Walthers BUDD - couplers

Hello,

The Walthers book suggests a Kadee #28 coupler for the BUDD passenger cars.

Could a Kadee #5 work? I ask because we own many of those already.

Reply to
Matt & Kathleen Brennan
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The Kadee #5 should fit fine. I personally use the #58 which is the same but with the more correctly sized knuckle. Place the centering spring box so it is above the coupler shank. You may need to scrape a little off the retainer plate so that the coupler will be at the right height. There is a little lengthwise slop in the coupler apparatus that by tightening will give more prototypical spacing between the cars. A.005in. shim in the back of the coupler mounting hole and a larger bushing to mount to the car floor will pretty well fix this. A good source for the bushing is the mounting post in the Kadee coupler box. Another problem with these cars is that the diaphragm springs are too tight and can cause derailment in turns when cars are close coupled. I remove the metal butterfly spring and replace with one that I make out of .01in. styrene. That takes care of that problem very nicely.

J. Bright

Reply to
JHBRIGHT

a #5 (or #58 for scale appearance) will work *IF* you are only going to connect these Budd cars to other Walther's Budds. If you're going to mix manufacturers, then it depends on your coupler height standard. If you use NMRA's height reference, then a #22, 32, or 42 does the job. I prefer #42s as they are metal. I ran a train of 20 of these cars and the plastic couplers flexed and uncoupled, metal ran flawlessly.

Lyle Dowell

Reply to
Lyle Dowell

Thank you both! I am pleased to read that the Kadee #5 can be used since we own quite a few from previous purchases. I really appreciate the tips! Our plan is to run the passenger train as a block leaving the cars connected at all times.

Its purpose is to merely add priority issues and scheduling conflicts on the rails. We are heavily weighted with freight trains. I wanted to add one passenger train.

Thanks So Much! Matt

Reply to
Matt & Kathleen Brennan

I just did this last night on several cars. The 5s work fine and though I've not tested it against a Kadee height gauge it mates up fine with others that have been height adjusted. I noticed someone else's post about using Kadee's 42 coupler for correct height and now I feel compelled to go and check the height. The coupler I pulled out was a crappy plastic make, not sure who makes it - looks like a #5 equivalent.

Greg

Reply to
Greg

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