# Switching



## Mister Bill (Jan 30, 2014)

Do you use an engine or your good hand?

Do you use any other mechanical aids to un-couple cars?

Bill


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## thedoc (Oct 15, 2015)

Mister Bill said:


> Do you use an engine or your good hand?
> 
> Do you use any other mechanical aids?
> 
> Bill


I believe the accepted method for people who do switching is to use an engine and reliable couplers. On one branch of the B&O there were several coal mines to work and they didn't all have turnouts that faced the same way. So the B&O would send out a string of empties with an engine on each end and the Engine would work the spur that was facing that particular spur. The B&O made it as easy as possible to get the cars in and out of the mines, a modeler will sometimes do it the hard way, just for fun, not to be realistic.


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## Magic (Jan 28, 2014)

The main focus of my RR is a switching operation so I use a loco (most of the time)

Magic


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## Cycleops (Dec 6, 2014)

Kadees and track magnets give me mostly trouble free operation. I would always go hands free if I can, HoG spoils the illusion in fact this the main reason I came to US railroads.


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## thedoc (Oct 15, 2015)

Mister Bill said:


> Do you use an engine or your good hand?
> 
> Do you use any other mechanical aids?
> 
> Bill


You really need to decide what is your main interest in railroading. I decided that my main interest was getting the train up and over the mountain so there is very little switching or industry on most of the layout. But you need to determine this for yourself. The other section also involves my other interest which is building model ships, so I will have a harbor scene where I can spot cars for loading and unloading to freighters.


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## tkruger (Jan 18, 2009)

I still use the HoG method. I used to have a engine per train on each siding when it was DC, now that I am converting to DCC I have far fewer running locomotives. As I convert more I am finding that I am still swapping the motive power as much as the cars. Magnets may be a project down the line but since there is always a project on a model rail road who knows when it will be done.


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

I love switching. I have two yards, one has 7 tracks, the other 8.
There are several spurs, mostly
team tracks with more than one freight user. All are small local business
no large factories or mines. Some spurs are back in, some are face in,
so I have a run around to get the loco on the right side of the cars.

I have car cards and use post it notes stuck to them to create orders for
pickup and spotting. To begin a session I pull the cards for cars already
at an industry, then pull more cards for cars in the yards that I will drop
at various industries.

I use the under track magnet for uncoupling when I can, but mostly
I use a HOG wand and uncouple from a convenient sitting position,
misaligning the couplers so the loco can push the car to the spot location.

The only time I use my hand to move a car is to rerail, usually because
I clumsily knocked it off the track while uncoupling.

Switching as I do, is something near to a game of strategy. How am I
going to pull a car in the middle of a team track and spot another car
at the far end of that same track, for instance? 

Don


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

I use the "bamboo-skewer-with-a-handle" of God method.

Yes, it's somewhat artificial to have this pointy thing descend from the heavens and separate the couplers (for coupling, it's usually just a matter of reversing the loco or train into them).

On the other hand, this DOES kind of simulate how a real train operates: the crew has to stop operating the loco and put someone on the ground to release the couplers. For me, this is what I'm simulating using the pick.

Perhaps if I glued a little conductor figure to my uncoupling pick and made it out of clear acrylic, this would complete the illusion.


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## Lee Willis (Jan 1, 2014)

Generally, I use my hands.


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## MtRR75 (Nov 27, 2013)

I have a small layout and too many trains. They can't all fit on at once. The most I can fit on the layout and be able to function is two trains and a switcher. So every so often, I put everything that is on the layout away and get out different trains -- mixed freight for a while, then a passenger train, then coal trains -- all by the HoG. I like the variety in the layout.

But once the trains are on the layout, I try to do everything via locomotive power -- for the challenge of it. It is like a puzzle.

I do use a stick to uncouple cars. I like the freedom of being able to do it anywhere.


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## thedoc (Oct 15, 2015)

CTValleyRR said:


> I use the "bamboo-skewer-with-a-handle" of God method.
> 
> Yes, it's somewhat artificial to have this pointy thing descend from the heavens and separate the couplers (for coupling, it's usually just a matter of reversing the loco or train into them).
> 
> ...


It should be a brakeman figure and you would need to figure out how to uncouple the cars from ground level, having the brakeman flying over the train might look just a bit unrealistic.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

thedoc said:


> It should be a brakeman figure and you would need to figure out how to uncouple the cars from ground level, having the brakeman flying over the train might look just a bit unrealistic.


Sorry, Doc, I guess you missed the sarcasm there.


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## thedoc (Oct 15, 2015)

CTValleyRR said:


> Sorry, Doc, I guess you missed the sarcasm there.


I suppose I did but I am reminded of many years ago when the Model Railroad community placed so much emphasis on realistic operation, but were also placing great emphasis on achieving Hand's Off coupling and uncoupling, which the real railroads did not do. The real Railroads always had a brakeman on the ground to assist in coupling and uncoupling the train. This seemed to be one detail that the modelers were overlooking, but this quest lead to the NMRA Horn Hook coupler. KaDee did it much better and more realistically. 

