Subject:
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The philosophy of manual uncoupling
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.trains
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Date:
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Fri, 3 May 2002 02:04:32 GMT
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Reply-To:
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jrclark@nospam.aol.=nospam=com
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Viewed:
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1206 times
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Hello all,
If you guys are like me, you are a bit frustrated with the practice of
uncoupling train cars by grabbing one car in each hand and pulling them
apart. Model railroaders call that the HOG [1] switcher. It is certainly
unprototypical.
While it is possible to build an electric LEGO train uncoupler, or to
install magnetically controlled model railroading couplers, each of
these methods has drawbacks.
Enter the Manual Decoupler. For years, model railroaders have used a
manual uncoupling tool as a low-tech way of breaking up a consist. In
his book "The HO Model Railroading Handbook," Robert Schleicher
describes what he calls a "Hands-Near Approach." This means that
whenever possible, you position yourself near the train you are
controlling, throw the switches manually, and uncouple the cars
manually. In addition to being convenient, this method replicates the
prototypical practice of manually throwing switches, and manually
uncoupling cars.
So how do you manually uncouple LEGO cars? The way I do it is with a
simple uncoupler that I designed. Basically, it is a two pronged fork
that is inserted between the cars and then twisted to separate them.
I've been using this for over a year, and have found it to be very
satisfying. Give it a try, and let me know what you think.
Additional construction details are available at:
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=164507
Rick C.
[1] "HOG" = "Hand of God." Also know as an 0-5-0.
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: The philosophy of manual uncoupling
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| (...) Thanks Rick - the best ideas are always this simple. Automatic (remote) uncoupling can be effected by a trackside mechanism or an on-loco mechanism. There have been one or two AFOL-created designs for the trackside mechanism however I've never (...) (23 years ago, 3-May-02, to lugnet.trains)
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