Pacific Western Rail Systems recently announced the release of working air brake hoses in HO scale, from their sister company, North American Railcar Corporation. These are aftermarket detail parts than can be added to a modeler's existing fleet of freight cars, passenger cars, or locomotives. They also announced that they are currently developing a similar product for all other scales, although in the announcement email I received, it sounded as if N scale may be next. Currently, there is no timeline for future releases in other scales.
Several years ago, Steven and I talked about the possibility of making some sort of working brake hoses, using magnets, but we never gave it much thought, and never tried anything. Since then I had thought very little about having working air brake hoses on models, because it is something that has never before been available, and I suppose I had figured it never would be. However, when I received notification of this, I decided I would have to give it a try, and see if it really worked as well as the video that was in the email.
The brake hoses come in packages of ten pairs. Each hose is rubber with a small magnetic cube on the end. One side of the magnet is red, to identify the top. Other than that, the metal is bare and unpainted, and the rubber hose portion is black. The key to making the brake hoses couple properly, regardless of what direction the car is facing, is to make sure that the red side of the magnet is facing up. Once installed, the magnet can be painted or blackened with a permanent marker.
In HO scale, brake hoses are pretty small. This makes installation a bit tricky. Actually, the first installation is so tricky that I wondered if it was really worth all the trouble. It does get easier after a couple of them though. Besides the air hoses, some wire comes in the packaging, which can be used to form a brake pipe, to which the rubber hose can be attached. The wire would simulate the brake pipe on the car. In order to install the wire brake pipe on most cars, the trucks will need to be removed temporarily.
Once the brake pipe is in place, and the glue has had some time to dry, the brake hose gets glued to that. Out of the package, the brake hoses are not all a uniform length. Pacific Western Rail Systems recommends, in their tutorial, that the brake hoses all be trimmed to 3/8 inches. Cars with longer drawbars or draft gear may require brake hoses longer than this to navigate curves though. Once the brake hoses are trimmed to the proper length, they can be glued to the wire brake pipe, or even the coupler box. PWRS recommends using a 3/16 inch spacer to ensure that the brake hoses do not hang too low and hit switch points, frogs, or guardrails when uncoupled.
Once I had a pair of cars fitted with the hoses, I was excited to see if they were worth all the trouble to get them on. Once the glue dried, I placed the two cars on the layout, coupled them together, and then decided that they are indeed worth the trouble of getting them attached properly! It is amazing how such a small detail really adds to the overall appearance. I plan to buy more of them in the future and continue installing them on my freight cars.
Overall I am very satisfied with the brake hoses. I have big plans to install them on everything, although it will be quite some time before that happens! They add quite a lot to the overall appearance of the car and especially to several cars coupled together.
PWRS does provide a written and video tutorial on installation, however it is only available on their website. It is located on the same page as the brake hoses are sold from.
The air brake hoses will be available to the public beginning on Monday, April 1, 2013.
Manufacturer: North American Railcar Corporation
Item Number : 11-AIR-10H
MSRP: $24.98 for 10 pairs
Available April 1, 2013, currently taking reservations.
Reserve and order through
Pacific Western Rail Systems.
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