Stopping Cars on a Slope

[MisterBeasley]

I use tufts of field grass between the ties.  It's strong enough to hold a couple of cars, but flexible enough to easily let an engine pull the cars out again.  No linkages, cables or panel knobs.   It just looks like weeds when the siding is empty.

[cowman]

Mike got started on the answer, I'lll add a little to it.

You will end up with a pin sticking up through the roadbed, the same as the electrical ones, only you will have to push and pull the control knob to get it to raise and lower.  If your knob will be sticking out of the facia and subjected to getting bumped, you might want to have it verticle or move to a place where it wont be as apt to be bumped.

The cable is quite flexible, a coil around the sliding center.  You will have to cut the cable to length, with the center left long enough to come up and contact the axles.

Depending on how far your track is from the facia, you will need some support for the cable.  Cable clamps will work, just remember to leave enough room for the cable to curve up gently to verticle, so your pin is straight,  You might have a 2" thick block attached under the layout, with a hole just large enough for the cable to slip through, but is held tightly.

Do some experimenting before you cut it to length to see how sharp a curve you can have and what size hole will work to hold the end.

Good luck,

Richard

[mbinsewi]

FRRYKid

How would one go about rigging something llike that?

Kind of like all the fancy electrical methods earlier in the thread, except your doing it by hand.

Rig up the cable so when you push it in, the wire pops up and holds the cars.  Pull it out and the wire drops down.

You know what kind of cable cowman is talking about, right?  Probably get a universal choke cable from a auto parts, a hardware store, a tractore supply store, or Walmart, in the auto parts and accessory area.

You'll have to use your engenuity to figure out how to mount the cable to fit your needs.  Have the knob or button that you pull in and out mounted on the facia.

Mike.

[FRRYKid]

Normally, it is supposed to. I have a river that runs in the middle of the module. (NMRA standard - 4 ft wide by 30" deep) It is one part of the 3 that make up the lake area. At some point over the years the two halves shifted. Where the yard is has gone up and the other side has gone down.

[kasskaboose]

I thought the track slopes down to the yard and not vice versa.  Would placing some stryene or a tie across the track work?  I like the idea of physically stopping a car with simple solutions.

[FRRYKid]

cowman

needing a stronger holding force, a ... choke cable ... can be used

How would one go about rigging something llike that?

[FRRYKid]

I did a slope test on that section a little earlier and was a little shocked. I used my torpedo level and found that it wasn't level until I put a 5/16" drill bit under it! (and a torpedo level is only about 6" long!) I think I will need to get the stronger holding power with the cable.

[cowman]

For a small yard the brissles or fine wire should work.  For a larger yard, needing a stronger holding force, a throttle or choke cable from your auto parts or yard equipment dealer, can be used.  It is manually operated, should you want automated, the Tortoise with a heavier wire should work.

Good luck,

Richard

[FRRYKid]

The yard in question is a small two track yard that holds feight cars for a car ferry. Three to four cars at most. It is not a main freight yard for a large railroad.

[dknelson]

FRRYKid

Does anyone make a devise that can be used in HO scale to hold cars from rolling down a slope? It seems I have designed a yard on my new layout that is a bit higher than the lead track. As usual any assistance would be most welcomed.     

The various postings above give some great solutiuons - some low tech "passive" ones, some more elaborate and physically intrusive  -- but in re-reading your post I noticed that the problem is with an entire yard lead.  The ideas above work well for sidings on a grade.  But having operated on a layout that had one of these push button "hill holders" I know that they are easily forgotten with crunching results.   I think this could be a major annoyance in a yard and yard lead which might be the most heavily used track on the entire railroad.

On that basis my bias would be towards the solutions that let a train being active pushed or pulled to go over the obstacle and only carefully placed loose cars would be stopped by it -- the slightly stiff bristle, not too tall, in the center of a tie.  But be aware that that idea works for an isolated car or two.  It might not stop an entire string of cars.  In that case perhaps the physical object placed by hand -- I have also seen one disguised as a "blue flag" - might be a good option for a car or string of cars placed there, but again with the thought that a locomotive or car being pushed might be able to shove it out of the way.  

Dave Nelson

 

[gmpullman]

I have a similar situation, a slight grade before a yard lead turnout.

Like Mike, I used a length of piano wire actuated by a Hump Yard Purveyor lever quadrant:

car_stop1 by Edmund, on Flickr

Here's the underside view.

A: Bracket with actuating wire

B: Brass guide tube through roadbed and soldered to mounting plate

C: Microswitch^®

D: Fusee Animator board

E: Wire to Fusee LED

car_stop2 by Edmund, on Flickr

The extended pin.

car_stop by Edmund, on Flickr

...and control lever. I also have a micro switch wired to a fusee between the rails so when the pin is engaged the fusee is lit as a reminder. Once the pin is retracted the fusee sputters out like a real one using the Logic-Rail Fusee Animator and a tiny, red LED.

car_stop3 by Edmund, on Flickr

The pin extends almost high enough to engage the coupler but I usually rest an axle against it.

Here's the bits before mounting,

car_stop5 by Edmund, on Flickr

Good Luck, Ed

[UNCLEBUTCH]

I used bristles from a broom,drill hole in tie, glue in place.Then snip off as needed untill they just touch the axel.Engine can push cars over, but the bristles will keep them from rolling back. I needed 3 on one spot, but only one at another. Mine were black,you could not see them,or paint em green as weeds

[mbinsewi]

Fishing line seems like a good idea.  I know I have seen that before.

Mike.

[hon30critter]

I recently saw an article which suggested using a Tortoise switch machine on its side. The Tortoise lever was connected at 90 degrees to a rod that ran up between the ties to the height of the axles. The suggestion was made to paint the visible part of the rod bright yellow so the operators could see it when it was in the up position.

Theoretically you could place several along a length of track, that is if you can justify the cost.

Dave

[Alantrains]

I drilled a small hole and glued a piece of nylon fishing line sticking up between the rails to stop log cars rolling away on my branch line. They need to stick up only as high as the axles and you can add as many as you need and use thicker line for steeper slopes. Just enough so a loco can still pull the cars out and in.

 

[mlehman]

The simplest thing I use is something like a wheel chock, but disguised as a stack of treated wood.

In other places where I know I'll need to switch cras on a grade, I made these pop-up brakes, like the one next to the "B" sign here.

Here's a better view of it retracted.

And extended.

I made these from a manual turnout control that was made Bear Valley Railroad Supply, including one that was made specifically as a brake. It was a fancy version of a choke cable control, which could likewise be adpated in this way. A pic of the Freight Break packaging.

I kludged this together from a RC aircraft crank control arm as a substitue for the discontinued BVRRS ones.

 

[wvg_ca]

either place  magnet underneath [if you have ferrous metal close] or place a restriction on the wheels, like tight trucks or overlength wheelsets

...the real ones used wheel blocks [or chocks] in some cases

[FRRYKid]

Does anyone make a devise that can be used in HO scale to hold cars from rolling down a slope? It seems I have designed a yard on my new layout that is a bit higher than the lead track. As usual any assistance would be most welcomed.