Basically, are there magnets strong enough to hold HO model trains together?

I wanted scratch build a particular type of coupler, but it doesn't have a "knuckle". I have several trains of Multiple Unit cars, which use a special type of coupler that makes most of the MU connections all at once (rather than having to have all the lines hooked up manually like on a regular locomotive). It basically looks like a peg and a slot side by side, and they slip into each-other, guiding all the connections into alignment.

This way of coupling cars may even allow me to "model" this prototype action by hooking up all the wheel pickups together, if i could make the pegs and slots metal and isolate them. The problem is, without a knuckle that physically holds the train together, how do i get these couplers to hold?

I was thinking magnets might be the answer. The pins would act like the prototype and keep the couplers lined up, but the magnets would be what holds the cars together. The question is, do they make magnets strong enough to hold two or three passenger cars together?

Here is a prototype photo of an Arrow III MU coupler. Can this be done?

A few things to mention

Legos use to use magnets to couple trains together

You could look at making a Ball and Socket coupling device that will be hidden

If you use a magnet method, one thing to consider is to reduce the weight of the cars but that will increase bounce and truck stability

Green_Elite_Cab Wrote:Basically, are there magnets strong enough to hold HO model trains together?

I was thinking magnets might be the answer. The pins would act like the prototype and keep the couplers lined up, but the magnets would be what holds the cars together. The question is, do they make magnets strong enough to hold two or three passenger cars together?

Rare earth magnets are both small enough and strong enough to be used to hold together a train. But...Consider the force required to separate cars that have a strong enough magnetic attraction to stay together under all running conditions on the layout. Any fixed magnet that is strong enough to hold when you want it to without failure is going to have too high a force to separate when you want to uncouple. An electromagnet can have its field intensity varied, but now you have the complication of both powering and controlling the electromagnet.

I am familiar with the use of magnets to hold the wooden Brio trains together. The magnets used are fairly weak so that the cars can be separated by little kids' hands when desired. But these weak magnets also mean the inadvertent uncouplings on occasion. Getting the correct magnetic force so that uncoupling is reasonable, yet the train won't come apart unless desired, would not be easy.

Fred W

pgandw Wrote:Rare earth magnets are both small enough and strong enough to be used to hold together a train. But...Consider the force required to separate cars that have a strong enough magnetic attraction to stay together under all running conditions on the layout. Any fixed magnet that is strong enough to hold when you want it to without failure is going to have too high a force to separate when you want to uncouple. An electromagnet can have its field intensity varied, but now you have the complication of both powering and controlling the electromagnet.

I am familiar with the use of magnets to hold the wooden Brio trains together. The magnets used are fairly weak so that the cars can be separated by little kids' hands when desired. But these weak magnets also mean the inadvertent uncouplings on occasion. Getting the correct magnetic force so that uncoupling is reasonable, yet the train won't come apart unless desired, would not be easy.

Fred W

Well, the only thing i'm thinking, is that these passenger cars are relatively light, and with every other car powered, i don't expect there to be to much of a strong force on them. I'll have to see what is out there. Maybe i can leave hole in between the surfaces so that i can push a pick in between the mating surfaces, like the uncoupling picks they make already.

doing more digging on the internet, Kato seems to make a similar coupler, but its sold by their Kato Japan side of things, and i haven't found anyone offering to sell those parts seperately to the US.

May be helpful for you:
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Lutz

very cool schraddel.I have never seen anything like that before..

Indeed! And very close in appearance to G.E.C.'s Silverliner coupler, to boot!

Yeah, that coupling system looks very similar to your prototype, G_E_C.

As for magnets, I just tested a rare earth magnet which easily picked up a 22 ounce mini-anvil. The magnet is 1" long and 3/16" in diameter. The same magnet will raise a steel bar 1"x1.5"x8" from a lying-flat position to standing-on-end, but won't quite lift it. Weight of the bar is 51 ounces. They'd work great as couplers, but you're on your own for uncoupling.

I think the ones shown by Schraddel are what you want.

Wayne

Schraddel Wrote:May be helpful for you:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.signalmeister.at/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13&Itemid=63&lang=en">http://www.signalmeister.at/cms/index.p ... 63&lang=en</a><!-- m -->

Lutz

It looks perfect! It would match all my Arrows and Silverliner MUs. Now the question is, how do i order them?

I also just found that Kato Japan makes an MU coupler similar to the other popular type used here, that has more of a diamond/pyramid shape for its "pin". This was used on the Metroliners and now PATCO cars (the PATCO had used the other type for a time, but they were deemed unreliable and quickly removed).

If I'm tricky, i could rebuild the European one to match.