Getting Closer

This is not a groundbreaking development in the world of model railways, but it is a classic case of us being late adopters.Himself is experimenting with magnetic couplings for the intermediate connections on our carriage sets.We use Kadees for the primary coupling to the locomotives but had kept tension locks on stock which is intended to run in fixed formations.On a layout with a small element of gradient, there can be obvious fore and aft movement as the passenger trains move through the dip on the Cambrian line at the front of the layout, at the bottom of the photo here.We designed it this way to help emphasise the embankment carrying the long siding in the yard, and also because in reality Minffordd is a summit and there is a steep descent towards Porthmadog.A fixed magnetic link will eliminate this distracting movement of the carriages, and should also shorten the space the carriage sets take up in the fiddle yards by a few mm's.It doesn't sound a lot but there is only 'fag…