On my layout every consist other then passenger trains..the last car is always a yellow car... that way when I look at a train and dont see a yellow car at the end I know there is a problem...somewhere. So having the same car...even on a turnaround is not a big thing. IF I have to pick the car up by hand and move it to the tail end of a new outbound train...no big thing. All my tail end cars...for whatever reason...have a bit more drag then the others. I really dont see any 'slinky'. Which reminds me...unless you are walking around your layout when running trains...the space between cars where you would notice that slinky effect is only a few seconds. When sitting and a train is coming down the track towards you...you dont see slinky. After it passes you..you dont see the slinky. When the train is 20 feet away...you dont see 'slinky'' IMHO...'slinky' is much ado about nuttin. .
If you ran those pizza cutters with plastic wheels; they actually collect a lot of garbage from the rails which increases the drag. I hated cleaning those wheelsets as I have many freight cars..... Most of my feet has MT couplers with some Athearn, ST and just a few Atlas with their lovely couplers. I like the MT couplers as they operate 95% of the time. When I built layouts with grades; old slinky was very noticeable but most noticeable was when Accumates failed and let loose on a long 2% grade. That was not fun at all because usually there was a curve at the bottom of the grade; what a mess! There are a lot of good ideas in this thread and since all of us are in charge of our own railroads; pick whatever solution best fits your fancy. I chose to have no grades, metal wheels, weighted cabooses with plastic wheels and dcc locos that barely crawl at speed step 1....then I guess I overlook any other shortcomings regarding the slinky effect. This may not be acceptable for everyone; rule #1 always applies.... Brian
I agree. Too much time wasted on it. I just go with what works for me, after five decades in N. If it had caused me any detriment, massively reduced tonnage, etc, I would not use it. As for the prototype, I have many, many thousands of new and rebuilt/repaired 1:1 cars worth of experience in my past. So I know what is actually real there as well.
Everyone has their personal opinions about the "The Slink", I can see where it can be annoying for some. When one tries to push the envelope and tries to make things look as real as possible, it's can be a game changer George. Take a look at this video and you'll see why some fuss over this issue. How one decides to deal with it though is their battle though.
You can especially see what I noted yesterday, in that first centerbeam. The cars in front have it, but barely noticeable and not worthy of any worry. Then a very light weight car comes along, which effects all behind it.
It's like using footage of an old computer tape drive in a scene that's supposed to be a reel-to-reel tape recorder.
Allen... Yes...that video is all telling. I agree that if you sit there and stare straight ahead and watch a train go by...slinky is evident. As I spoke about earlier...once that train has passed...within seconds...and you look at it from behind...or from the front as it is coming towards you...slinky is nearly impossible to see. Everyone has little things that stick in their craw. Slinky is way down the list for me... JS .
No there is no dampening on either end or center cushions. The only thing preventing oscillations is a decent engineer controlling his train and sometimes that doesn't work.
Here's a typical draft gear: According to Miner Enterprises, it is "the most widely specified gear in the industry." Notice the friction clutch at the top (what would be the coupler end when mounted). One of the jobs of the friction clutch, in addition to increasing the amount of force the draft gear can absorb, is to provide dampning. This research comparison of draft gear damping mechanisms "compared three types of draft gears with different damping mechanisms: friction, polymer and friction–polymer." According to this end-of car energy management system patent, " Typically, a draft gear uses a spring-loaded mechanism where damping is achieved via friction."
If you'd ever worked on rail cars you'd recognize that is just another of many variants for cushioning devices. They come in many styles and methods of installation. None of them will prevent slack action. They only seek to (hope to) minimize any potential damage to cargoes.
No, this is a solid draft gear, the yoke is not shown. This is not a gas/ hydraulic cushion device either sliding center sill or end of car. This is one step above pinning the drawbar to the end sill like they did in the old days usually resulting with the end of the car being ripped off during slack action. This only provides some protection to the car body, not the lading by keeping draft forces aligned and transferred through the carbody or centersill.. Common places to find this draft gear today are tank cars or hopper cars. This does nothing to dampen oscillation throughout the train. Also, you have failed to consider the free slack in the yoke, cross key, drawbar and knuckle amounting to about a foot of free slack per car. Cushioned cars have more than 2 feet of slack per car, cushioned cars still have the 12 inches of free slack in addition to another 12-14 inches of sprung slack. I encourage you to run a long freight train (like I do) and see for yourself.