63. Uncoupling and Coupling Part 1, at McKinley Railway

[@suchcone]

I love the description of miniature engineering. There're so many disciplines involved in this - electronics, physics, woodwork, metalwork, planning, decoration... It's wonderful.

[@GamingKinda]

My favorite line. It’s almost like we’ve bought toys… I literally laughed out loud. Fantastic.

[@mikeuk1954]

I think I've watched this a few times now and just sit in awe at the complexity of this wonderful layout. Truly magnificent.

[@wamgoc]

Great review! You guys are definitely pushing the boundaries of layout design! Thanks for sharing.

[@dattouk]

Our pleasure!

[@andrewkeast2132]

Having met David and the team at Southampton has inspired our Club, Redruth MRC, to follow McKinley’s journey. Thankyou David and the team.

[@philllacey1844]

Great video! I have used Kadee couplings for a few years now. The length proved to be a problem at first but over came it by using the Kadee 20 and cut to suit. The auto uncoupler for reliability I use drone motors, they are the same diameter but a little longer.

[@michaelquinones-lx6ks]

I use Kadde Couplers too on all of my U.S. rolling stock too, And, Thank you for buying an American product.

[@richardw5507]

Fantastic that Ian shared the details - a true Merg-er

[@andrewdonald2770]

Terrific instructional video, Thanks for sharing. My new knowledge will certainly assist with the development of my model railway. Cheers PS - shout out to Charlies as well, lovely production s usual.

[@mathewrufrano7833]

Cannot wait to see your freight trains running and the shunting that will be taking place. Extraordinary electronics that many, in part, may add to their own layouts.

[@ModelRailroadTechniques]

I am glad you used my uncouples idea precie models. They are a great price of kit.

[@ianharper6015]

Thanks for a very concise, informative and professional put together video.

[@dattouk]

You are welcome Ian.

[@AMSRocker]

One part of the North American system of model railroading that was a MASSIVE improvement was that a long time ago a bunch of very sharp guys that were not associated with the model railroad manufactures got together and formed the National Model Railroad Association (NMRA). The NMRA then rubbed their heads together and made rolling stock standards. Weight of cars (Vans/Waggons) that coincides with their length and couplers and their height. There were a number of other standards they produced too. Thankfully the model railroad manufactures have adopted the NMRA standards as they were very well thought out and because of men who loved this hobby years ago we have today a stable platform to start from to aid our railroads and help them run very well! The only problem that I can see with using our NA system with your British rolling stock is the length of your cars. You have a small window to couple the cars without accidentally uncoupling the next cars as you showed in your video.

[@dattouk]

Hi Christian. The NMRA standards are very useful. We have tried to follow them where possible. I'm not sure that the Uk model train fraternity exerts that much pull on our manufacturers. It is a very diverse group in so many respects. Interestingly, the NMRA weights proved too onerous for UK outline. The principle is good, but we dropped it down to approximately 60%. Thanks for your contributions. David

[@colinedwards9874]

Excellent Video, Thank You. I will probably have to watch it 2 or 3 times to pick up on everything properly. Very Informative.

[@farmerdave7965]

Never stop the griping. Griping is important and necessary. Greetings from Colorado Springs.

[@dattouk]

Thanks Dave, Sorry if it went on too long on that gripe. I have made note to self.. It is what it is and these problems set us exciting challenges. Focus on the good things...

[@thelittlewesternmodelrailway]

Brilliant details and ingenuity regarding auto uncoupling :) Great video.

[@rjl110919581]

Thank you for sharing great detailed video every time as great watching

[@RaysRailVideos]

Id love to come and see this layout. Looking forward to some films of it running

[@Mark_W_L]

Have you looked at the Rapido Trains Railcrew Uncoupler? This has a permanent magnet that can be rotated so that it is either along the track for uncoupling or at right angles to the track where it does not affect the couplings. It can be controlled by a local switch or by any DCC stationary decoder suitable for twin coil solenoid type point motors.

[@dattouk]

Hi Mark, No we haven't. I will have a peek... Thanks for letting us know. David

[@dallasthomas9298]

Another great explanation of the workings of McKinley, well done to the team and your extremely large pockets.