Actually to be most realistic you would leave the centering spring out and have the brakeman make sure the couplers were lined up. This is the way the real railroads did it.


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## RonthePirate (Sep 9, 2015)

I just use my hands also. Lionel makes it easy to uncouple that way.

Now the Menard's cars are certainly different. They don't have that little tab sticking out to release the knuckle.
I'm not too happy with that, but with only one Menard's car (sa far) it's not a big deal.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

thedoc said:


> I suppose I did but I am reminded of many years ago when the Model Railroad community placed so much emphasis on realistic operation, but were also placing great emphasis on achieving Hand's Off coupling and uncoupling, which the real railroads did not do. The real Railroads always had a brakeman on the ground to assist in coupling and uncoupling the train. This seemed to be one detail that the modelers were overlooking, but this quest lead to the NMRA Horn Hook coupler. KaDee did it much better and more realistically.
> 
> Actually to2 be most realistic you would leave the centering spring out and have the brakeman make sure the couplers were lined up. This is the way the real railroads did it.


An interesting observation. Another example of how our experiences color our reactions.

This probably occurred during my hiatus period while life intervened. When I was modeling in my teens I don't remember any real emphasis on realism or realistic operations. When I got back into the hobby around the turn of the century (the 21st, in case any of you wiseacres wants to comment on my age!), I remember finding the emphasis a little off-putting. 

One of the reasons I abandoned the other site I participated in was too many members who played, "you're not a real model railroader if..." usually followed by examples of how something isn't realistic. As you rightfully point out, realism is often in the eye of the beholder.

I always try to be careful not to pass judgment (and actually succeed much of the time) on HOW a hobbyist wants to run things on his own layout. My own taste runs to the "reasonably realistic but not to the point of sucking the fun out of it" part of the spectrum.


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## JimL (Aug 16, 2015)

Uncouplers. No HOG.

I truly enjoy hands-off railroading on my small, industrial switching pikes.

I did it in Lionel O, and am now incorporating track magnets into my new HO adventure.


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

Hands off switching operations would good to achieve, but it's fraught with set backs.

You come across a coupling that refuses to open over
a magnet. HOG needed.

You find it necessary to uncouple where there is no magnet. HOG needed.

Your magnet is here, but you want the car there. The socalled
'delayed' uncoupling may or may not work, often you must
'help' it by pushing aside one of the couplers so the loco can push
the car to the desired spot.
HOG needed.

After uncoupling over a magnet, a car with metal axles jauntily
comes back and couples due to attraction to the magnet. HOG needed.

I try for and prefer to see the uncoupling by the magnets as intended, but I'm
realistic enough to know a percentage of the couplers will not
open. HOG needed.

Seems to me this is another manifestation of the 'rivet counter'
syndrome.

Don


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## JimL (Aug 16, 2015)

DonR said:


> Hands off switching operations would good to achieve, but it's fraught with set backs. .....
> 
> I try for and prefer to see the uncoupling by the magnets as intended, but I'm
> realistic enough to know a percentage of the couplers will not
> open. .... Don


I'm slowly acquiring all new equipment for my small layout. Do you recommend changing all these "clone" couplers to genuine Kadee's?

Jim


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

I very much prefer the Kadee couplers. They, in my experience more
dependably couple and uncouple as intended. A few of my cars obtained
from train shows, and my Bachmann diesel locos have the non Kadee
couplers. They work with my Kadee equipped cars fairly well, but not
perfection. I have had to replace several.

My suggestion is to have a supply of Kadees on hand. When one of the
'off brands' gives you trouble, replace it with a Kadee. If it is are working
smoothly let it be.

Don


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## thedoc (Oct 15, 2015)

CTValleyRR said:


> An interesting observation. Another example of how our experiences color our reactions.
> 
> This probably occurred during my hiatus period while life intervened. When I was modeling in my teens I don't remember any real emphasis on realism or realistic operations. When I got back into the hobby around the turn of the century (the 21st, in case any of you wiseacres wants to comment on my age!), I remember finding the emphasis a little off-putting.
> 
> ...


I was in HS and college in the 60's and the realistic operation was going strong in the 50's, so you would have to be really old to have missed it. The X2F or NMRA horn hook coupler was introduced in 1955 and offered free to the Manufacturers on a trial basis, but the Mfg's started using them as the de-facto standard.


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## Lemonhawk (Sep 24, 2013)

While we now revile the x2f, at the time it was introduced, it was a simple and effective coupler that standardized the disorganization in couplers that existed in the 50's. Like CTValleyRR I also was missing from the RR scene until the late 90's and was surprised at the adoption of the Kadee couple, which in the 50's was not affordable to me. I switched my rolling stock as fast as I could to get rid of the X2F's!


