# manual or auto switch preference?



## MrDuane (Oct 21, 2011)

I saw a video of a guy manually flipping the switches, and it made me wonder how many go manual over auto. And is it done for the pleasure of hands on 

And there is the uncoupling done with a stick, while others use magnets. makes me wonder if you run your train over the magnet and don't want them uncoupled, what happens. lol.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

MrDuane said:


> I saw a video of a guy manually flipping the switches, and it made me wonder how many go manual over auto. And is it done for the pleasure of hands on
> 
> And there is the uncoupling done with a stick, while others use magnets. makes me wonder if you run your train over the magnet and don't want them uncoupled, what happens. lol.


I have manuals in my O gauge as they are close to me. But for the ones I can't reach I use powered switches.

I know someone who runs all over his O layout flipping switches. 
He likes it.

The magnets are powered they only energize when you push a button?

I guess it comes down to, each his own, whatever you want to do.


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## MrDuane (Oct 21, 2011)

ah, electromagnets for uncoupling cars, makes sense,


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## NIMT (Jan 6, 2011)

You can do uncoupling with fixed magnets too. It's called delayed action uncoupling. If your moving while crossing over the magnets you will not uncouple it's only when you stop over the magnets and back up will they uncouple!
Electromagnet and fixed magnet uncoupling works well in HO, but is lacking in N... I here only a 50% or less success rate in N.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Of course, you could equip all the cars and locomotives with electrocouplers, then you wouldn't be looking for magnets.


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## jzrouterman (Nov 27, 2010)

MrDuane said:


> I saw a video of a guy manually flipping the switches, and it made me wonder how many go manual over auto. And is it done for the pleasure of hands on


Well first of all, the automatic electric switches cost more than do the manual. With the exception of two, all of my switches are picos. Though they cost about the same (sometimes more) as an Atlas remote switch, for me, the Peco has proven to be a much better switch. All the derailment problems came to a screeching halt after I installed the Pecos. What a difference. So how do I switch the Pecos from across the table without walking all the way around?

I use a 4ft. 3/8 wooden dowel with a wooded tab sticking down from the end of it. All I do is reach across the table with it and puch or pull one of the little knobs that stick up on either side of a peco switch and PRESTO! The switch is turned. It saves having to keep walking back and forth. My two Atlas switches are up front, so they're not a problem.



MrDuane said:


> And there is the uncoupling done with a stick, while others use magnets. makes me wonder if you run your train over the magnet and don't want them uncoupled, what happens. lol.


Sometimes they don't uncouple, even when they are supposed to. I've used the Kadee delayed action couplers (infact, I still have a few put up in a drawer) and have had mixed results at best with them. Sometimes they'd work and then sometimes they would'nt. I found myself etiher building up or replacing the magnets, or adjusting the height of the trip pins more than I was running the trains. To me, if they don't work all the time, resulting in me having to walk back and fourth to uncouple the cars, then what's the point?

Also, there are a few businesses served along the way that are obstructed from site from the main control panel located at the front of the table. I had to install a mirror on the wall so I could see where the train was on the siding. And then in addition, I had to what seemed almost each time, try to figure out why the cars were not uncoupling correctly. It got so that I was beginning to hate even running them. This hobby is supposed to relieve stress, not cause it. More than once I walked away frustrated. 

So, to finally counter all of this, I removed ALL or the delayed action uncouplers. At a few good locations scattered around the layout I installed transformers. I can operate anything anywhere on the layout with any one of these transformers. It's just a matter of flipping a few circuit breakers. There is also a stool sitting in front of each transformer, and at my age, this is an added luxury, believe me. LOL :laugh: Anyway, I'll go to the nearest transformer to where I'm switching at and I'll uncouple the cars with a Kadee stick uncoupler. It works very well each time, AND without wearing myself out doing it. :laugh: 

Every modeler has their own way of operation. I know my way may seem a little strange to some. But it's my way and it has worked very well for me. I now love running my trains.

Routerman


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## xrunner (Jul 29, 2011)

Well I'm going all remote control for my turnouts with stationary decoders, it does cost more but that _does_ work really well.

