Atlas GP40-2 couplers

Sometime in the last year, I bought a pair of Atlas GP40-2's painted and lettered for B&M. They are beautiful, and they run very well, but the couplers are something I've never encountered before, and they don't mate with anything else I have.

They are body mounted, which corresponds to the exploded diagram on the insert that came in the box with the model. However, the diagram shows standard Rapido couplers.

These are ***tiny***. They look roughly like MT couplers, only the "thumb" doesn't stick out at a funny angle the way it does with normal N-scale MT couplers, and they're maybe 1/2 or 2/3 the size of N-scale couplers. Also, the fronts of the knuckles are flatter (when viewed from above). Looking at them with a magnifying glass, it looks like that used to have metallic trip pins (or something), only they've been clipped off.

Would these somehow be MT Z-scale couplers? Does Atlas ever produce models using those?

Part of the problem is that they are *so* closely-coupled that even just the two of them together can't go around a curve on my Atlas (!) sectional-track layout without one of them flipping off the rails.

Reply to
MangroveRoot
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The 'official' Atlas coupler is from Accumate, and is size-comparable to the M-T coupler. Without seeing the couplers, it seems that a prior owner has installed M-T z scale 903's or possibly Kato's version. The 903's should work reliably with n-scale M-T's, but I haven't had much luck with mating Kato to M-T.

YMMV, fl@liner

Reply to
fubar

Did you buy the units new or used?

I couldn't find any Atlas N scale GP40-2s painted and lettered for B&M on Atlas' web site. The most recent releases can be seen at

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they have body mounted Accumate couplers. Does the couplers on your units look like these or are they smaller?

If bought used it could be that the former owner exchanged the original Rapido couplers with new ones, perhaps M-T #905 which is an Z scale body mounted coupler but I don't know how easy they would be to fit to a GP40-2. The M-T conversion list

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recommends #1015 which is a standard N scale body mounted coupler for the Atlas GP40-2.

Perhaps you may be able to check for any markings on the coupler boxes using a magnifying glass?

Reply to
Erik Olsen

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