interesting.
Dave's suggestion seems likely. Since there's a rerailer section, it sounds kind of early '60's-ish. I seem to remember that Mantua/Tyco "lingered" with that type of coupler. Perhaps they made/sold it?
I found some photos of the Mantua coupler installed, but couldn't "snag" them for posting. Here's one as a kit (I guess). The round pins stick out the bottom, and when you push up on them, they uncouple. Maybe.
You can find more photos searching for: Mantua ho coupler
Ed
7j43kThet's gotta be a "one way" uncoupler for those ever-popular X2f's. Ed
Ed,I don't know of any modeler that didn't use X2Fs back in the day and this list will include many modelers that has since become popular in the pages of MR and RMC..
If one had basic modeling skills he could get those couplers to work smooth.
The X2F should have its rightful respect in the annuals of Model Railroading since it bought a standard coupler to the hobby to end the hodge podge of couplers manufacturers supplied...
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
while wating for photo , does it have contacts on bottom of track ?
BRAKIE Ed,I don't know of any modeler that didn't use X2Fs back in the day and this list will include many modelers that has since become popular in the pages of MR and RMC..
Well, ya know me, don't ya?
As soon as I knew Kadees existed, all my X2f equipment (4 cars and a loco) was converted. And that was back in 1959. Which might qualify as BEFORE back in the day.
7j43k BRAKIE Ed,I don't know of any modeler that didn't use X2Fs back in the day and this list will include many modelers that has since become popular in the pages of MR and RMC.. Well, ya know me, don't ya? As soon as I knew Kadees existed, all my X2f equipment (4 cars and a loco) was converted. And that was back in 1959. Which might qualify as BEFORE back in the day. Ed
I'm with Ed, I never used X2f couplers. The stuff my father handed down to me was all equiped with Varney dummy knuckle couplers. I went from them right to Kadee.
Sheldon
I really am hoping for a picture of this track section
.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
if the picture is of a brass strip that sits in the center of the track ...it -might- be Mantua ...alsoo could be Varney or Tyco .. they ran similar, but slightly different, center strips for uncoupling
Sounds to Me, that it is a Mantua uncoupler ramp. Pulling a train over it, you stopped and backed-up, then pulled forward, they would then uncouple. I had a couple on My 50's layout. The Mantua's actually worked pretty good...they were just un-sitely.
As far as the X2F's...before Kadee, they were the best coupler you could get. Some people still use them to this day........
Take Care!
Frank
Before the train-set makers made them nearly unworkable with one piece cheap plastic moldings - when the X2f coupler first appeared, there were many brands that were far more robust than the oones found in cheap train sets in the 70's, the ones that make most people absolutely hate the design. And some insist on calling it the "NMRA coupler" even though it was never ratified as a standard.
I still have some mantua couplers in a pill bottle that were removed from the oldest equipment my parents had, we always just has X2f on everything, and Rapidos on the N scale.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
gregc, I have one of those like the one pictured, made by atlas. Does is have any use for kadee's?
I'm beginning to realize that Windows 10 and sound decoders have a lot in common. There are so many things you have to change in order to get them to work the way you want.
http://s292.photobucket.com/user/bigalspitzer/media/20180822_185736_zpsywc0mnst.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0
Here is a picture of it.
Locojunkie http://s292.photobucket.com/user/bigalspitzer/media/20180822_185736_zpsywc0mnst.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0 Here is a picture of it.
Gotta be for the Mantua/Tyco couplers. But it looks like it's straight, not 18" radius curved.
I believe, if you pull through, the little hook(s) part of the coupler is supposed to be grabbing the big loop(s); and the train stays coupled.
If you push through, it will uncouple, and recouple as the train continues pushing.
But if you push through, and stop with couplers "over" that ramp, you can back out and leave the car behind.
That's the theory of operation, anyway.
It would not work for X2f or Kadee mechanicals, because they depended on having offset pins, not centered ones.
