When I was young, I used to scoff at portable rerailers as seen below as being ridiculous. Why I could instantly and flawlessly place any equipment on the track, so sweat. Times have changed over many decades and I recently found myself getting frustrated at not being able to get things on the track like I used to. Admitting defeat, I just ordered a Kato rerailer [Item 24-000] and it's been my N Scale salvation. My gosh, it makes it all so easy again. It's the cheapest and most satisfying hobby tool I've bought in quite some time. (Sorry about the lousy photo. I was too lazy to set up a time exposure with better depth of field)
Cool. When I ordered Atlas Z flex track (for my Nn3 project) it arrived with a rerailer. Took me a second to realize what it was. Haven’t used it yet but I will. My eyes aren’t as good as they were.
I am impressed that you could ever quickly and flawlessly re-rail your stock, and jealous of the early years that you must have spent enjoying this hobby - I didn’t start until I was 50, and I didn’t realise I wanted to until I was about 49 3/4! So re-railers have always been useful and necessary...... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Retailers are prototypical!! I use one now. I'm just over 50 and my failing eyesight is the most frustrating part of getting older.
Hardcoaler, I'll admit I once thought people who used ramp rerailers were old fogies, but I did kept that opinion to myself. Oh the arrogance of being young Now as I get older and get to experience failing eyesight, I find myself eating crow from time to time. A few years ago I purchased a couple of cars directly from Micro-Trains and included in my order free of charge was a rerailer. Last year I purchased the Kato V5 track expansion pack for a small under the tree layout and found it shipped with a ramp rerailer. Seems these little tools are becoming very popular and handy
Count me in as a user as well. Have two. One for the layout and one that is slated for the test and programing track I keep planning to make but haven't gotten around to yet.
I try to do it without them, and often end up using them after subjecting myself to a bit of frustration. Just started as a model railroader at 46 (versus playing with them as a kid but having no real clue about a railroads importance to society and practical functionality).
In my early 40s, and so far my hands are steady, but my eyesight has always been terrible (my diopter is -10.5). Rerailers are wonderful little things!
Hi WM183, I'm not sure what a diopter value of -10.5 means, but I understand and sympathize with you. In my twenties I had 20/20 eyesight in my right eye and 20/30 eyesight in the left eye. Now at 57, I cannot read a magazine or this web page without my bi-focal glasses. While working on my N scale locomotives and rolling stock, my OptiVisor is my new best friend
Was using one that was brown in color from a retailer. Leaned over for something last show and broke it in two. Now have to use Kato's like everybody else in club. Still have a tall one from Bachmann from the 1970's. Also have used OptiVisor or fluorescent magnifying lamp.
The worst part (I'm 65) is that I go to put a car or loco on the track and I think it's there and it's not. So then I fumble around for a lot longer than I should have to until it's finally on both rails with both trucks, cursing all the while. Unfortunately, although I do have a portable rerailer, but only because it was included in a recent eBay auction, it won't fit in a tight situation when there's a derailment and I have to do it strictly by the regular old method, anyway. I have also found it's harder to get the cursor correctly placed on the screen for editing too. Doug
I'm 24 and I've been using both my N and Z rerailers. I'll probably appreciate them more as I age especially after I had highsided my bike and broke my wrist earlier this year.
