I understand that cars cannot be coupled on curves less than some radius. But on smaller layouts, much of the trackwork is curved and there may only be a few locations to have straight sections near passing sidings allowing coupling. What are there locations?my guesses are:- just beyond the diverging legs of the switches, allowing cars to be uncoupled on either branch of the siding- on the non-diverging leg of the switches, at least several cars away from the switches/siding- somewhere in the middle of each branch of the passing siding
greg - Philadelphia & Reading / Reading
Hi Greg
It's the same for coupling and uncoupling. For hands-off (un)coupling both pieces of equipment will have to be on the same piece of "straight". Five times the length of your longest car involved should be the minimum radius. A 60 foot car will need at least a 41" radius: on a small layout?
So, most people are using some sort of a device (e.g. a wooden stick) to aid the process manually.
To reach over scenery or trains, between you and the action, will require some thoughts while planning your layout.
Paul
The radius of the curve and the length of the car determine if it will work, I have some logging stuff that works on coupling with 18" radius.