Large Scale Central

Basic coupler "how to." Useful?

General Discussion
#1

Hi, All After some trial and error on my part and lots of good advice from others on this forum, I’ve learned to body-mount Kadee knuckle couplers on my LGB rolling stock consistently. The appearance is much improved, IMHO:

There was some discussion of “articles” in another thread recently. I wrote up a step-by-step procedure, assuming only the simplest of hobby hand tools was available: http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/dawgnabbit/Couplers/couplerconv3.pdf If any of you feel so inclined, take a look at the PDF and tell me what you think of it. Would it be useful to other clueless beginners (such as I)? Has something similar already been posted (I didn’t find anything)? “Once a beginner, always a beginner,” I say. :wink: Thanks for taking a look. Steve Edit: Rev 3 PDF

#2

Steve,
The PDF is not viewable…to me anyway.
I think a body mount coupler “how to” would be useful.
Post the write up in the “articles” section and it will always be easy to find.
Ralph

http://www.largescalecentral.com/articles/

#3

That’s a really nice write-up Steve.

#4

The link didn’t work, but copy/paste did.
Jon’s right. Very nice job. Post it in the articles section.
Ralph

#5

Odd - the link worked fine for me.

#6

Excellent write up Steve. Very well done. Clear, concise and best of all, easy to read and follow.

Job well done!

Bob C.

#7

I’m sorry about problems with the link. The link didn’t open for me either, UNTIL I installed mozplugger. Then it opened just fine when I clicked it. Note that I’m running Firefox under Ubuntu Linux.

I’m curious to know what browsers and operating systems you are using to view the PDF.

Steve

#8

IE just pulled up a white page using the link, but opened it just fine when I used the URL.
rALPH

#9

Opened fine for me…IE9.

Could have warned me you where cutting up LGB cars! :wink:

#10

Hmmm…I’m not sure how to transfer it to “Articles,” since it’s in pdf format already. Do I need to re-write it as a new post, or what? Thanks.

Mark: You have no idea how long it took me to “screw courage to the sticking point” and take the razor saw to that first LGB car… Almost made me cry! :wink:

Steve

#11

Odd. Now it’s opening for me too. Tried several times earlier with no luck.
Ralph

#12

Well done Steve.

See, all it takes is courage.

#13

Nice article Steve…

#14

Very timely post, Steve, because I’ve been threatening now for two years to replace my truck mounted Kaydee couplers with body mounted ones without any idea of what would be involved. I downloaded the pdf with Firefox and opened it with Adobe Acrobat first time, no problems.

#15

Steve,

I use Google chrome. The entire file opened immediately. Very well done and very informative.

Walt

#16

Opened for me and it is an easy to follow article but I must take you to task about the coupler height, if Kadee suggest 1 13/64" I would suggest you do your very best to make it that height, to say that 1/32" out is ok can lead to problems. If one car is 1/32" to high and another is 1/32" is too low makes a full 1/16" error and if you had undulating track or a dip you increase the risk of uncoupling, as you say, consistency is the goal and you want all your cars the same height.

Wayne

#17

I found it very useful, and I’m not a beginner since all my cars have been converted to Kadees.

#18

Wayne…point well taken, and I agree. I think I was visualizing the maximum total hight mismatch between couplers when I wrote that. I’ll rewrite to make the point clearer. Thanks for pointing it out.

Steve

#19

Steve,

Regarding Wayne’s comment, although I don’t particularly disagree with him, personal empirical data supports your original post. Case in point. I have a Bachmann K-27 I purchased about 4 years ago. It was my first foray into large scale in my return to model railroading after about a 20 year hiatus. Being totally ignorant of the variations of scale at that time I wen along merrily purchasing rolling stock (Big Hauler) of the same manufacturer. First time out on the rails at a club road trip, low and behold the couplers would not connect. The 1:20 coupler on the loco totally cleared over top of the truck mounted Big Hauler coupler. Bread ties make great emergency couplers :). My solution was to butcher one truck and coupler to raise the Big Hauler coupler up by 1/2 the coupler face. That became my ‘transition’ car. I have run that combination on our club layout where the track work had deteriorated to look more like a real narrow gauge branch line than the mainline it represented. The major coupler issues I have, have never deviated with Bachmann Big Hauler couplers. The drop pin in plastic is too light to remain reliable. The offset in the coupler has never failed.

That being said, I believe that if your track is that bad that 1/16 will cause an uncoupling situation, then the couplers are the least of your issues.

My tuppence worth.

Bob C.

#20

We run into the coupler height issue here when the gang comes over and operates. Everyone has their own ‘standard’, which may or may not line up over various bits of track. I know Ken has some issues on a few sections of track here. Pondering making idler cars with my standard on one end, and ken/bruce/etc on the other, so they can run with it on their train.