It's time for another basics article in The Collector - house magazine of the Hornby Collectors Club.
This time, I take a look at uncoupling. Pretty much fundamental to a working model railway, and something that has cause me loads of grief on several BRM projects. Bacially, the standard tension lock coupling is fine to join up, but when you want to leave your train behind, forget it. For those of us who love to shunt, this is a problem.
So, I've taken a look at several different ramps, and manual spade-type devices. Even the ancient GEM ramps are tested, although mainly because they are easy to replicate from bits of plastic packing than expecting anyone else to have a packet. Actually, they work surprisingly well...
I've often wondered if, like a better mousetrap, some thought could be given to a better tension lock coupling. As it is not all are equal, naming no names.
ReplyDeleteafter all, you can think of them as a variant of the Sprat And Winkle.
What would it take? NEM pocket options, of course, a magnetic element? And more refined components but retaining compatibility with coarser versions so stock can be upgraded over time.
Going a completely different route, I seem to be seeing more and more examples of false combined couplers and pipe work. Most are intended for permanent/semi-permanent coupling, but I'm wondering if a hinge and magnet could transform them.
The problem is that backwards compatibility is seen as essential. Hornby has cleverly avoided this in TT120 by ditching the tension lock entirely, but there it isn't an issue.
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By way of discussion I refer anyone interested to my article of 27 years ago.
"Delayed Action Tension Lock Couplings", British Railway Modelling, April 1995, pp. 42-43.
As I make clear in that piece I modified (including by making the tension locks single ended) a proposal originally made in 1969. I entirely accept that the method will not work with unmodified couplings and is visually bulky, but as I have demonstrated with several of my exhibition layouts it works fairly well, is robust, by using older (wider bar) couplers can cope with very sharp radius curves, and for large scale (7mm upwards) narrow gauge offers an acceptable compromise.
Christopher Payne
Phil, Yes those TT120 couplings... I think I'll use Kadees myself.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to be looking at 3mm S&W's, partly because I have some in stock already. And the idea of hacking the NEM socket off with a saw appeals.
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