Perhaps some of the other center-pin mechanicals would have also worked?
yeah thats my bad, it is a 9" straight. I was trying to recall from memory until I got home yesterday evening to take the picture of it. I have two of them. I figured them to be possibly reversing track pieces that makes the train reverse automatically on a siding. I didnt think they were uncoupling tracks because of the copper strip in the center. I was used to seeing an uncoupling track like those pictured above.
The metal strip is interesting. My first guess is/was that it was chosen for durability, what with those pins rubbing across it all the time.
MAYBE there's a way to pull it down, and outa the way, being as it's kinda springy. That's something that might be cleared up looking at the underneath.
zstripe....As far as the X2F's...before Kadee, they were the best coupler you could get. Some people still use them to this day........
I've never used the X2F couplers, and I think that Kadees pre-dated them, as I was using Kadees on my first HO trains in the mid-'50s. The Kadees were first offered in the early '50s, I believe.
Wayne
Isn’t that track for operating some kind of automated/animated car? That is my guess. The metal part is magnetized.
I had a similar section back in the sixties. Mine was also a 9 inch rerailer. But, I had an electromagnet mounted to the side that would raise the ramp on command, but otherwise leave it down. As I recall, the ramp was symmetrical, with the same appearance from both ends, unlike the picture.
I had, and still have, a bunch of Mantua/Tyco clamshell hoppers. I found that a fixed X2F uncoupling ramp would activate the hopper doors and dump the coal, so I needed this contraption to avoid that.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
doctorwayne zstripe ....As far as the X2F's...before Kadee, they were the best coupler you could get. Some people still use them to this day........ I've never used the X2F couplers, and I think that Kadees pre-dated them, as I was using Kadees on my first HO trains in the mid-'50s. The Kadees were first offered in the early '50s, I believe. Wayne
zstripe ....As far as the X2F's...before Kadee, they were the best coupler you could get. Some people still use them to this day........
Wayne,The issue was HO had no standard coupler just a hodge podge of various designs including the KD that was incompatible..This was unacceptable.
The NMRA designed the X2F but,the design was never rattified..The manufacturers readily agreed to use that design.
Oddly enough by the mid 60s the KD was slowly being widely accepted.
I just meandered over to my old NMRA data sheets (from back when I was a member). The X2f data sheet is/was D1i, and the issue date is October 1956.
There are earlier referenced dates for publications, the earliest being March of 1955:
NMRA Bulletin--March 1955--Three Firms Make Couplers
Model Railroader--May 1955--Installation Methods (p. 51)
Model Trains--September 1955--Installation Methods (p. 18)
I note that Kadee has an "about us" page. But I don't believe the dates. It says the 5 was introduced in 1956. And was a delayed magnetic. No way. The non-delayed magnetic was introduced about 1960. Which would explain why I started out with the mechanicals. And soon changed over. At that time (1960), the Kadee was widely seen as the best coupler. And, being an elitist, I wanted the best. It looke a LOT like a real coupler. And it worked well. There was another one that looked pretty good (Roundhouse/MDC ??), but my recollection was that it had a bad operating reputation.
I am quite familar with the talgo couplers on the tycos and bachmanns. I still have some of those on cars for sentimental purposes. I have replaced all those with kadees and mcHenry and ez mate couplers. The copper strip is depressable. I put one of my cars on the track and pushed it several times and the coupler catches. It will probably derail a train in I used it. I also thought about it was a action accessory track but I still have tyco unloading box cars and operating hopper cars and none of those has this type of track.
7j43k...There was another one that looked pretty good (Roundhouse/MDC....
I remember those, and always thought that they looked better than Kadees...
Kadees, like these, worked better, though...
LocojunkieI can provide a picture if necessary.
Time for a picture
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
BigDaddy Locojunkie I can provide a picture if necessary. Time for a picture
Locojunkie I can provide a picture if necessary.
BigDaddy
I think that's just used as a spring to hold the ramp elevated and flat. It's not electrical at all.