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Lighted Uncoupler Stick
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Operators have been using bamboo skewers to uncouple KD, and KD wannabes, for years. As I get older, I find that I need more and more light to see details. This is a problem when using a skewer to uncouple cars. My solution is to add a light to the skewer. This uncoupler stick is a skewer with a standard UltraBright keychain light mounted on it. It not only works well to see couplers, but also to see reporting marks and numbers between the cars in the yard.
LT-UNCL Lighted uncoupler stick MSRP Loy's Price
- $4.95
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The light on this stick is the typical keychain light. Since you may never have had one of those to know how they work, here are a few tips:
  • You can turn the light on simply by squeezing it. This is handy for checking freight car numbers when there's not enough light between freight cars in a yard to easily see them. The light goes off when you quit squeezing.
  • You can toggle the light on by sliding the little button down toward the center. This is handy for uncoupling cars where the light level is low. Since the batteries (there are two of them) will light this LED for several hours, I leave mine on the whole time I'm switching.
  • Use your fingernail to turn the light on, and do it with a firm purposeful movement - you'll feel the switch breaking over a detent. If the switch is not moved firmly, the contact may not snap into place and the light may not stay on. If this happens, trying to then move it firmly into position may not work. Instead, turn the light off by moving the switch up toward the light end, then move it firmly and purposefully toward the center.

The light slides up and down the stick to adjust it to your desired location.

There are two techniques for uncoupling Kadee type couplers with a stick like this - poking it right between the coupler knuckles and twisting, or manipulating, the trip pin. Which you use depends on which you prefer. Try both ways extensively, then decide.
Sticking the knuckles:  

As you can see, the pointed end of the uncoupler stick is placed in the coupler knuckle area. By giving the stick a little clockwise spin, the couplers will move in opposite directions, and the knuckles come apart.

This method is usually the easiest to make work to start with. But some of us with limited dexterity sometimes wind up with the stick stuck between the knuckle and head - thereby requiring another hand to un-stick it. Those with good dexterity do not have this problem. The trick to avoiding this is to not move the stick any lower into the coupler as you are twisting.
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Manipulating the trip pin:  

First, be sure there's slack to start with. The trick here is to not just pull the trip pin out toward the rail, but to push it back toward the car. This action not only pulls the knuckle open, but pulls that car away from the car it was coupled to. Sometimes it's necessary to hold slack between the cars while pulling the trip pin back. Trust me, practice helps - one can get good enough to be able to uncoupler cars without having to hold slack between them.
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Battery replacement:
The batteries in this light should provide around four hours of operation. When needed, two 3-volt CR2016 lithium cells are required. In the future, we will have low-cost replacement batteries available. But for now, they are available at Radio Shack, Wal-Mart and other watch battery vendors.
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