For me, it's nay.
I used between the track uncouplers but they caused more unwanted uncouplings than wanted!
I removed these and started using the Rix uncoupling tool. As someone else mentioned, it immediately wants to grab the nearest handrail, grab iron, etc.
I switched to the bamboo skewer. Price was right, uncoupling was easy.
I now clip the pin from all couplers. I add brake hoses to all cars and I didn't like the look of the extra pin.
My prior layout, all locations were accessable by hand, so I always used the uncoupling pics.
Next layout just might have a electro-magnet on a passing "run-around" siding....
Ricky W.
HO scale Proto-freelancer.
My Railroad rules:
1: It's my railroad, my rules.
2: It's for having fun and enjoyment.
3: Any objections, consult above rules.
The under the rails one works reliably.
I was working as one of the yard masters during an operating session this past Saturday and experieced rather mixed results with the "between the rails" magnetic uncouplers installed on several spurs along the rear of the yard. We normally use picks to uncouple cars but the magnetic uncouplers on the rear spurs reduced the need to reach into the layout -- or so I thought.
I was able to successfully uncouple cars over the magnets only about 3 out of 5 times. Some couplers just refused to let go. On the other hand, when I didn't want cars to uncouple, they would also uncouple about 3 out of 5 times. It might be entertaining to use these uncouplers when operating solo, but I had road crews waiting while I switched their trains and could not take the time to rely on the magnetic uncouplers. I found it far more reliable to uncouple the car(s) I needed to drop off, then use my pick to place the couplers in the "delayed" position before I shoved the car(s) back into these spurs. This was a far more reliable and predictable approach. Unfortunately, I still had to deal with cars uncoupling over the magnets when I didn't want them to uncouple.
Hornblower
snjroyI have no inclines and only use non-magnetic wheel sets. This greatly reduces unwanted uncoupling actions.
My planned layout is 98% flat with two grades going only into staging.
The only magnetically excited pieces on my freight cars are the uncoupler trip pins. Weights, axles, details, etc are all non-ferrous like lead, brass, or bronze.
This does reduce unwanted uncouplings.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
I also mark between the rail KD's by using small diameter white styrene tubes to represent below grade utility lines such as natural gas, petroleum, & power lines that run adjacent to the tracks, the tops of the markers are painted orange, yellow, or blue accordingly, otherwise spotting cars on my switching layout would be extremely time consuming and not very prototypical. Bayway Terminal NJ
I have no inclines and only use non-magnetic wheel sets. This greatly reduces unwanted uncoupling actions.
Simon
I only use under-the-track magnetic uncouplers in yards and spur tracks. On the mainline I found they produce too many unwanted uncouplings and with both facing point and trailing point spurs, it would require lots of uncoupling points where magnets would be required. I use manual uncoupling there. Electromagents are expensive and bulky. I am considering them for one point where I need to uncouple passenger cars with diaphragms. I haven't found a suitable manual method for uncoupling those.
mlehmanI designed my layout to utilize skewers. A few are quite a reach, but I have long arms.
I have mentioned before the occassional problems I have controlling my right arm. Becuase of this, I will continue to use magnets because reaching into completed scenes with a skewer could become a disaster.
I designed my layout to utilize skewers. A few are quite a reach, but I have long arms. I rely on delay-drop at several locations where the terrain favors it, very useful when your main yard lead is within easy reach and several industrial tracks leading from it are not.
By terrain "favoring" I mean the end location of the shove is either level to uphill. This helps keep the set in the couplers so the delay drop happens instead of inadvertent recoupling.
I do have one location where I use a 709, the HOn3 version of the between the rails magnet. That's at the bottom of a 5% grade into the Crater Lake Stone Quarry loading track. It holds up to 3 of the quarry-to-mill service flats, most bashed from old shortie MDC flats. Service has been pretty darn reliable.
