Kadee still makes and sells non-delay uncouplers. Well, they still sell them...for all I know they produced a run of 17 jillion decades ago and just haven't sold them out...
Uncoupling magnets
- Thread starter Gary S.
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The other point I wanted to make about the delayed uncoupling feature of Kadee couplers is that track and locomotives must both run very smoothly to avoid any surges that might separate the couplers while being pushed. As soon as the couplers in the delayed position separate, they move back to their normal position, and recouple the next time they touch.
For this reason, and the reasons I gave in my previous post, depending on the delayed feature for yard switching is - at least for me - an invitation for frustration. Using just one uncoupler at the yard throat and counting on pushing the cars in the delayed position through the yard ladder requires better operating performance than I am consistently able to achieve. Far better to either give up and use bamboo skewers with the "hand of God", or put at least one uncoupling device in every yard track.
yours in uncoupling when (and only when) desired
For this reason, and the reasons I gave in my previous post, depending on the delayed feature for yard switching is - at least for me - an invitation for frustration. Using just one uncoupler at the yard throat and counting on pushing the cars in the delayed position through the yard ladder requires better operating performance than I am consistently able to achieve. Far better to either give up and use bamboo skewers with the "hand of God", or put at least one uncoupling device in every yard track.
yours in uncoupling when (and only when) desired
Good point, Fred. Part of the reason I moved away from "in-place" decouplers in favor of the 0-5-0 method... For me, if I was really on my game - everything tuned and working "just so", it worked right about 90% of the time - and that other 10% is extremely annoying.
Great feedback on the question. It sounds that the uncoupling pick method is the only sure way around uncoupling frustration. I may do some experimentation with hinged magnets.
Wow, this hobby encompasses practically everything! Mechanical, electrical, artistry, construction, engineering, fabrication, creativity, detailing, ingenuity, aesthetics, imagination, passion, obsession, frustration...
Wow, this hobby encompasses practically everything! Mechanical, electrical, artistry, construction, engineering, fabrication, creativity, detailing, ingenuity, aesthetics, imagination, passion, obsession, frustration...
L
lester perry
FRUSTATION !!!!Gary S. said:Wow, this hobby encompasses practically everything! Mechanical, electrical, artistry, construction, engineering, fabrication, creativity, detailing, ingenuity, aesthetics, imagination, passion, obsession, frustration...
Les
Does anybody out there remember the original Kadees that were uncoupled mechanically by the diamond uncoupler ramp? The ramp was a diamond-shaped metal casting, quite inobtrusive, that sat down low between the rails, and was activated, at least on the layout that my Dad built for me when I was a kid, by pushing a button on the control panel. A mechanical linkage of wires and a lever/fulcrum arrangement lift the uncoupler and it in turn spread pins which hung down from the coupler knuckles. No false uncoupling, but also no delayed action, and still only in a fixed location. I still use those couplers on my maintenance-of-way equipment, with the pins removed, of course. Even with the pins, I always thought that they looked better than the Magnematics with the fat curved "airhose". I use the magnets only on sidings that are difficult to reach, and in the staging yards, where they are indispensible for uncoupling passenger cars equipped with diaphrams. Otherwise, since I use walkaround throttles to control the trains, I use the Rix uncoupling wand with the two magnets. One of these days I'll get around to making one of those skewer-type uncoupler stick thingies and give it a try. I won't put uncoupling magnets anywhere on the mainline simply because of the chance of accidental uncoupling, particularly with pusher locos.
Wayne
Wayne