hi everyone ne here and to the G scale train
a few questions
1 are the couplers all the same , compatible ?
i know for example in O scale , all trains use the same type couplers , Lionel , MTh. atlas ect
2 what are the best type of couplers ? easyest to use , most common type ?
many thanks everyone
vic
Welcome, Vic!
Each company is just a little different in their form of knuckle couplers. You have to decide on one and stick to it, or make “transition cars” with one type on each end. Some won’t go together, some will constantly come apart when mixing.
Or you can decide to go with Kadees as the standard and change everything else.
Vic,
here is my two cents. I think all of the knuckle couplers are fine. As Lou said mix and matching is a different story so whatever you do decide on one and convert everything to it. But here are some thoughts as you begin. Do you, or will you, belong to a club? If so use what they use that way when you get together you can play together, especially if your club does operations. If not then decide how you are going to run your layout. Are you a roundy round runner (will your trains basically run continuous loops) or will you be doing operations and a lot of switching. For just running around the track any of them are just fine. But if you do operations and switching some are easier to use than others. Some you just push a button and they uncouple. The nicest most prototypical ones are the Kadee. And Kadee makes two different sizes depending if you want a smaller one for 1:32 or 1:29 and they make a larger one if you are 1:20.3 or 1:22.5 or 1:24. They also make a gauge for height and that way all your couplers end up the same height and most everyone uses that standard so it plays nice with others. If you are going to play with others chances are they use Kadee. Its kind of the industry standard. But I think Kadee are the hardest to use for operations because unless you use track powered uncouplers then it takes a small screw driver to pop them open. I will argue that Kadee is the most reliable for staying coupled. I use Kadee choosing to play with others and reliability over ease of uncoupling. Kadee is also the most authentic looking in my opinion.
Also I will add that Kadee has made a point of being the “coupler people” and they have ready made conversions for most of the common cars and locos. So converting different types to Kadee is easier than trying to put Aristo couplers on a Bachmann locomotive.
i will be playing alone on a continuous loop for now ,
im thinking the kadee couplers is my best way to go then…
many thanks guys
Welcome Victor
After my USA couplers uncoupled, sending a cut of 4 cars careening down from the summit, and then the same thing happening to a cut of Bachmann cars when the Bachmann couplers uncoupled, I also switched out all of my stock to Kadees.
Do yourself a favor and get a Kadee coupler height gauge, (and use it) and follow the directions that come with the couplers, and you should have no issues with cars staying coupled.
Welcome Victor,
I don’t know what “G” scale equipment you are interested in and whether it be narrow gauge with short length trains or standard gauge.
If choosing standard gauge, as you develop in the large scale hobby, you may want to run longer and heavier trains. If this is the case, body mount vs. truck mount couplers can be considered.
To gain some insights, see (click on) presentation, “Body Mounting Kadees with focus on 1/29 scale” (a PDF file)
-Ted
I still run the LGB knuckle couplers, why because 35 years ago I purchase some 40 pair when the price was much lower. If I was to start over I would go with the Kadees, but as I model in LGB scale 1/22.5 I’m ok with them being a little larger then the other manufactures couplers. The LGB even for their size will mate up with the Kadees and the USA Trains couplers, but sometimes they need a little extra tweak when mating up, or uncoupling. One other thing to decide on is if you will be running on the smaller radius curves, if so, you probably don’t want the body mount couplers and stick with the truck mounted ones.
trainman
Welcome Victor,
If small kids are involved, you may find the stock hook-and-loop couplers that come with LGB for instance are a good option. They are already installed and intuitive to use. They can wiggle apart on rises and uneven track. Don’t forget, you don’t have to convert everything at once! Like Lou said, you can make a transition car and swap over to whatever brand you want as funds and time allow.
Eric
The factory design for mounting couplersw is another thing to look for. The LGB, USA Trains, and Bachmann all mount the same way on freight cars. Aristocraft is totally different.
I have used Kadees on many cars and even engines as I find they have a lot of mounting versions esp for engines.
