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The thread on the Kadee air hoses has raised another question. How do you uncouple your trains? If you use a "tool", could you please post a pic of it.
Late in my 9 min switching video we use a woodin squew to do the uncoupling. It's a little harder to see what your doing because of the upper deck above, but the cars do come apart with little effort.
Ditto! I started out with the Kaddee under-the-track magnets, but they soon became a problem in some areas with unwanted couplings. I finally just did away with them all together. Don't get me wrong: they are fun and they are nice to have in hard to reach areas.
OK...I'll share my secret.....I use a penlight with a rod that's got a little hook at the end. I use the hook to open one of the KD "hoses" to uncouple the cars. Here it is.....
Bamboo skewer, which isn't reflected in the choices. To me, "special tool" is a handheld implement specifically made for the job, and that precludes the bamboo skewer the way some of us are using it.
I use Kadee delayed uncouplers & magnets that I bought at an online magnet co. Both work well & I've been using them for many years. A lot of my layout is hard to reach & the magnets are a big help.
I'm a wood skewer user myself, though it seems to work only 75% of the time. In those situations I just lift up one of the cars, only takes half a second to rerail it afterward. Of course now I'm tempted to try that Rix gizmo, hadn't heard about that before...
I use a variation of the bamboo skewer. It's a fireplace match with the strike end cut off and whittled to a point. I like it because it's square and with that little bit of an edge to open the couplers, it works great!
I don't think anyone has mentioned to square the tip of the bamboo skewer. I always shape the end to a 4 sided point. This will aid in getting the coupler to open.
Yep, and Rex has a nice collection of color coded skewers, which are great for operating sessions. You can use them to uncouple cars or poke the guy who's train is in your way.
I used to just let the cats do it. If either of them was anywhere near the layout when it was running, I could be sure that uncoupling or derailment was quick and inevitable.