I have some Athearn freight cars that I purchased around 1990 and installed Kadeee magne-matic couplers. I experimented with a Kadee between the rails permanent uncoupler magnet over the weekend. The couplers will decouple when over the magnet but don't go all the way to the delayed position so that when the cars are pushed past the magnet, they recouple. Not sure if the magnet is not strong enough or that there is too much friction within the coupler box causing it to bind. The two freight cards I tried this on have metal clips that attach from the bottom to hold the coupler and spring in place. Could the metal clips be causing interference with the magnetic field? As a side note, I have a Athearn caboose that has a plastic coupler box and center rod that holds the coupler in place. The center rod on the caboose was shorter than on the freight cars and didn't go though the coupler and spring to work.
I have a Rix magnetic hand uncoupling tool that seems to work ok with uncoupling the two freight cars. I want to get the method I am going to use for uncoupling sorted out before building a small dc switching layout. Are there cars available now that can be purchased with couplers installed that will work reliably with the between the rail magnet? Is the between the rail magnet a good uncoupling method? I am not sure if the issue I am having is due to the magnet being weak, or the couplers not working well with the Athearn cars or something else. I only have a few cars and am inclined to order new cars that have couplers installed to hopefully see how they are supposed to work. What would be the best brand of cars that have couplers that work reliably? Any advice will be appreciated.
I have a Rix magnetic hand uncoupling tool that seems to work ok with uncoupling the two freight cars. I want to get the method I am going to use for uncoupling sorted out before building a small dc switching layout. Are there cars available now that can be purchased with couplers installed that will work reliably with the between the rail magnet? Is the between the rail magnet a good uncoupling method? I am not sure if the issue I am having is due to the magnet being weak, or the couplers not working well with the Athearn cars or something else. I only have a few cars and am inclined to order new cars that have couplers installed to hopefully see how they are supposed to work. What would be the best brand of cars that have couplers that work reliably? Any advice will be appreciated.