The uncoupler magnet is just under the front facing coupler on the first flat in view. To there it's all downhill, then it levels out to give slack action for uncoupling over the magnet, so there needs to be coupled action until you get to the bottom to avoid a runaway. This difference in how useful different uncoupling strategies work is a good reminder to plan this carefully if you haven't managed to abolish grades on your layout.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
doctorwayneThose magnets seem overly pricey to me. The ones which I mentioned in my earlier reply were $2.99 for ten, and only two are required for reliable uncoupling.
https://www.kjmagnetics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=D14
Remains to be established whether your 'two' are as effective as his four: the correct price comparison is 'per effective uncoupler location'... net of shipping.
I never liked the Big Hand from the Sky for uncoupling. When I built my layout I used between the rails permanent magnets for stub sidings and a few electromagnets on the mains.
After a while, I got tired of not being able to uncouple where I wanted. I bought a bag of bamboo skewers. I'm much happier with those. I still have magnets in hard-to-reach places.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
doctorwayneThose magnets seem overly pricey to me. The ones which I mentioned in my earlier reply were $2.99 for ten
Mine were $2 for 10, which would appear to be a third less expensive?
I never had much luck with just two. Not saying that it can't work. I only found four to be more reliable.
Although, something I did notice is that the neodymium magnets are a little more aggressive than the Kadee magnets. The occasional spot too close to the magnets could make a steel axled truck jump back.
Its a YAY for me. Especially when you can.....
wave a wand and uncouple any where you want.
Problem is..... Im having a hard time convincing Kadee to 'bend the pin' the other way!
Oh well, atleast no more between the rails magnets or under the track.
**(not absolutely true, you cant wave a wand over a car deep in the bowels of a hidden staging yard, or over pass car diaphrams, but you get the idea.)
No magentic couplers in the world of trains???? We'd be playing with model race cars!!!!!!
PMR
NittanyLion Four to eight of these guys will do the trick: https://www.kjmagnetics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=D14-N52 Four seems to be the minimum to create a strong enough field. More than eight and you reach diminishing returns on the size of your uncoupling area. You could make 160 4-magnet uncoupling spots for the price of one IBM share.
Four to eight of these guys will do the trick: https://www.kjmagnetics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=D14-N52
Four seems to be the minimum to create a strong enough field. More than eight and you reach diminishing returns on the size of your uncoupling area.
You could make 160 4-magnet uncoupling spots for the price of one IBM share.
Paul3Also, when switching passenger cars with diaphragms, magnets are also a must-have. And good luck getting engines uncoupled that also have diaphragms without magnetic uncouplers.
You can absolutely do it without a magnet, but you do need the trip pins on both couplers.
There's a bit of an art to it, but as long as you can come in from the side, you can use the skewer to push the pins apart and uncouple, without being limited to where your under track magnets are.
Chris van der Heide
My Algoma Central Railway Modeling Blog
Total magnetics for me. I devised a system that mechanically drops the under-the-rail magnet so it only actuates when lifted. No accidental uncouplings. Dan
I use Kadee's in-track magnets for my staging yards...
...and mark them with yellow posts (styrene rod). The posts with more than one stripe denotes another magnet at the same location on the adjacent track.
For on-layout uncoupling, I have a couple of Kadee under-track magnets, like this one at the LCL warehouse in Mount Forest, again with a yellow post to show the location of the magnet...
I also use the Rix uncoupler, and am not above using the "Big Hand" aka 0-5-0, either.Recently, I tested some small rare-earth magnets, about 8mm in diameter and 3mm thick, and found that they perform well in an under-track location.
My plan is to remove the ballast where I want to install them, then cut out the under-the-rails plastic which holds the ties together. This will allow me to slide the ties out of the way, and then drill two shallow 8mm holes into which the magnets can be cemented.Once the glue has dried, the ties can be slid back into place, and new ballast applied. I'm hoping that the glue, plus the fact that the ties will be partially over the magnets, will prevent them from being pulled out every time a pair of coupled cars are placed over them.
I have enough magnets to install 24 uncoupling sites, and especially those on the upper level, which should pretty-well take care of all the too-far-to-reach locations.
Wayne
Paul3We would mark the Kadee uncoupler with either a brad through a piece of white wire insulation, or we had "light poles" in the yard set up to "shine" over the magnet.
When we built the first HO scale layout for Scale Rails Of Southwest Florida, one of the members made simple black and white posts to mark the uncoupler locations. They looked OK, and kind of "railroady", so I used them on my home layouts. You can make about 50 of them in one evening.