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## jlc41 (Feb 16, 2016)

I see there are several types of uncouplers. Some are electric, some are delayed. Can someone please enlighten me on the uses of these?


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## tkruger (Jan 18, 2009)

When I got back into the hobby anything I received going forward was knuckle couplers. For the longest time I kept conversion cars running for the old rolling stock. As time went on I converted as cost allowed. I still have some of the original cars that are not converted, these are also ones that see little service.


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

jlc41 said:


> I see there are several types of uncouplers. Some are electric, some are delayed. Can someone please enlighten me on the uses of these?


Kadee offers an electromagnet uncoupler that mounts under the
track, usually in main lines where you don't want accidental
uncoupling. You push a button when car coupling is over it, and
the couplers open.

Actually, all knuckle couplers are 'delayed'.
Kadee refers to their knuckle couplers as 'delayed' when
they open over a magnet, and the loco pushes them together while the
'hoses' have swung away from each other, thus defeating
a coupling and providing the ability to push the car to a spot
farther on that track. The magnets are usually placed under
the track near where it leaves the turnout.

Don


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## Mr. SP (Jan 7, 2015)

In real life the railcars can't be switched with hands. It takes a engine
I ALWAYS use a locomtive to switch cars on my railroad


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## tkruger (Jan 18, 2009)

Mr. SP said:


> In real life the railcars can't be switched with hands. It takes a engine
> I ALWAYS use a locomtive to switch cars on my railroad


In this video they are switching the cars by hand with no locomotives, moving them too, go to about 8:25 in the video. Rest of it is good too.
https://youtu.be/VGqZn5s_q_Y

Craig's List has the car mover for sale here:
http://elmira.craigslist.org/atq/5443213662.html


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## Chet (Aug 15, 2014)

My layout was designed for switching. I use a locomotive. Each town on my layout has a switching problem built into it just to make things a bit more difficult. I use Kadee magnets and keep them properly maintained and rarely if ever need to use an 0-5-0. 

Check out the video below in my signature "Switching in Churchill"


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## KIWIJOHN (Oct 25, 2016)

*Kadee Couplers*

Hi All , I am new to the forum but need to seek some advice on this subject. I have set up a new plan that is essentially a big switching operation. I have a long head shunt and 12 turnouts all going right off the main shunt. I set up under track magnets at the top of the head shunt. Everything seems to work well with the magnets causing the kadees to separate so I can start the push in to each siding but when the cars veer right through the turnout the kadees re-couple every time.i still have to work on fine tuning coupler heights and other details but I fear conceptually that these babies are not going to do what I hoped they would do??

Any thoughts?


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## mjrfd99 (Jan 5, 2016)

KIWIJOHN said:


> Hi All , I am new to the forum but need to seek some advice on this subject. I have set up a new plan that is essentially a big switching operation. I have a long head shunt and 12 turnouts all going right off the main shunt. I set up under track magnets at the top of the head shunt. Everything seems to work well with the magnets causing the kadees to separate so I can start the push in to each siding but when the cars veer right through the turnout the kadees re-couple every time.i still have to work on fine tuning coupler heights and other details but I fear conceptually that these babies are not going to do what I hoped they would do??
> 
> Any thoughts?


Welcome KJ
We use Kadees and their uncoupler magnets, along with a http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/Rix-Products-HO-0014-Uncoupling-Tool-p/rix-628-0014.htm are what we use.
The Kadees should not re couple unless the traincar seperates from the push car. They should stay offset while being pushed.
Maybe when they go over your turnout that's what happens. 
A little rise and drop in track could cause this. 
Fine tuning was required to get some our Kadees to work correctly.


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## Genetk44 (Feb 26, 2016)

DonR said:


> Hands off switching operations would good to achieve, but it's fraught with set backs.
> 
> You come across a coupling that refuses to open over
> a magnet. HOG needed.
> ...


Exactly this!!!:smilie_daumenpos::smilie_daumenpos:


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## Chip (Feb 11, 2016)

They just don't mass out like the real ones and they CAN'T behave the same, no matter how much we would rather they did. "Bump" yards and such are way cool but if you want true "1-1 operations" you need a "1-1 set!"! Like the one "Wombat" has in his front yard!


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## 1905dave (Sep 18, 2016)

If there is any slack action the Kadees will come apart, center and recouple. The best way to do a class yard is to put a magnet under the track at the clearance point. You shove into the track till the cars are in the clear and the coupler is over the magnet, reverse direction and leave the car in the track. Caveat, the uncoupling point might have to be further in the track if you use low number switches in order to get a low enough angle between the cars so the couplers can uncouple smoothly.

FYI with 12 switches you can shorten the lead by making it a compound lead, they take about 2/3 the room of a conventional lead.


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## pat_smith1969 (Aug 21, 2016)

tkruger 
That was a GREAT video, thank you for posting it. I have never farmed, never been in or near a grain elevator, and never messed much with real railroads.. but I found that video really interesting.


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