I must admit I am drawen to anything electronic being that I am an IT geek by trade (get it...electronics, current, draw....ha ha ha sorry) . However, the grass/weed clump and the inner rail wheel retarder (I have named the inner rail rubber strip thingy idea) are great ideas. Keep the brainstorm brewing, I am sure I am not the only getting some great ideas here.
I only have one track where a car or cars will roll and I used a small round file to make an indent in the rail where a set of wheels will catch in it. The indent is so small that unless you look for it it is not noticeable.
I have a number of spots and spurs on an incline becuse I use a no-lix to get to staging. I "borrowed" a bunch of the wife's straight pins with the little colored beads on the top and use them as hand brakes. They're easy to push into the roadbed and easy to see. I posted a reminder to set hand brakes at each spot. The operator only forgets once! Terry in NW Wisconsin
I think that would work pretty well. You could paint on liquid latex (Woodland Scenics makes some) or perhaps use that Bullfrog Snot stuff that it a kind of liquid paint-on traction tire.
I’m sorry for not posting this the first time around. Some how it totally slipped my mined. I have siding where I park the passinger4 cars while they wait the return trip, from Falconer to Dunkirk. The siding is on an incline and the passenger car sets tend to journey down to the station and end up blocking a couple of switches. I have scratch built all my own switch stands. They are controlled from a coat hanger that sticks out threw the layout fascia. Then there is a simple lock that holds the switch or break in this case in the normal spot. So someone walking down the isle cant bump it. One of the big benefits of my switch stand and the brake in this cases is that, the target turns when you throught the switch so I can see the target from the other side of the room and I can tell what way a switch or the brake is lined due to the target. Car brake: Switch stand: Control on fascia:
This is my solution - with no solenoids or magnets under the board to be left activated by accident Up hill is to the right in each case . loco or wagon running up hill will simply push it down. To park a wagon raise the wire to catch the axle. A wagon parked on hill will have axle resting against it and holding the brake on . The blob on the lever is a piece of lead shot as a counterweight - if you paint the lever brown/beige/or green it will be virtually invisible against the ground colour from operating /viewing range - this is yellow so I can see it!. The cost? short piece of brass tube, a lead shot, a bent paperclip , and a dollop of epoxy glye to fix in position. Hope it helps Jack aka Shortliner
On the N scale Columbia and Western the Boundary and Kaslo sub wayfreights handle 20+ car trains up and down 2.2% grades, switching as they go. Thus we needed a portable brake design that could be used by the crews to tie the trains down, could be attached easily with a single hand wherever the crews wanted, and could be left on the rails between passing tracks if necessary without interfering with the other track. We also couldn't use straight pins just pushed into roadbed as many sidings are laid directly on the plywood roadbed to get track height difference between the siding and the main. The brake is constructed from a base, mast and sign. The "base" is styrene rectangular extrusion. The mast is a large paper pin secured perpendicularly through it similar to this. Telescopic styrene tubing is glued over the pin to beef the mast up especially where it is secured to the base. A "Brake" sign securely glued to the top of the pin to act as a handle. The base has a notch cut and filed into it. The notch is designed to fit tightly into the web of opposing rails and in fact the opening is a little smaller than the outside web-to-web distance across a pair of rails so that the base has to flex to snap over the rail heads and into the webs. In this way the brake is held tight across the rails by the spring action of the base. The height of the base when it is secured across the rails is ideally low enough that it acts as a wheel chock without interfering with the micro train couplers (if the pin is removed). In this way the brake can be inserted (by a delicate hand) between coupled cars prior to uncoupling. I hope that all makes sense. Please reply back if it doesn't. thx md
How about using an inexpensive switch machine to move a pin over the track. The kind that use a momentary switch to operate. It could be hidden with scenery and operated remotely.
Well I first tried this out yesterday on some straight sections of some EZ-Track I had lying around in a box and tested today. The results were a success. I was even able to run a locomotive through it (not that I would often do this). So the test worked out so well that I am now trying it in "production" on the actual layout. I have applied the liquid latex rubber to four spurs (the original trouble spur, a newly identified trouble spur (found after spotting cars with very free wheeling wheels) and two other spurs that may pose a problem in the future. I am thinking that the latex should be fully dried by tomorrow night and will be able to test. I put the latex on pretty heavy, contoured towards the inside of the rails and then used a knife to scrap the railheads. The scraping process is done several times (as was done one the test track). Once dry, the railhead will get some more attention and then test spotting cars will be done.
By the way, the variety of methods and ideas is OUTSTANDING! I am not sure the latex idea would work on a stiff grade but for the grades I have on the layout (though the first one is fairly steep and the cars really get moving) I think the latex idea will work well. The real test will be to see how long the latex holds up to use. On the future attic layout to be built someday.....I think some of the grades on that layout will be pretty stiff in a few spots. If spotting on grade is needed, I think perhaps a mechanical method would be best. While I do like electronics and gadgets, I like the ideas presented here thus far and I believe all would work well.
I was asked about my solenoids - I started out in HO back in the 60's, remember, and had a supply of ANCIENT Atlas HO switch machines that were essentially free. If you mount those antiques on a wood block so that they throw up and down instead of side-to-side, they make dandy N brake sprag devices, just put a loop on the ends of the sprag wire (I like mild steel hanger wire) and the old spring wire on the switch machines. Work fine, but have enough horsepower to launch an N car into orbit if you hit an axle instead of throw it behind the car to hold it. I have had contacts on mine to trip a big red panel lamp when it is thrown to the UP position. I still have two in operable condition. I also use them for 'warmup' - put a lashup pushed into a sprag and throw the throttle open to do what is essentially the equivalent of a load test on a lashup prior to leaving a terminal. That warms up the motors and spins the wheels for a bit. As my trains leaving my hidden underground yard hit a 2.5% grade immediately, things better be ready to go. I don't use it unless I hear units stalling/grabbing, then I'll warm them up on the sprag, back off, drop it, and go up the hill out of the yard. The one at the top of the hill on the Hickory Valley though, that's a necessity. If you want to run around a train you have to hold it on a 4% grade, and if it rolls under the hidden loop it's a bear to get out... Same deal, HO solenoid, throwing vertically
Well the testing on the layout went well today. Cars are staying where they should. However, with a nudge they will break free. I am considering applying another layer on the original trouble spur and maybe extending the latex on one of the elevator spurs to increase brake hold. I was also able to run a loco through this track area (again just testing and see if I could), being that these are industry spurs, the locos normally will not have to go that far down the spur to spot or pickup cars. The important part of this is of course is that the liquid latex idea WORKED!! I do think that I will apply another layer just for a little insurance. Once it is all done, I will take a couple of pics to post here.
WOW! Thanks for testing my idea with MisterBeasley's refinements! The inner rail wheel retarder I am so pleased it worked!!!! I wanted to keep it as simple as possible; no machines; no electricity; no pins to stick in and no cutting or drilling of the layout. Looks like we succeeded! I'm surprised...my ideas are usually bonehead
I think you sell yourself short. I applied the second coat last night and it works great. A little bumpy in spots but no big deal as this is a industry spur. I would not recommend this method where trains will be running through unless maybe it is a rarely used branch line. But, for a siding or spur, this is perfect. Still have not takek any picitures as I have been lazy and have not grabbed the camera out of the truck.
A lot of very clever ideas here. For now I just stick a 4" appetizer "tooth-pick" at the end of my yard tracks. We shall see what the long term brings.
