Over the years, a fair amount has been written about the legendary Brian Kirby Uncoupler. For those who aren't familiar with it; it's a way of cheaply modifying the tension lock coupling found on Bachmann stock so that it can be uncoupled using a magnet.
Essentially, it revolves around gluing staples to the tails of the individual couplers so that they can be flicked up and down as the staple is attracted downwards, forcing up the tension lock.
(There are some links at the end of this piece to help you visualize that a bit better!)
However, there are a few things that can be done to improve this clever idea, and while it cannot be made to replicate the action of delayed decoupling products such as those from Kadee, they can be made to behave a bit more naturally.
Electro-Magnetic Variation
The first is easy - use an electromagnet that can be switched on and off to decouple the stock at will. This prevents mistakenly running over the magnet slowly, and decoupling the stock unintentionally.
The trouble with this is that you need an awful lot of electromagnets to have enough decoupling points to make it worthwhile...
Sliding Plate Variation
...unless you mount them on sliding plates. These can slide in one of two ways - up and down, rather than using an electromagnet, or forwards and backwards. For those familiar with wire-in-tube point changing, this idea won't be that novel.
The magnet is mounted on a plate which can then be slid backwards and forwards under the layout (or in a special groove cut into the baseboard) thereby allowing decoupling under multiple lines.
There are bound to be combinations of these that can be used together to make even more variations, but with these basic techniques, operators can finally wave goodbye to the 'big hand from the sky'!
Brian Kirby Uncoupler Links
The original 'Magnetic Uncoupling for Bachmann Couplings' post on the Model Rail Forum web site.
A YouTube Video of the Kirby Uncoupler in action.
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