[@ade9685]

Umm David has worked hard to enable him to be at the peak of the model railway world. Those in the team must love being a part of his dream! David Townend is the director of Gilltown, the UK's most innovative developer of student accommodation, with more than 5,000 units designed, project managed and built to date. His fascination with building began in his youth when he took a degree in civil engineering. But in the early nineties, recognising that major opportunities were emerging in the digital arena, he veered into software engineering. He founded 4-sight, a company developing bespoke software for the media, print and advertising industries, building it up from a cluster of people to more than 200 staff. In 2000, he sold his shares in the business - then valued at $45million - to begin the next leg of his career, investing in startups. One of the ventures, a solar cladding company, quickly secured a high number of lucrative government contracts, which simultaneously drew David back to his construction roots. In 2007, David set up an investment trust to serve as a vehicle for new initiatives, and over the next five years money was increasingly carried over to construction, which had become the portfolio's most lucrative element. Since 2008, David has completed ten residential building projects, including a number of luxury homes selling for more £1million each. Decades of high-level financial, commercial and contractual experience make him expert at finding, assessing and structuring the best deals, and bringing skilled and trusted specialists on board to help push projects through to completion.

[@davidcurtis5398]

I have the KD on all of my cars and locos. I really like the delay aspect so one can push the car into place and then just pull away. Yes, one problem is when you stop on a magnet, you have the chance of uncoupling the cars. It's even worse if you have put the magnets under the sleepers and hidden them. It looks just great and if you mark the place the magnets are skillfully, you will have a real good road. The only thing is that they seem not to be in all of the right places. I have taken all of the uncoupling arms off of the KD's and use a pick to uncouple the cars. I still can use the delay aspect of the couplers to position the cars. Your 4 magnets in a row is an unusual concept and I'll have to think about it for a while.I like the electronic uncoupling but I would like to see it buried under the sleepers. My oh my, that is a little motor but the concept is absolutely great!! Looking forward to the next video. Charlie does a great job, don't you think??

[@OgaugeTrainsplusslotCars]

Thank you for the coupling technology ♐️👍

[@dattouk]

Our pleasure!

[@michaelh6064]

Do you have available anywhere all your documentation on how to fit Kadee’s to old stock? It is always so much trial and error and expensive to keep a variety of kadees’s in stock it would be useful to know which ones you have used for which stock? And how to fit, eg cutting and removing existing couplings.

[@TheDaf95xf]

Really interesting that David 👍🏻

[@dattouk]

Hi Stevie, Glad you enjoyed it. David

[@vicf5726]

As always informative and enjoyable, I started in the hobby around 2016, decided to use K’dees, and the frustration in getting the NEM sockets to line up!! Swearing doesn’t make the problem go away, suffice to say, that as a newbee I wrecked, yes wrecked a Heljan teddy bear, whilst attempting modification, (I keep it on display, to remind me how I can muck things up) would you and the team, if possible, please do an info session on how you overcame the issue, just some pointers would be great, marvellous layout, and love the premise of the time machine, good luck and good health to you all.

[@KennyLong1]

Great content! I learned a ton watching this. You guys think like me, no hand of God stuff! ;-). I ordered parts to make a few of the boards, where do you guys get those nice looking pushbutton switches you use to operate the uncouplers. Also Precimodels has an N scale version of their uncoupler! I am going to order one and will report back on how well it works.

[@ianhart8364]

The push buttons were sourced from AliExpress, the T-Button Switches store. We used a 19mm metal momentary push button with a green 12V LED. The push button interfaces to the micro controller which runs the LED at 5V giving acceptable brightness. More information is in the files in the introduction to the video.

[@JamesPetts]

Interesting. One improvement on electromagnetic couplers are servo operated permanent magnet uncouplers. You can get mounts for these compatible with Kadee couplers from Dingo. These can sit entirely underneath the baseboard with no cut-outs required and nothing visible atop the track. They need very powerful permanent magnets because of the inverse square law, but they do work with magnets that you can buy for modest sums online. The beauty of them is that you can leave them in the on position for any length of time, so you can press the button to engage the uncoupler, take as long as you like to uncouple, and then press the button again to turn off the uncoupler when you are done, without worrying about anything burning out.

[@ianhart8364]

The servo activated two position permanent magnet is an interesting alternative. However, there is more to go wrong, with all the moving parts compared with the simplicity of an electromagnet. There is no commercial off-the-shelf implementation that would mimic the functionality of Kadee electromagnet, so McKinley would have to develop and test a solution that would be expected to work faultlessly through intensive operational sessions for many years. McKinley has successfully used Kadee electromagnets for uncoupling for many years. The particular problem being targeted was having to hold down the button to keep the electromagnet energised. The delay timer provides a simple solution with a single push energising the electromagnet for a fixed time.

[@keithbridle534]

Are we going to have a running season?

