A Simple Solution for Working Brakes

[nkalanaga]

I'm not surprised.  Manual chokes have been obsolete for years, but there are also a lot of older cars still running.  But I wonder how many "younger", say, less than 50 years, people have used one?

[narrowminded]

I'm not surprised.  Manual chokes have been obsolete for years, but there are also a lot of older cars still running.  But I wonder how many "younger", say, less than 50 years, people have used one?

My '37 Hudson Terraplane had an automatic choke.  Same bi-metal style coil that was used into the '70's.  It wasn't uncommon to disable them or to "fix" them by eliminating them.  Choke cable kits were common.

If someone was wanting a choke cable kit and didn't want to use RC cables you might do better by looking at bicycle cables.

[up1950s]

Mechanical blockers might cause a derail if there is not a 90 degree MAINTAINED angle as pressure is applied by the train .

How about a ferris plate in the car that you want to be the brake car . Under the ties you have a big a$$ electro magnet that will be more powerful than a speeding locomotive , able to suck the bits off a computer chip ?

[Steveruger45]

Hmmmm.  Could work I’m guessing.  I especially liked the paraphrase of a line by Willie Nelson in the movie Electric Horseman.

[ncbqguy]

A ferrous plate in a car that can be attracted to a strong magnet on a drop hinge (so it can be turned “off”) under the roadbed would work.  The plate would become magnetized so that is something to think about.  Remember that magnets could cause false uncoupling.
Choke cables are still widely used on mowers and other small gas engines so that is another market to look into.
Charlie Vlk

[C855B]

I'll bet Pep Boys has choke cables... just can't find 'em online since they have succumbed to "year, make and model" parts searches before they'll show you anything.

JC Whitney has them.

[Steveruger45]

Bicycle brake cables too, maybe.

[C855B]

I agree about the spot-of-CA approach, in N scale it would be gone in a couple of rounds of track cleaning. My solution would be strong magnet with R/C servo actuation, using something like this Tam Valley controller. With a cheap servo it would cost about the same as those choke cables, and be controllable from the fascia or DCC.

I may have to do this on my layout since one yard is on a 1% grade and is likely a good candidate for runaways. (Hmmm... need to model a working derail, maybe?  )

[narrowminded]

For a one off local controller this might be usable and might come in around the cost of a cable rig.  Lights could be added, too. http://www.trainelectronics.com/Servo-simple-controller/

[CRL]

Anyone here remember driving a car with a “throttle” knob also?

[peteski]

Anyone here remember driving a car with a “throttle” knob also?

Was it on the steering wheel hub?  Brass-era cars have all sorts of gizmos in the steering wheels. I think one is manual spark advance, and I think another one might be throttle.

[CRL]

Nope... on the dash next to the choke knob.

[wvgca]

Was it on the steering wheel hub?  Brass-era cars have all sorts of gizmos in the steering wheels. I think one is manual spark advance, and I think another one might be throttle.

throttle was on the right side of the steering wheel, spark advance was on the left ..[there wasn't a floor mounted throttle]

[C855B]

Learned to drive a manual (3-on-the-tree) in a late-40's (?) pickup truck with a hand throttle and a regular foot throttle. Also had a foot-activated starter. IIRC, the choke was left of the steering wheel, the throttle on the right.

Ferraris had a manual choke up until they adopted fuel injection in '80 or '81 since automatic chokes didn't work well on multi-carb setups. My carbureted '79 308 (four 2V Webers) had a choke system where you had to unlock the clamp knob, set the choke and re-tighten the clamp, and then ~30 seconds after starting the block got warm enough and the RPMs would settle around 2K, unclamp the choke knob, move it back to fully-open position, then clamp the knob again. I miss/dont' miss that car.

[CRL]

Learned to drive a manual (3-on-the-tree) in a late-40's (?) pickup truck with a hand throttle and a regular foot throttle. Also had a foot-activated starter. IIRC, the choke was left of the steering wheel, the throttle on the right.

Now that I think about it, I think you’re right... choke on the left, throttle on the right. Starter on the floor placed so that you’d turn your foot sideways a little to hot starter with your toe and the gas pedal with middle of foot.