Redsrail Posted July 17, 2011 Share Posted July 17, 2011 Hi all, For many years i have had a interest in model railway layouts, well now i have found myself with a bit of space 12' x 8', a bit of cash and a lot of time, so decided to try building one. Anyway, the question....i'd like to try and build a British hump shunting operation in "N" gauge, are there any good reliable methods of uncoupling to use with minimal butchery to rolling stock or locomotives. Any replies are greatly received, thanks all, just thought i'd get this out the way before planning too far ahead. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mod5 Posted July 17, 2011 Share Posted July 17, 2011 Welcome to the forum Redsrail. I have edited your thread to indicate to others what it is about and moved it to the Modelling Questions area. Hopefully you will receive answers to assist you with this. It can be confusing where to post when new around here but if you have a look at the Sections and sub sections on the home page you may be able to work it out. Good luck with your search. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jellicoe Posted July 17, 2011 Share Posted July 17, 2011 Hi, Redsrail and welcome to the forum. You will clearly need couplings with a "delay action"; that is to say, when wagons are buffered up to each other, the couplings will not be engaged until they separate and come together again. This will allow them to be pushed to the top of the hump and allowed to run freely down the other side, the loco remaining at the top. There are at least three makes of delayed action coupling that I know of and they all make use of a "delay latch". These are extremely fiddley to fit and they must be absolutely free and easy in their operation. Two of them require a dropper to be soldered to the coupling loop for use with magnetic uncouplers. Personally, I am happy to use a shunting pole for uncoupling. This allows me to use the "DG" coupling available from MSE (Model Signal Engineering). I have no need to fit the delay latch or the dropper; using the pole, the loop can be laid right back to allow loose shunting or allowed to drop after uncoupling so that it will automatically couple up at the next contact - very usefull for moving coaches and wagons in and out of sheds. However, for your purposes, I think you are stuck with fitting the latches and droppers for uncoupling at the top of the hump to allow selected wagons to roll into different sidings. Be aware, though, that you do not have to fit hook, loop, latch and dropper at both ends of every wagon; the loco, perhaps, but as for the wagons, one end of each can be provided with the hook only. There is one other thing you need to think about. Having let loose your wagons at the top of the hump, how are you going to stop them at the bottom? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redsrail Posted July 17, 2011 Author Share Posted July 17, 2011 Hello Jellicoe, thanks for the reply. Options for slowing/stopping stock i have read about online and am present considering are electromagnetic strip fitted in each siding , a slight incline from center of siding to bufferstop, a checkrail fitted inside the siding that will cause friction against stock wheels, hence slowing it....hopefully. obviously i need to research both the latter 2 methods more fully and try a few "dummy" runs. I hope to get a further look at these "DG" couplings later this evening or in the morning, when the computer is free again. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karhedron Posted July 17, 2011 Share Posted July 17, 2011 This comes up fairly frequently. Not suprising as the old Rapido and lack of an easy alternative is the one feature of N gauge that has not improved in recent years. This topic was the most recent discussion on the subject and may give you some food for thought. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/34838-alternate-n-gauge-couplings/page__p__369874__hl__%2Bprofi+%2Bnem__fromsearch__1#entry369874 http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/40162-best-coupling-system-for-farish-tucks-coaches/page__p__429469__fromsearch__1#entry429469 http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/16380-n-gauge-couplings/page__p__154965__hl__%2Bprofi+%2Bnem__fromsearch__1#entry154965 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwrman Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Hi, you could try the very sucessful Sprat & Winkle Coupling available for 2mm, 3mm, 4mm and 7mm see Sprat & Winkle available from MSE LINK. Nigel B) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redsrail Posted July 19, 2011 Author Share Posted July 19, 2011 Hi all, thanks again for your responses and advice, i have viewed most of the above mentioned options and it appears the "Sprat & Winkle" is my best option. Still lots of other things to consider before making any heroic ventures into layout. Thanks for any advice donated. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flakmunky Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 I am in the process of fitting D & G couplings to my stock. Very good indeed and there is no need to solder... Try this link for info: http://forum.gn15.info/viewtopic.php?t=3318 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karhedron Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 I am in the process of fitting D & G couplings to my stock. Very good indeed and there is no need to solder... Try this link for info: http://forum.gn15.info/viewtopic.php?t=3318 Thanks for that link, I had not seen it before but it is a very useful guide. Do you know how easy it is to fit D&Gs to the various coupling pockets out there? My main reservation with any replacement is that I do not want any changes I make to my stock to be irreversible. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
devondynosoar118 Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 You can cut down the brass base plate to fit in a nem pocket, using shaped plasticard stuck to the brass. It is harder to set the coupling height evenly this way as the coupling pockets are at different heights on many models. If you are wanting to keep your stock standard, then use fixed rakes with DG's only on the outer ends, leaving the rapido's on the inner wagons or carriages. Both D G and S&W offer big improvements in looks and make shunting possible. Why none of the UK manufacturers have been brave enough to ditch the useless and ugly rapido is beyond me. I see Dapol now have an auto uncoupling system for N, which looks just like the Kadee and Microtrains style, so that is progress of a kind I suppose. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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