Holding Cars in a Siding on a Grade

[tehachapifan]

I've found some ideas online elsewhere, but am curious as to what TRW folks have come up with for keeping N scale cars from rolling away that are in a siding with a grade.

[peteski]

My friend uses a piano wire rod extending from the track's center line.  The rods moves inside a brass tube and is animated by a Tortoise switch machine.  The control switch is mounted on the fascia.

[dem34]

I've seen people paint some stiff bristle paint brushes like grass then plant them in the flangeway with just enough length to brush against the axles. Enough resistance to stop rolling but can stick around without hindering operations too drastically.

[wazzou]

My friend uses a piano wire rod extending from the track's center line.  The rods moves inside a brass tube and is animated by a Tortoise switch machine.  The control switch is mounted on the fascia.

Same premise, but more tactile is just having the tube/wire manually inserted and removed.

[djconway]

My method is not too complicated, I use a quilting pin stuck in the roadbed. Quilting pins are about 2 1/2" long, very fine wire, with a verity of "flags" on the top. I like the ones with red, yellow or green disks on top.

[tehachapifan]

Great suggestions thus far!

[bobdobbs]

Just but a bright boy in front of the cars, then you wont lose your track cleaner!

[Maletrain]

I operated on an HO layout 2 weeks ago that used modified clothes pins, painted red, for "brakes" when switching on a grade.

The modification on the clothes pins is to cut off the ends so that the clamping part is right at the end.  That allows them to be firmly attached to the rails.

They are easy to use and easy to see when actively doing the operations.  But, probably not what you want for cars spotted on an industrial track when you are finished and gone.

Other places I operate have used things like thin metal rods (with and without flags) that are to be stuck into the roadbed between ties.  But, sometimes the road bed is only plywood that I can't stick anything into.  And sometimes there have been so many "stick points" in foam and cork roadbeds that the ballast looks rather hinky in favorite stopping places.  And placing "things" like brite boys, on the tracks has been only semi-successful for me in HO on some bad grades - plus, I did leave one on a mainline once because, well, a "Brite Boy" really isn't "bright" (and sometimes I am not so bright, either).  So, red seems like a good idea.

So, I am really impressed with the red clothes pins for "setting brakes" while switching.  I am planning to make some smaller versions for use in N scale.

[peteski]

Same premise, but more tactile is just having the tube/wire manually inserted and removed.

The reason for it being remote operated is because it is out of reach from the isle.  It holds back a string of coal hoppers at the coal mine.

[ednadolski]

Has anyone ever tried embedding a neodymium magnet in the track (with a small chunk of steel in the truck/bolster of the car) to act as a brake?

Alternately, I suppose one could put the magnets into the bottom of the car(s) if they were small/strong enough.

Ed

[djconway]

Has anyone ever tried embedding a neodymium magnet in the track (with a small chunk of steel in the truck/bolster of the car) to act as a brake?

Alternately, I suppose one could put the magnets into the bottom of the car(s) if they were small/strong enough.

Ed

I would think a magnet strong enough to hold a string of cars, could play hell with magnetic coupling/uncoupling.  Experiments are called for.

[nkalanaga]

Drill holes in the ties, or just one hole if the cars will always be held at the same place, so that a pin or stiff wire can be put in it.  Then, put a blue flag on the pin or wire, and stick it in the hole.  It wouldn't look as out of place as some suggestions, but would still be easily seen and removed as needed.

[randgust]

If I'm only holding back one or two cars on a mild grade, I hit the rail with the rail cutters just enough to make a 'divot' on the rail head, works like a permanent rail chock would.  It bumps slightly going over it, but not much.  If it doesn't work, file it flush.

Second approach is a little bit of ground foam in the flangeways, again, if it doesn't work, take it back out.

The final solution has been the same idea, a vertical piece of spring wire in a brass tube actutated by a solenoid or a Tortoise.  I call them sprags.  The only refinement I can suggest is that when they are raised, I also used the contacts to turn on a red panel indicator on the siding to show that there ain't no way you're moving those cars over that until it's retracted

When I first started in N I put them at the end of my hidden storage tracks as retractable bumpers so that I didn't overrun the space at the end.   I found out that flooring the throttle against them usually warmed the motors up and spun the wheels for better contact before a train left the yard.  I still have one sprag left at the exit of my hidden yard for that purpose, but power is so good now i can't remember the last time I used it.

I have one left on the Hickory Valley, if you're switching the top and loose control of a car, it rolls into the hidden loop and that's no good, so I put a retractible sprag on the hill to catch them.   I have two on the Beaver Creek module to hold those light log cars in place and keep them from rolling off even though it's pretty flat.

[brokemoto]

There are several things that I do:

1. If it is a siding that slopes up from the main line, I put a "pole" made from a broken pin vise bit at the end.  I then "couple" the car (or last car in a cut of cars) to the "pole".

2.  I take a bent track nail and put it into the cork (or drill a hole in the roadbed of Unitrak or E-Z Trak.  I point the head of the nail away from me then stick it into the roadbed with a pair of tweezers.

3.  If there is more than one car, I can put  a straight pin between the cars.  The view of the pin is somewhat obstructed by the two cars coupled together.

4,  A minute "lump" of modelling clay on the rail farthest from me.

5.  A small "old" flat car that I heavily weathered to simulate a rotting, abandoned car is up against the bumper.  I have a hole drilled in it to accommodate a cut down straight pin (or end of a broken pin vise bit). that I stick into the cork.  I then couple the  spotted cars to it.  I will put a small "box" or a few ties onto the "rusted" flat car to cover the top of the pin.


When I was in high school and modelled in HO, there was a company that sold a track end bumper that had an X2F coupler on it.  The manufacturer made it just for Original Poster's purpose.

[Rossford Yard]

Some good ideas here.  I considered the fancy stuff, but now 6 years into my layout, I still hold my outbound trains from the yard as I build them, on a 2% grade by sticking a blue push tack in between the rails.   The blue is at least somewhat representative of the blue flags used to show occupied tracks.

It holds my typical train length of up to 16 cars at least.  I do worry I will enlarge the hole at some point making it wobbly, but so far, no problems.  I guess I am a "use low tech if it works" kind of guy.  I tried hiding the pin in some shrubs, but now just stick it in a bank next to the tracks when not in use.