New auto-coupling air hoses available in N scale.

[rswinnerton]

Pretty neat!
Currently being reviewed for Ed's Law compliance.

http://www.pwrs.ca/announcements/view.php?ID=7837

[rochsub]

Saw the video.  Very cool, but the way the cars need to be jerked in order for the hoses to disengage is very unrealistic.  I'll pass for now.

Daryl

[DKS]

Saw the video.  Very cool, but the way the cars need to be jerked in order for the hoses to disengage is very unrealistic.  I'll pass for now.

Agree. The fact that it precludes magnetic uncoupling might be a minus for some as well.

[nscaleSPF2]

Based on the video, it would appear that the last car must be manually pulled off the train, to break the magnetic air line connection.  Or am I missing something?

Jim

[havingfuntoo]

I think they have too much magnetic attraction to enable them to come apart easily. They work ok in HO but in N you will need to hold the end of the train to get them apart. Maybe they will come into their own for people who have trains that keep uncoupling at inopportune times.

[RAILCAT]

It seems a bit silly to have a magnetic brake hose and then a giant toothpick
has to come down comes down to allow the car to uncouple.

[Denver Road Doug]

It seems a bit silly to have a magnetic brake hose and then a giant toothpick
has to come down comes down to allow the car to uncouple.

Yeah, about as silly as the giants standing in the valleys just off the right of way with big control boxes in their gigantic hands.

Lack magnetic uncoupling is not among my top 10 reasons to not be interested in these.   For most ops sessions I've been a part of, magnetic uncoupling isn't even considered, or at very least it is used for hard to reach areas or something like that.   The "giant toothpick" not only works well, but it simulates what you would have on a railroad...someone manually uncoupling cars.

Never say never, but I don't anticipate ever buying any of these.

[ljudice]

I agree - definitely cool - but I have enough problems keeping all these newfangled trucks and couplers from falling apart....

[kornellred]

In order for the concept to be foolproof, you must use a magnet that is effective across a relatively great distance.  The new-fangled rare earth magnets have a very dense magnetic field, but still - the size of the magnet (and the magnet's mounting medium) needed in n scale would still far exceed the dimensions of a prototypical glad-hand, exposing a "gimmickry" factor.    It strains credulity.

[strummer]

Hmmm; pretty cool.

I watched the video,and it looks like the operator was a little "heavy handed" with the throttle. I wonder how these might work if one couples cars in a more prototypical fashion...

Bet they'd be REAL nice for O scale...


Mark in Oregon

[GaryHinshaw]

I think I'll stick with etched brass air hoses...

I like the concept, but they look a bit clunky.  The thing that surprises me most is that they're attached with nothing but a glued butt joint.  That seems like a recipe for lots of lost air hoses.

[6axlepwr]

The idea is nice. It is the start of innovation and adding a little more realism to modeling. Everything has to start somewhere and if the inventor is really serious about it being successful, then they will continue to refine and improve upon the issues that are being discussed. The first issue to address I would think is the force needed to uncouple. After that, the the size issue can be addressed. One issue at a time though. It looks to be a cool idea, just needs some more engineering.

As for the "giant toothpick". It is what is needed for the operation. There is not one uncoupling method available (that I know of) in any scale that does not use something "un-prototypical". We will always have to intrude upon our models to uncouple them. I am not a fan of the magnetic glad hand hanging down. Others are. I prefer the swizzle stick or giant tooth pick. I feel the swizzle stick is more prototypical for uncoupling. Both this method and the prototype require manual operation  .

[lock4244]

Neat, but seems like superflous fluff to me... kinda like glow in the dark GI Joes back in the day.

I'd rather they invested in doing something I would buy... like a MIL or VIEW TOFC flat.

[ednadolski]

Bet they'd be REAL nice for O scale...

Magnetic air hoses have been done in O scale (and you're right, they are pretty nice )   There are some files about them on the Proto48 Yahoo Groups Files page (I think you have to be a member to access).

Ed

[robert3985]

Before I make a final judgement on these, I'm gonna get some, install them and see how they look/work.  Making a judgement without seeing them in "the flesh" is a bit assumptive and premature IMHO.

Calling them "superfluous fluff" is akin to calling any extra detailing the same thing...so that remark just bounced off my head.

As to the "giant toothpick" comment...I agree with  Denver Road Doug.

I already cut the dongles off all of my couplers, since they look stupid and I don't use Magnematic uncoupling....just a giant toothpick.

I'm not sure if the "hose" is actually a hose, or if it's solid.  If it IS hollow, I'd rather cut the hose longer, insert it over the pipe with some glue for added security and maybe not a rough glob of glue holding it on.

Since the hose is obviously extremely flexible, the "butt joint" probably won't be a problem, although I'm sure some will fall off, just like sometimes wheels fall out of the trucks, or trip-pin/dongles fall out, or truck pins fall out of the bolsters...since there won't be any dongles (which get trimmed) if using these, I don't see any additional "falling off" problems. 

The "connectors" (magnets) are too big, but not REALLY too big.  I use BLMA's Styrene air hoses, and they appear too thick, but when actually mounted to my cars, they're okay, and look MUCH better than either dongles or nothing.

On the same side of the coin...the magnetic dongles on knuckle couplers in N scale don't get a lot of negative remarks, and they're really stupid looking,  so why do these airhoses????...which look a HELL of a lot better than the dongles.

Possibly a quick touch with a fine sanding disk on my Dremel would slim them up enough without adversely affected their magnetic properties...or perhaps make the magnetic properties a little less while retaining the auto-latching feature while making separation a bit easier.

Nonetheless, what really surprises me are all the negative comments here, the vast majority of which seem off the top of yer heads.

I'll be ordering a couple of packages of these extremely innovative and creative products tomorrow.