Kadee electric magnetic uncouplers

[Anonymous]

I had an idea of using these to simulate track retarders in the hump yard.

Does anyone know, if these are used, since the cars weight is mostly steel inside them, turning the magnets on and off, would it slow down the cars to simulate the retarders?

No-one makes scale track retarders. And no-one wants to even help suggest to build retarders using compressed air. I had the idea of using the Delaire compression system, but even DelAire hasn't answered my email on that.

Thanks in advance.

-Wolv33
CEO Midwestern Double-line Railroad
http://members.fortunecity.co.uk/wolv33/mwdlrr.html

[Anonymous]

The problem with using magnets is that they pull the car forward until the car passes and then it would pull the car back. The net effect is zero or at least nearly so (there is some effect from friction).

I have given some thought to your dilemma of a working retarder. Consider this and let me know what you think . . . Glue thin fibers (about a quarter inch high) to the ties of some track sticking straight up between the rails. As the car rolls on that piece of track, the fibers will rub against the axle and slow down the car. The biggest problems I can think of is that glueing enough fibers to do the job will be arduous at best and the fibers may need regular replacement. Maybe drilling small holes into the ties and dropping the fibers into the holes may help. They will still have to be secured with glue or something but it makes getting them to stand upright easier. I would suggest glueing them in two rows near the rail not along the centerline where the fibers would be a problem for the couplers. The fibers will have to be very flexible so they don't cause derailments and because they are flexible many would be needed.

If you are willing to go through the effort, I think this would function as a kind of retarder.

Good Luck - Ed

[Anonymous]

I seem to recall that in one of the old MR Video Layout Tours (i.e. the ones done by Allen Keller before he left MR) there was a layout featuring a humpo yard that used some sort of air compressor blasting air to slow down the cars. There was a detailed explanation of how the unit was constructed.

[bfsfabs]

I just discovered this forum yesterday, what a find !

About 1966 or 67 a friend and I fiddled around with an HO retarder, mostly just for the fun of it. We built two flavors. First didn't work and number two did !

Comprised of six 3/32" dia air nozzles in the center of the track angled up at about 30 degrees to "paint" the front of the car coming down off the crest of the hump. A pair of photo cells measured the the car's time for the first 100 HO' down the hill. This in turn adjusted the air manifold pressure over the range of none to about 6 psi. As I recall, a sorta shaky deal nowadays, when the pressure was above about 10 psi it would blow the cars off the track. These were NMRA weighted cars on Central Valley, best available at the time, trucks. The nozzles were about an inch apart in the center of the track. This was built into a "proof of concept" 4 track yard, but never incorporated into a layout that I remember.
Box cars and anything with similar frontal are were well controlled. The accuracy degraded as the frontal area diminished. Flat cars were virtually immune to the retarder. The downslope was about 2 feet from crest to trailing end of the retarder on, I guess, about a 8 - 10 per cent grade. We used the guts of an old Hoover vacuum cleaner to provide the air supply.
A Pitman motor ran for the period of time the car was between the photo cells to open a waste gate to regulate the pressure. Quickly replaced with a real pressure regulator.

The first scheme was the same general layout but adjusted the duration of a fixed pressure air blast rather than the pressure. Not too slick.

Jeez, I hadn't thought about this for probably 20 years. Maybe there is a germ of an idea here for you. Happy Hunting.

Lowell
Pacific & Southwest Railroad Co.
[e-mail]

[Anonymous]

Thanks Ed for your idea and to you too bfsfabs.

I was also toying with a notion that something could push a piece of styrene against the car wheels while they roll down the track. I just wonder if that would derail them or not.

I am considering EVERY idea I get. Thanks for the contribution.

-Wolv33

[Anonymous]

Another very impractical way to do it would be to put a magnet on the bottom of heach car then put a big shorted coil under the track. As the magnet in the car moved past the coil it would produce current in the coil slowing the car down. A lot like dynamic brakes actually but very impractical as you have to fit every car with magnets.

[Anonymous]

I am trying an electromagnet design. I bought a 6v battery, copper wire, a piece of steel and a DPST switch. I wonder if it will be powerful enough to grab the bottom of the car's weight and slow it down. I do not want it to stop.

Thanks for all the help so far.

-Wolv33

[Anonymous]

I have messed around with the styrene mechanical retarters and they didn't work. At NMRA weight the cars are still too light and they ride up and derail. I have seen the bristle retarders in action and they do work except they are not adjustable for cars that roll a different speed are when the cars need to be slowed more because the track is getting full. I better way to do the bristle way would be to have rows that could be raised as needed to allow for more or less retarding. I would think that buying small round or flat paint brushes would work better than glueing bristles in a drilled hole. You could use brass tubing between the rails for bristle guides.

The first video from Kalmbach's layout tours series shows Don Santel's layout with an air retarder hump yard that works.