[@josefbuckland]

Why would manufactures pay attention to universal standards. Lol it’s where us enthusiasts invest much of our time in the pursuit of eternal happiness. Lol quality as always from you and Chadwick representing the HIGH end part of this world to those of us that are stuck in the slightly more ‘voluntary simplicity’ scale. Lol.

[@dattouk]

My new acronym for RTR: Ready To Re-engineer. :-)

[@AMSRocker]

We found on the Kadee couplers that if you take a very fine mill file and file the flat surface of the knuckle (the part that will hit and rub against the coupler that you are going to make a coupling to) that will eliminate the casting/mold line that is right across the face of the knuckle. If you do this across all of your rolling stock you will find that you will have far smoother operations. Yes they are now shiny and not a flat black but the operation aspect out weighs the silver. The silver look works for us here in North America but I'm sure that you want to hide it there in Britain as your railroads have a hook and link system. The call is yours...

[@dattouk]

Thanks Christian... I think I will add this to our operational checklist. It sounds very obvious now you have said it. Regards David

[@lassunsschaun6859]

About the "What was first uncouple move or remoted-controlled?" question, I would think that "TELEX" from märklin would be under the oldest such systems for 16.5 mm track gauge on locos. Fix electro-magnetic uncouplers for coaches above or under -> under camouflage better and less likely to catche something as more clearence, would guess you gona improve some older parts of the layout (for example the industrial area next to London and the planned changes you already talked about), as soon as the pudding has been tested well and extensive 😉

[@jeffreyholmes4287]

Question; would it be easier on operators to give the uncouple shuffle two buttons (or two presses of the same button?), one for forward and one for backward, instead of trying to time the pressing of the magnet button just right? Seems like it might be easier to activate the magnet, then push back & forth.

[@dattouk]

Hi Jeffrey, I'm not sure if that is possible. Magnets and motors have a nasty habit of burning out if left on for any length of time and operators get consumed with the detail in front of them. We have set the timer for the magnet energising to be 5 seconds. The proof will be in the pudding once we start operating. I'll bear your idea in mind.. David

[@djflipside100]

Hi I use the electro uncoupler I was hoping to find a dcc way of operating the switch but haven't so far. I do however love your delayed buttons could you tell me where to get them from please and is the wiring the same as a normal push to make switch please thanks in advance

[@charleymartin9422]

Details , as said in video, are in the ‘show more tab’ v under the screen bottom RH corner.

[@djflipside100]

Hi yes I saw after I'd watched till the end as I got drawn away 😂 all sorted now thanks

[@johnalbu2319]

How do you uncouple between two box cars?

[@jeanbonnefoy1377]

the issue with the NEM pocket's height and/or compliance with norms for UK 00 scale locos and rolling stock made by Hornby, Bachmann or Dapol (looks better with Heljan and Peco) is an unfathomable mystery for me, all the more that this problem doesn't exist (in 90% of cases at least) with European brands for their H0 models - Hornby, Jouef, TAB, Lima, Rivarossi, Fleischmann, Roco, Rowa, Piko, Marklin, Electrotren to name a few I'm using on my H0 layout.

[@dattouk]

Hi jean, I an envious... If only I was a European modeller.

[@greatwestern93]

Sam's Trains actually measures back to backs in his videos but I doubt 'real modellers ' give his content much of a chance.

[@dragonknightadam]

where do those electro magnets come from?

[@ianhart8364]

They are made by Kadee - part no 309

[@Pastalive2025]

If heaven is like McKinley then that's fine by me

[@colonelga-taffy6753]

As in nothing goes on in mckinley so your hoping nothing goes on in heaven..... explain your comment

[@trainmanbob]

@@colonelga-taffy6753 Nothing goes on in McKinley? This is a layout in progress. I have been rewiring my layout for a few years and I do not run trains all the time, in fact rarely. The object is to get everything running to perfection and it takes a long time.

[@Pastalive2025]

@@colonelga-taffy6753 over my head

[@davefuelling7955]

Just a thought on your electromagnetic uncoupler, have you considered adding a timer relay into the circuit? They allow you to set the time duration, that way someone who was uncoupling cars (or should I say wagons) to push and release the button and then have a preset time to move the loco to uncouple his wagons before the magnet deenergizes.

[@fatheradolf]

Did you watch the video to the end? That is exactly what they are doing!

[@ianmedium]

it’s the fake synthesized sounds as you display here that also disappoint me, they ruin displays, let the sounds be imagined as in my childhood in the sixties and seventies, imagination is the most realistic sound reproduction, this tinny noise turns it from a model to a toy!

[@dattouk]

Where in the video are these sounds that irritate you? It helps to give a time offset.