Digital Uncouplers

[richg]

Bottom line, model railroading is only an analogy of the real thing and all analogies do breakdown.
We are boys playing with toys. Most have never been a loco driver or even a crewman uncoupling cars. We just fantasize.
I do enjoy the fantasy.

Rich

[Guilford Guy]

It's funny that I would find this video the same day that I find this post.

http://www.remoteuncoupling.com/html/video.htm
Those are G scale couplers but according to MRH they are going to be producing them in smaller scales.

"Kadee exhibited a fascinating new remote control coupler system at the National Train Show. G scale couplers were being demonstrated with a hint that once perfected, smaller scales would follow. Pricing and release dates are pending."

While it looks like it is only on the locomotive, it appears to be a much more refined version of the coupler, not something you have to run into at 25smph to lock the knuckle closed... (MTH)

[Jim Banner]

... we'd all be blowing wooden whistles ...

And what is wrong with wooden whistles?  Forty years ago, I had a three chime whistle operated by a small, electrically driven, squirrel cage fan.  It was mounted above my control panel, the one with the track diagram, a mess of push buttons to remotely operate the turnouts, and a myriad of toggle switches used to control blocks and reverse loops.  The latest in high tech to remotely operate all two trains without ever having to touch them.  And it even had SOUND!  It was fun to operate, even if I did have to pound on the table occasionally when a locomotive stalled on a turnout, or had to run around the table because a weak coupling spring refused to align a coupler.

Then came the revolution.  Like most revolutions, the one on my railroad started small.  The first shot was by a locomotive that insisted on derailing at a turnout.  Of course, the turnout was far, far away from the control panel.  This meant many trips back and forth, trying to spot the reason for the derailing.  Finally, out of frustration,  I extended the wiring on the power pack and took it over to the troublesome turnout, to run the train and watch it from the same spot.  The WALK AROUND THROTTLE was born.

Walk around throttles slowly but surely ate up my control panel.  First went the speed and direction controls.  Then went the reverse loop controls.  The turnout push buttons went next, either eliminated completely or moved much closer to the turnouts they controlled.  But the tyranny of the block toggles, or in some cases, block rotaries, remained.

Freedom came in the form of the home computer.  Finally there was an easy way to get the block switches to throw themselves and at the same time to increase the number of throttles to eight.  Easy in theory.  Fourteen years of building hardware and writing code in practice.  Finally the revolution was in its dying days, the computer assisted dispatching was all but complete.  And wouldn't you know it?  Along came the new super hero, the saviour of men, women and children everywhere ... digital command control.

One of the last remnants of my pre-DCC days was - you guessed it - that old, motor driven whistle.  Compared to today's Tsunamis, a wooden whistle doesn't seem so high tech any more.  But still, it was sound, more than 40 years ago.

-------------------------------------------------------------

To put this post on topic,  I like the idea of a laser pointer to uncouple cars, possibly using a two step process.  First step would be to put the magic spot on the proper end of the proper car and the second step would be to pulse it the beam with some sort of "ready" signal.  Otherwise I could see a duffer uncoupling cars all over the place before he finally gets the laster pointed in the correct direction.

I am not so wild about pointing the same laser at my locomotives.  I immediately have visions of trains stuck in tunnels, particularly tunnels on grades, with no hope of applying more power or reversing direction.  There would also be problems with trying to control multi-locomotive consists when you could send instructions to only one locomotive at a time.  Direct to train radio control I believe would make more sense here. 

Jim  

[richg]

DCC uncoupling links.

http://dccuncoupling.com/

http://www.dccuncoupling.com/review.pdf

Do a search for dcc uncoupling. You will get more links.

Rich

[lewi]

Thanks, Guilford, for posting that video link showing the Kadee Digital Uncouplers.  I'm so happy to see a great company like Kadee working on digital uncouplers because they are known for their quality.  Hopefully other companies will support them in this endeavor and we'll have one standard for digital uncoupling.  Can't wait to see the HO version, hopefully it won't be too long.

[jward]

i saw a train with a real digital uncoupler in action a couple of weeks ago.....

in pennsylvania for many years it was illegal to cut off helper locomotives "on the fly"......it was a dangerous practice twhich involved somebody actually going out on the end platform of the locomotive or caboose, turning the angle cock (air valve) on the last car to keep the air in the train, then uncoupling the locomotive. upon uncoupling, the helper locomotive went into "emergency" that is, the air brakes went into full application. it would be like standing on your brake pedal at 40 mph.....

with the new "digital" uncoupler, called helper link, the air lines of the helper are never connected to the trainline, so nobody has to turn valves. air brakes can be applied by radio vie the end of train marker. the coupler is also radio controlled.


when i saw this in action, the coal train cresting the top of the grade was moving about 30mph, the helper radioed that they were cut away, then applied their brakes to slow down, while the coal train continued without slowing. the helpers gently coasted to a stop, then reversed direction, crossed over to the other main track, and headed back east for another push.