This was originally posted in “Rolling Stock”.

Here is the link to the 3 pages of discussion -

http://www.largescalecentral.com/LSCForums/viewtopic.php?id=13824&p=1

I hope it is of value to someone trying to establish a little standard and successfully get their railroad to be visited by other people or take your equipment to another railroad. Here is a synopsis of different thoughts.

1:32 - center of coupler 1 3/16" above the rail
1:29 - Kadee “Number 1” height gauge or Kadee “G” height gauge.
1:24 - Kadee “G” modified for “Number 1’s”
1:22.5 - Kadee “G” height gauge or “Number 1” scale couplers set to a “standard” height of 1 1/16" center line to rail head
1:21.4 - Kadee “G” height gauge
1:20.3 - Kadee “G” or “Number 1” - 1 3/16" center line to rail head or a scale 2’ to center line from rail head.
1:17 - 1 3/8" from the Standards Committee
1:16 -

There were some good words of advice paraphrased from Father Fred Mills - “Since people have been known to bring equipment to run in our operations here on the IPP&W; our standard couplers for both NG (1:22.5), and SG (1:29) is the Kadee #1 coupler. We use the Kadee coupler height gauge as our standard. Anyone that uses the Kadee “G” couplers, can readily operate with our #1 equipped equipment, so there are no problems. Body mounting is also our standard. It doesn’t matter what method anyone uses to maintain a standard, but please make it a standard on all your equipment. In coupling, close is not close enough for good operation. The Kadee gauges are great. They also are a great aid in body mounting couplers, as the back of the gauge shows how much cutting or shimming you need to do to get your correct height. They are well worth the cost over the life of your railroad. They do not wear out !! Do it properly once, and you will not have any coupler problems. Use the screws provided and they will self thread into styrene shims, if the holes are drilled to the proper size. Use the hole in the centre and the one at the end…they are best in most situations (820 body mount couplers). Always use two screws when mounting, if at all possible.”

Kevin Strong stated - “If the couplers are on a 24” (scale) centerline, that equates to 1 3/16". The Kadee “G” centerline is 1 1/8", so there’s only 1/16" difference between the two. That shouldn’t pose an issue with a coupler face that’s nearly 1/2" tall."

In the middle of this posting survey we had our Fall OPs Session. What this provided was that people that were “true” to their scale found that there equipment couldn’t run on visiting layouts, both mine and AndyC’s. It made an interesting analysis on this little study.

Basically it seems to me to come down to a need to use couplers like Kadees or those that are very compatible to Kadees and set to a height using the Kadee gauge. Now this may look like I want everyone to agree with what I do. Yeah, okay. But over the years I’ve put a lot of thought in to this, made lots of compromises and tested and tested the different couplers. Personally, I like the Accucraft style and uncoupling gear best. But the linkage is to fragile and the chances of a first time coupling in a shed 20 feet from you is a crap shoot. So I have settled on the Kadee “G’s”, set at the Kadee gauge height. They match up with the Kadee “#1’s” like what Fred, Ken and Andy use, plus they also match with Accucraft, Bachmann, Delton, USA and Aristo-Craft, if those are set at a close height.

Now, nobody has to follow this opinion and you can stick with your own ways, but if you ever want to take your equipment to anyone else’s railroad or have people over to your layout, you’ve got to compromise and come at least close to equal ground, if you wnat equipment to be interchanged.

That common ground seems to be a Kadee coupler height gauge. #1 or G, it doesn’t matter. They are compatible to each other, so that make your equipment, no matter what coupler, some what compatible. The height of those gauges are 1 1/8 above the rail to the vertical center of the coupler, in 1:20.3 that’s 24 inches and I don’t know what it is with in 1/29th with the smaller #1’s, but it seems to be close… Any couplers set to those heights have a chance to couple, sometimes with a lift over and wedge the closed couplers together, but they will work without bent paperclips or bread ties and I guess that is a step in the right direction.

I thank you for answering my questions and giving your opinions, maybe some one will be able to use this dribble.

32.625" in 1:29, prototype seems to be 31-1/2 to 34-1/2 or so. So that’s right on the money for us SG guys in the 1:29 “scale”.

Greg

All of us that interchange cars on our layouts use KD 830’s. (body mount).
We have standardized to the height gage.

Talgo mount’s are given a bad order and not allowed.
Other brands are usually not allowed.
All the problems develop around the other brands.

You know, the funny thing is that some visiting members don’t learn.
They are always going out on the layout and re coupling their trains, or picking up cars that have laid over.
Year after year.

One guy uses duct tape or rubber bands to hold the couplers together.
Am I right, Madwolf?

The reliability of my operation increased tremendously when I converted to body mount. The truck mount “tangs” allow way too much up and down movement of the couplers, as well as add rotational tension to the trucks/wheels.

Kadees, especially the original style, do not like coupler misalignment.

Yeah, the “bad order” is a great idea, for cars not meeting “reliability standards”, first saw this enforced in N scale 20 years ago, and really improved operation.

Greg

Geezerguy said:
One guy uses duct tape or rubber bands to hold the couplers together. Am I right, Madwolf? :D :D :D

Yes, you are.

They were Kadees, 830s, as I recall. I learned my lesson.

:lol:

I went back to all body mount Bachmann for that particular trainset, as that is the one I take when I visit TOC.

BTW, having much more time than money, I have found that body mounting even Aristo couplers works well, as does body mounting USA and Bachmann couplers. The elegant soultion, of course, is to use the Kadees, but when you are cheap, like me, the other idea works well, too. Given a bit of care in coupling, they hold together well, too, even with furrin kupplers. Just put them at the same height, and then all you just have to do is make sure that the conductor/brakeman takes his/her time to line things up right.

And, jb, I’ll use bubble gum to hold things together, if’n it’ll help.

<<They were Kadees, 830s, as I recall. I learned my lesson.>>

Couldn’na been. Or they would have held. They were talgo Bachmann and they dragged on the track, they hung down so low.
Every-time you bent over to fix 'em, you showed us your old profession: a plumber!

John Bouck said:
<>

Couldn’na been. Or they would have held. They were talgo Bachmann and they dragged on the track, they hung down so low.
Every-time you bent over to fix 'em, you showed us your old profession: a plumber!

I had my Duluth Long Tail T-Shirt on. Besides, I’ve still got my union card, so it’s OK.

Mebbe they were 831’s. :lol: