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Spotting markers for undertrack magnets in a yard

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  • Member since
    January 2004
  • From: Canada, eh?
  • 13,375 posts
Posted by doctorwayne on Tuesday, October 20, 2015 12:22 PM

These aren't under-track ones, but they're just as invisible once a train is over them.  I use simple posts, as shown below - they're Evergreen .100" styrene rod.  I brush-paint them yellow, then add a black stripe - it looks sorta railroady...one of those "what the heck does that sign mean?" kind of things that we less-knowledgeable railfans sometimes see when we're trackside.  Posts with two stripes denote that the track beyond the one immediately behind the post also has an uncoupling magnet at the same location.

Here's another visible magnet, but in an area with scenery:

Wayne

  • Member since
    December 2004
  • From: Bedford, MA, USA
  • 21,484 posts
Posted by MisterBeasley on Tuesday, October 20, 2015 11:24 AM

I've got a number of visual cues.  One has a pickup truck parked next to the track.  Another has a trackside ditch filled with a little Envirotex "water."  A third has a beaver dam.

If I were going to go with a "standard" marking, I think I would use old oil drums or barrels.

It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse. 

  • Member since
    June 2007
  • 8,892 posts
Posted by riogrande5761 on Tuesday, October 20, 2015 10:18 AM

I figure a RR sign adjacent the magnet was what I would use or suggest.

Rio Grande.  The Action Road  - Focus 1977-1983

  • Member since
    February 2005
  • 869 posts
Posted by davidmurray on Tuesday, October 20, 2015 8:54 AM

One suggestion I have heard is to mark the tie ends with coloured paint to simulate a spill.  I have never tried any method, so I don't know.

Dave

David Murray from Oshawa, Ontario Canada
  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: west coast
  • 7,670 posts
Spotting markers for undertrack magnets in a yard
Posted by rrebell on Tuesday, October 20, 2015 8:24 AM

In my one yard I have a number of Kadee undertrack magnets, very easy to spot before scenery, now impossible but I measured their location so I know where they are. So the question is, how others have marked them in a yard. I was thinking of a wire with a small red diamond at the top but would like to get other ideas.

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