Cando's rerailer magnet!

Thanks Chris. A smart but simple idea.

Thanks Chris. I'm glad you like it. I rotate, often, the rolling stock on my layout so this has been very handy.

Keith; Where did you get the magnets and did you only use one?

Clever, this human. An idea like that is worth copying.

Where is the thumbs up button?

Wow, just what I have been looking for. Will the rerailer fit over Atlas O 3-rail track? Very cool video.

quote:

Originally posted by Chris Lonero:
Keith; Where did you get the magnets and did you only use one?

Chris, I purchased them on Amazon.com. They are called "Slim Mighties" and you get 12 for about $8. At first I used just one magnet but not all items would uncouple so I added another. Glue the two magnets together and then glue to the retailer.

You'll be able to roll the cars pretty quick and they'll uncouple. I was just doing it slower for the video so the viewers could see what was happening.

quote:

Originally posted by Darrell R. Young:
Wow, just what I have been looking for. Will the rerailer fit over Atlas O 3-rail track? Very cool video.

Thank you! I would assume it would fit, but I don't have any Atlas track to test for you.

Thanks CandO for the reply. I looked them up and Tower Hobbies has them for about $9 apiece. At that price, I think I'll order a couple and see if they will fit. Perhaps they can be modified to fit. Atlas track looks fatter (code 100 or 125) thain Fast Track. I'll post my findings when I know.

I think it will work with Atlas track. We use them at my modular club shows, and we use Gargraves track, which has a wider railhead than Fastrack.

J White

Thanks Keith. A perfect gift for my grand kids train. They always have a difficult time opening the couplers and putting cars together. Will order the magnets you suggest. Thanks for a wonderful idea.

TEX
Steve

quote:

Where is the thumbs up button?

Great idea!!! I will have to try it!

Agreed, An excellent improvement to the re-railer.
One of those things that should have been in there to start with, the uncoupler must be open to link up with your train.
I use RealTrax and Scaletrax, the re-railer works with both.

Very clever!

The Lionel re-railer should be in everyone's O gauge tool kit. This little mod makes it that much better!

Andy

Nice idea Keith

Thanks Alex

Simply brilliant. The 'needs of the customer' incorporated into a functional design.

Keith,

You are one smart cookie,,great idea..

Rod

Will the rerailer fit over Lionel OGauge tubular track? And, what a great idea! I don't see the rerailer listed on the Lionel website. What is the product number?

Found it!
This is a single Lionel 6-12039 FasTrack Rerailer. It is also compatible with O gauge and O-27 track. It is constructed of plastic and the length is 10 inches.

Allan, I think Keith's invention would make a great "tips" article for the magazine so all readers can enjoy.

TEX
Steve

quote:

Originally posted by Charlesp34:
Will the rerailer fit over Lionel OGauge tubular track? And, what a great idea! I don't see the rerailer listed on the Lionel website. What is the product number?

Found it!
This is a single Lionel 6-12039 FasTrack Rerailer. It is also compatible with O gauge and O-27 track. It is constructed of plastic and the length is 10 inches.

I have tubular O on a trolley line...the rerailer sits as nicely on it as it does on FasTrack.

quote:

Originally posted by TexSpecial:
Allan, I think Keith's invention would make a great "tips" article for the magazine so all readers can enjoy.

TEX
Steve

I'll have to try and take some good photos and send them in.

As I said in my post above, I ordered two of the Fast Track Rerailers and a package of the little magnets. They arrived today and I've been playing with them tonight. The rerailers do indeed fit over Atlas track. However, they don't lock down into the ties on my flat yard tracks with no roadbed. It looks like they might if there were roadbed under the track but if you had ballasted around the ties, I don't think it would stop the rerailer from sliding. But it sure beats trying to use stiff fingers and old eyes to get a car on the track.
Sometimes the couplers will uncouple over the magnets and sometimes not. I stacked 3 of the square ones and it seems to work most of the times. I atribute that to some of the couplers being stiffer than others. Both the thumbtack and Lionel's newer hidden uncouplers work now and again. Guess I best work on freeing up the stiff ones. All in all, it was a good investment and provided a fun little project for a Friday night.

Great idea Keith,

I picked up a rerailer this week and will set it up for my son who has some trouble rerailing cars.

I am using the little magnets that are stuck on the bottom of the Sonicare toothbrush heads. Those little suckers are so strong it is hard to pull them off once they are stuck!

Phil

Very cool.

quote:

Originally posted by Darrell R. Young:
Sometimes the couplers will uncouple over the magnets and sometimes not. I stacked 3 of the square ones and it seems to work most of the times. I atribute that to some of the couplers being stiffer than others. Both the thumbtack and Lionel's newer hidden uncouplers work now and again. Guess I best work on freeing up the stiff ones. All in all, it was a good investment and provided a fun little project for a Friday night.

Darrell, three magnets may be to high...the thumbtacks might not have enough room to open the coupler. I use two of the square magnets.

Keith, three of the square magnets are the max that can be used and still allow the car to roll through the rerailer. I also tested the round ones but the squares work much better. My problem is stiff couplers. I can physcaly feel the difference in opening and closing pressure. Did you super glue the stacked magnets or just rely on magnetic force to hold them together? At present, I am using double sided tape to stick them down to the rerailer and just the magnetic attraction to stack them on each other. If I decide to attach them permantely I will glue all 3 together.

Simple, clever, and useful. American ingenuity lives
I’ll bet Amazon has a run on those magnets. How long do you think before we will see a similar item in the Lionel catalog.