What I found _doesn't_ work really well is this -



jzrouterman said:


> Sometimes they don't uncouple, even when they are supposed to. I've used the Kadee delayed action couplers (infact, I still have a few put up in a drawer) and have had mixed results at best with them. Sometimes they'd work and then sometimes they would'nt. I found myself etiher building up or replacing the magnets, or adjusting the height of the trip pins more than I was running the trains. To me, if they don't work all the time, resulting in me having to walk back and fourth to uncouple the cars, then what's the point?


The magnetic uncoupling system is way too fiddly for me. I bought one piece of track with the magnet in it to see how it worked, and it didn't work well at all. If I depended on it to work, it needs to work almost all the time if I went to the trouble of installing the devices. I see it causing more frustration and I would be spending my time fiddling with the trip pins all the time. There's got to be a better solution. Has to be.


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## Reckers (Oct 11, 2009)

My decision was that, for the two turnouts directly in front of my operating position, manual was fine. For all others, I went with powered switches: anything else would have required racing around a 5' x 12' layout and even worse, reaching across the main line to operate switches inside the main line. I want to have fun (and a bit of bourbon) while I run my trains---all that running interferes with those two objectives.


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## MrDuane (Oct 21, 2011)

ah, bourbon, I knew I was missing something, lol, and does your town have a bourbon street? lol. thanks for the info guys, I think I'm finally getting a good picture of what the puzzle pieces will finally look like.


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## NIMT (Jan 6, 2011)

MrDuane,
Do I need to ship you of a supply?


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## Reckers (Oct 11, 2009)

MrDuane,

Sir, I live in Kentucky, the birthplace of bourbon. We don't have a Bourbon Street: we have a Bourbon County.


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## deboardfam (Oct 8, 2010)

LOL at reckers, my Kentucky brother!

I dont know if Mr. Duane meant the layout or real life, but yeah reckers is right about bourbon county. A bourbon street on the layout would be pretty neat though!


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## sstlaure (Oct 12, 2010)

Reckers said:


> MrDuane,
> 
> Sir, I live in Kentucky, the birthplace of bourbon. We don't have a Bourbon Street: we have a Bourbon County.


Yeah....but the stupid county is dry! I remember visiting Bardstown and they were telling me how you had to go to the next county to buy any alcohol not from a restaurant, but there were literally hundreds of barns everywhere completely filled with the stuff.


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## Reckers (Oct 11, 2009)

Scott, we tried letting them drink once in Bourbon County, and the results were disastrous. Within 6 weeks, all of those aging warehouses you noted (those "barns") were empty. There was no bourbon left, anywhere in the country---and then, they started on the rest of the alcohol. In a short time, they had drained the country dry. The government had to step in and put a halt to it, and it took years to rebuild the Strategic Alcohol Reserve before they could allow any more alcohol to be distributed to the general population. Your grandparents probably remember it: they called it "Prohibition".


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## Reckers (Oct 11, 2009)

deboardfam said:


> LOL at reckers, my Kentucky brother!
> 
> I dont know if Mr. Duane meant the layout or real life, but yeah reckers is right about bourbon county. A bourbon street on the layout would be pretty neat though!


Personally....I like to think that EVERY street is Bourbon Street!!!


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## deboardfam (Oct 8, 2010)

Yeah.. It is odd that a lot of Kentucky is dry. I live in the corner of 3 counties. 2.8 of which is dry (only one small city in one of the counties can sell alcohol).


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## MrDuane (Oct 21, 2011)

back in Arkansas, the county was dry, so everyone had to drive across the state line for booze, Baxter county was next to Missouri state line, and when the county went wet, the store at the state line in Missouri mysteriously caught fire and burned down since no one needed to cross the state line for liquor. 

and yes, I was meaning in his layout for a street name, ^_^


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

Reckers said:


> My decision was that, for the two turnouts directly in front of my operating position, manual was fine. For all others, I went with powered switches: anything else would have required racing around a 5' x 12' layout and even worse, reaching across the main line to operate switches inside the main line. I want to have fun (and a bit of bourbon) while I run my trains---all that running interferes with those two objectives.



We would just hate to see you get hit by a speeding American Flyer, while running around throwing the switches. 
As you might break the train.

Good way to lose some weight though.


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