SpaceMouse,I'm firmly in the "Yea" camp; yes to Kadee magnetic uncouplers.
At my club (where we had two operation sessions per month), we had a sign from Carsten's Publishing that said, "Only Great Big Giants Pick Up Little Trains". We were completely hands off during ops sessions unless we were fixing a derailment. We used a lot of magnets, but we also used bamboo skewers where there was no magnet.
We would mark the Kadee uncoupler with either a brad through a piece of white wire insulation, or we had "light poles" in the yard set up to "shine" over the magnet. In reality, the light pole was a bamboo skewer that had a plastic ball-end sewing pin with a 90-degree bend in it. Atop the ball was a silver sequin with the top painted green to look like a lamp shade.At our new club, we paint the ends of the ties with white paint under the center of the magnet, which is a bit less obtrusive.When one is classifying a lot of freight cars in a limited time (like during operation sessions), magnets are a must-have for me.Also, when switching passenger cars with diaphragms, magnets are also a must-have. And good luck getting engines uncoupled that also have diaphragms without magnetic uncouplers.Above-tie magnets also make it easy to put cars on the track; sort of like a mini-re-railer.OldEngineman,The only problem I have with the Rix uncoupler is that anything you uncouple better not have metal grabirons on the ends. The Rix will get stuck to 'em if you're not careful. I've actually caused derailments because of that.Pruitt,There's also nothing very realistic about giant flying hands jamming sharpened telephone poles into couplers, either.
SpaceMouse I'm curioius about no-touch switching. So, yea or Nay?
Yea from me.
SpaceMouseDo you prefer under track or between the rails magnets. If between the rails, how do you disguise them?
I have used mostly Kadee #308 under the track magnets, and a few #307 electromagnetic uncouplers that were pretty easy to pass of as guard rails. I have a couple of the new #309 electromagnetic uncouplers, but I have not used them yet. I think the Rapido Railcrew uncoupler is the best solution, but availability is an issue. I hope to do some experiments with them soon.
I have used a couple of #321 or #322 between the rails uncouplers in areas where they could be passed off as grade crossings. They do not always seperate the couplers far enough to reliably get the delayed action. The #308 works best for me for a permanent magnet uncoupler.
SpaceMouseI know electromagnets are the choice of people bought stock in IBM in 1955, but I didn't.
The #308 permament magnet works plenty well, but unintended uncouplings are a possibility if you use it on the mainline.
We bought stock in Wal-Mart!
I like to use bothe under the track uncouplers and the Rix tool. I like the magnetic for when I know I'll be dropping cars in the same places over and over, like a spur or something. Then I use the Rix tool in places like a yard, where uncoupling position varies greatly.
JJF
Prototypically modeling the Great Northern in Minnesota with just a hint of freelancing.
Yesterday is History.
Tomorrow is a Mystery.
But today is a Gift, that is why it is called the Present.
Did them on last layout, wish I did on this one.
Oh yeah, magnetics for me! Nothing is more prototypical than stopping at a designated spot on the track, backing about two feet away from a car, then pushing it to its final destination.
(If you didn't recognize it, that's called "sarcasm").
I prefer bamboo skewers for uncoupling. But that's just my choice. I'm not really slamming anyone who uses the magnetic approach - just having some fun with the idea.
Mark P.
Website: http://www.thecbandqinwyoming.comVideos: https://www.youtube.com/user/mabrunton
Either the RIX uncoupling tool or "the big hand" here. I can reach all the places I need to pull a pin -- except one. But I've got a little brakeman that does a trick and handles that...
I combined underneath KDs (yard) with Rapido uncouplers (for the mainline). Works perfectly.
Chip,
Not a fan - opinions vary.
Guy
see stuff at: the Willoughby Line Site
I’ve been using Kadee magnetic uncouplers since they first came out and never a problem. I bought my first Kadee under the track uncoupler in the late 90s and it works like a charm.I have a pair for laying between the rails for uncoupling where I don’t have permanent uncouplers, work great.Mel My Model Railroad http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/ Bakersfield, California Just turned 84, aging is definitely not for wimps.