Recommended Couplers?

From what you are asking I would recommend bailing wire.

A piece of string.

-- Cheers Roger T. See the GER at: -

wayne wrote in news:91fce7b5-2f54-4ad7-9dbf- snipped-for-privacy@b38g2000prf.googlegroups.com:

If your trains keep coming apart, it might not be the couplers. Check your trackwork and make sure it's smooth and flowing.

Couplers that aren't the same height are also bad news. Whatever you decide to do, find a way to standardize coupler height. I'd recommend a Kadee coupler height gauge and knuckle couplers.

You do need to uncouple your train every now and then, as it's easier to put one car back on the rails than it is 40. Also, different cars will develop problems and if they're permanently coupled it'll make repair very difficult.

To me, KD couplers are worth the price for just about anything that needs a coupler. They're almost indestructable, and the most common problem is easily solved. (If the knuckle spring gets lost, it's cheap and easy to put another one on. Well... as easy as working with a spring can be.)

Puckdropper

=A0Well... as easy as working with a spring can be.)

Yes.

Meaning an Optivisor, the proper tool, and a Marine Master Sergeant's vocabulary all help.

~Pete

There are several decent dummy couplers on the market. A few I've used, with Walthers item # in (), are:

Accurail #109 12/pk (112-109), large mounting hole,'whisker' centering springs.

Since they stay centered, these will couple with KD/KD clones most of the time. So a loco equiped with KDs can usually drag a 'unit train' hooked together with these out to where they are accessable.

Cal-Scale #292 1/pr (190-292), narrow shank for scale coupler boxes and steam loco pilots.

Mostly I use these to replace the 'blob' passing as a pilot coupler on many steam locos.

Cal-Scale #302 1/pr (190-302), large mounting hole, no centering spring.

Walthers Cornerstone #1045 (933-1045) 12/pr, large mounting hole, no centering spring.

Grandt Line and Precision Scale also offer dummy couplers, but the availability at Walthers seems to vary with the phase of the moon. I use the Grandt Line brass dummy couplers (WKW: 300-86003) as semi-permanent 'draw bars' for diesel cab unit sets that always operate together. This makes it easy to seperate them for maintenance, while eliminating the chance of a knuckle coming open during operation.

Len

A dealer suggested me to use a drop of white glue (on plastic N-Scale couplers). But I want to be able to break up a train sometimes, so a small wire is ok for me, but glue isn't.

It might be similar for you, "semi-permanently" coupled trains might be what you want. If so, stay with your horn couplers, check the coupler height and trackwork and use a little bit of bent wire to prevent accidential uncoupling ;-)

Have fun!

Thank you all for the advice. I appreciate it.

Wayne

The #158s will eliminate that problem - no extensive vocabulary required :-).

Wayne, I have read all of the posts above and there are several good ideas but let me say this , you have to decide whether you are going to be in this hobby or not. Kaydee couplers are very reliable and trouble free. When I started back in the mid seventies I thought I would save $ by using brass rails for HO. I built a complicated layout in a three car garage and this included block wiring and the whole shtick That brass track turned out to be a night mare. then I went back and replaced every mm of track with nickel silver and the operation was fine. So in trying to save penneys I spent dollars. Save your money and do it right. John Hubbard

There is only one coupler to consider. Kadee.

Though why you'd not want to uncouple is beyond me. Part of the fun of model railroading is switching cars into and out of trains and setting them out at industries. Just running trains around a circle seems rather pointless to me. But, each to his own I guess.

And that's "Kadee" couplers guys, not "Kaydee" nor any other spelling.

"Kadee", along with "Athearn", probably the two most well known yet most misspelt trade names in the hobby. :-)

-- Cheers Roger T. See the GER at: -

Bernhard=A0Agthe replied: A dealer suggested me to use a drop of white glue (on plastic N-Scale couplers). But I want to be able to break up a train sometimes, so a small wire is ok for me, but glue isn't.

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I use a tad of rubber cement on the "pulling surface" of N scale Rapido couplers. I've also roughened the surface of the coupler with some success.

Bill Bill's Railroad Empire N Scale Model Railroad:

History of N Scale: Railroad Bookstore: to 1,100 sites:

Larry Blanchard wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@fastmail.fm:

I don't have one near by to examine, but as I recall the "whisker" #148/#

158 couplers still employed the knuckle spring in the same matter as the #

1. Those are the hard ones to get back on. The brass centering springs are fairly easy to install in most cases.

Puckdropper

snipped-for-privacy@fastmail.fm:

Ok, I'm convinced. Kadee is the only way to go. However, there seem to be dozens of different kinds of Kadee couplers! More advice is needed please. What kind do I want?

Wayne

You're right - I forgot that because I've never had a problem with the knuckle springs. Maybe I'm just lucky, or possibly because I seem to spend more time building models than I do running trains :-).

Ok, I'm convinced. Kadee is the only way to go. However, there seem to be dozens of different kinds of Kadee couplers! More advice is needed please. What kind do I want?

Wayne

That depends on the car. IF it is an Athearn then the #5 or #58 or the new 'whisker #158' would be a simple replacement. Check the Kadee web site

and click on coupler conversions for other stock. If the coupler is mounted on the truck (the wheel part) then you would have a choice of replacing the truck with a Kadee truck/coupler set, or body mounting the coupler and cutting the coupler off the truck. While there click on Couplers and watch the animation to see the benifit of using a Kadee coupler.

I have found that an Xacto knife helps with putting a knuckle spring in place.

If you're not sure what Kadee couplers to use, go to their website and it will tell you which ones to use for what car.

-- Cheers Roger T. See the GER at: -

"Frank A. Rosenbaum" wrote in news:f5adnY4bY-pyhm3VnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:

I've used that and a flat screwdriver. With either tool, it seems the process that works best is to place the spring in one prong and compress the spring to fit on the other. If you're lucky, you get it done on the first try...

Usually I wind up having the spring shoot out and get lost on the floor. I can usually find it once, but not a second time. So I get another knuckle spring and try again. It only takes 5-6 tries now...

Puckdropper

wayne wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@2g2000hsn.googlegroups.com:

Kadee couplers are generally all the same size, what changes are how long they are and where the knuckle meets the shank.

Generally you need to know two numbers: 5 and 58. The #5 is termed "old reliable" and fits just about everything. The #58 is the "scale" coupler where the width was reduced to scale size.

Bulk packs of No.5's and No.58's are available, if you don't need coupler boxes (most cars have them already) they're a good buy.

A relatively new coupler style to Kadee's lineup is the whisker coupler. They're the same size as the No.5 and No.58s, but instead of the brass centering spring they have a couple of wires that perform the centering function.

Puckdropper