06-01-2012, 12:05 PM
Wayne brings up a neat point (as usual). DCC has given us a nice simulated loco brake effect, and a good overall train momentum effect. Both have been done in DC, too, through MRC's more advanced power packs, et al. I remember my first time operating a throttle with momentum - and it was before I had begun converting to kadee couplers - nothing but horn-hooks! Slack action could break the train at various places all at once, depending on the track conditions.
Anyway, not to take this thread too far afield, but a DCC controlled brake/drag on a caboose could really change the way we operate trains. To me it is a question of simulating operations (like momentum - our trains aren't REALLY proportionately as heavy as the prototype, even with overly weighted rolling stock) vs. actually duplicating operations in miniature. That's one thing I've always liked about the Sergent couplers - you can open the knuckle, and you may in fact need to, just like the real thing. Also you can, and may need to, kick the coupler over to one side in order to couple on the curve.
I recently purchased some of the new kadee couplers with 'whiskers', since the brass centering spring wouldn't have fit the enclosure. But it got me to thinking that maybe I don't need centering action at all. I'm not going to use the magne-matic aspects of the trip pin - for me it's just a simulation of the air hose. (I don't like replacement air hoses because they don't appear to connect when cars are coupled and that's more a glaring inconsistency than the trip pins being in the wrong spot, IMO)
So I may remove some of the centering springs for a while as a trial. Thanks for posting the great videos, Matt.
Galen
Anyway, not to take this thread too far afield, but a DCC controlled brake/drag on a caboose could really change the way we operate trains. To me it is a question of simulating operations (like momentum - our trains aren't REALLY proportionately as heavy as the prototype, even with overly weighted rolling stock) vs. actually duplicating operations in miniature. That's one thing I've always liked about the Sergent couplers - you can open the knuckle, and you may in fact need to, just like the real thing. Also you can, and may need to, kick the coupler over to one side in order to couple on the curve.
I recently purchased some of the new kadee couplers with 'whiskers', since the brass centering spring wouldn't have fit the enclosure. But it got me to thinking that maybe I don't need centering action at all. I'm not going to use the magne-matic aspects of the trip pin - for me it's just a simulation of the air hose. (I don't like replacement air hoses because they don't appear to connect when cars are coupled and that's more a glaring inconsistency than the trip pins being in the wrong spot, IMO)
So I may remove some of the centering springs for a while as a trial. Thanks for posting the great videos, Matt.
Galen
I may not be a rivet counter, but I sure do like rivets!