Also I found for running an open house, the best coupler is dual hook and loops on all cars. If knuckles, keep consists short. Also never back up during an open house.
think im going with kadees . those are the most recommended
thanks everyone for the great advise and info …really learned a lot here already lol
Victor:
Don’t forget that there are two different sized large scale couplers from Kadee; G Scale and 1 Scale.
Victor, I won’t get into the great coupler debate, but will expound on Mark’s post above. The No 1 Sclae coupler is a great fit for the 1:32 and 1:29 scale rolling stock. It will also work well on the 1:24, but starting to get closer to a 3/4 size coupler in scale. The ‘G’ Scale coupler is more attuned to the 1:22.5 and 1:20.3 scales size wise. Scale is important, but I prefer to err on the side of durability. The No 1 scale coupler will not stand up as well under less than ideal conditions as the ‘G’ scale coupler will. Also, depending on where you are going to run your trains (home layout vs club), the larger ‘G’ scale coupler has a taller vertical face which will allow for a greater tolerance to less than table top track work.
Just some things to think about.
I chose the 1 Scale for my indoor railroad. My engines are mostly the Bachmann geared Spectrum 1:20.3 locos. I chose them because I think they look more appropriatly sized for my railroad’s narrow gauge short line look. I’ve not experienced any uncoupling issues and feel that I do have “ideal” conditions.
However, I would support all of Bob’s points.
The one thing not mentioned yet is body mounting or truck mounting the couplers. truck mounted is the simplest way you can add KaDee couplers to everything, basically just unscrew the factory coupler then install the KaDee. Body mounts, while more realistic looking involve a lot of cutting, drilling and shimming on the car locomotive. So if you are just roundy round, the truck mounts will be just fine. I agree with Bob and others, the larger “G” coupler works better. If you get into operations, then a switch to body mounts will be needed, because the coupler has springs and swivels on the truck mounts and will cause derailments if several cars are pushed through switches or curves. Welcome to the best hobby !
Pete, Thank you for very much for mentioning truck mount vs. body mount Kadees.
I did post about this about 9 posts back with link to a presentation I had done that includes issues with them.
-Ted
Welcome Victor!
One more thing to mention. If you run a train longer than 18-20 cars, with body mounted kadee 906 on 10ft diameter curves, you will have to notch the coupler box. The wheels will drag and cause the train to streamline otherwise. Kadee does have a coupler that has a swinging gear box, I can’t think of the model number though. I just prefer the 906 for the slack action.
Also, in my experience, stock couplers will not stay together with a longer train. At least they didn’t for me. Aristo couplers would pull apart leaving half the train sitting.
Kadee couplers are by far the best. Also, if you have a USA Trains engine, look into the campac box. It works amazing and looks even better.
My apologies Ted , I should have read your link presentation . Today running a train I had an issue that was a KaDee issue, On a short downhill followed by a curve , as the loco goes into the curve the USAT aluminum tank cars induce slack into the train to the point that the couplers separate and almost caused a derailment.
Speaking of couplers, I need to know what USA coupler I can use to mount on the screw under an E-8 that is long enough to couple up to the USA passenger cars. Would a wide vision caboose coupler work?
Matt Russell said:
…
One more thing to mention. If you run a train longer than 18-20 cars, with body mounted kadee 906 on 10ft diameter curves, you will have to notch the coupler box. The wheels will drag and cause the train to streamline otherwise. Kadee does have a coupler that has a swinging gear box, I can’t think of the model number though. I just prefer the 906 for the slack action.
Also, in my experience, stock couplers will not stay together with a longer train. At least they didn’t for me. Aristo couplers would pull apart leaving half the train sitting.
Kadee couplers are by far the best. Also, if you have a USA Trains engine, look into the campac box. It works amazing and looks even better.
Matt,
Having looked at your nice train video with USA Trains 4 Bay Cylindrical Hoppers & AML PS 4750 Covered Hoppers that have trucks close to the end of the car, the Kadee 830/906 type coupler boxes do need to be notched for operation on tighter curves as you said.
Example notching shown below for the AML 4750 Hopper:
Note the box ears are also trimmed so mounting includes the screw at its center.
-Ted