In January, I posted a request for information about my neighbor’s Athearn New York & Atlantic GP 38-2 #271 diesel engine.
Yesterday, he suggested that I come over and watch it run. A nice running engine.
HOWEVER, when he attempted to pull some of his Bachmann cars,problem. It seems that the couplers were not compatible. Athearn has what looks like a knuckle coupler and the Bachmann has another plain type coupler.
Question: Do all the Athearn engines and rolling stock have the same knuckle type couplers? If so, can they be easily changed to a compatible Bachmann type coupler?
Lastly, what do they call the Backmann type coupler?
Almost 100% of the modellers on this forum would advocate changing them all over to Kadee couplers, the best of the breed. http://www.kadee.com/htmbord/coupler.htm
I’ve been in the hobby since the mid-1970’s but I’ve never heard of a bachman type coupler. Just about all trains in the 70’s and up until the KD pattened expired in the 90’s had horn hook couplers, also referred to as the X2F coupler. The do not mate with KD/knuckle couplers, nor do they look anything like the real RR couplers. Perhaps your friend has some older HO models with the old horn hook couplers. Most people get rid of those and replace them with the more realistic KD couplers or some use the plastic KD clones, which are not as reliable as the metal KD’s.
Most of the equipment that you can purchase now has Kadee “similar to” couplers. Most people call these “clone” couplers.
In the past, and sometimes now, rolling stock came with what you are calling Bachmann style couplers. These are more properly called “horn hook” couplers. Most people, but not all, refer to them as “junk”.
LION buys subway cars. Life-Like (now Walthers) Proto 1000 series. They come with knuckle (KD-like) couplers. The package also contains Horn-Hook couplers if you want to change things and do it that way. Also in the package is a draw-bar which brings the cars closer (prototypically) together, but introduce other problems, such as being too close for the pantograph gates on curves, since the pantograph gates provided are plastic and do not compress as they would on a real subway train.
LION leaves the gates on the front of the train, and removes alternate gates in between connected cars.
LION had to build a foam holder to lift a six car train all at once, since the couplers are history. There is quite some advantage to 48 wheel power pick-up and custom lighting systems.
BOTTOM LION: Modelers have been ditzing with couplers since the beginning of time, and there is no reason to stop doing so now.
In a pinch you can cut the free top tab off the older coupler and file the head down a bit and it will stay coupled to a knuckle. Just need to make it fit inside the knuckle. It will still work with the older coupler also just not automatic.
If they are older Bachmann cars they will have horn hook couplers (also known as X2F couplers). The blue box era Athearn GP38-2s came with horn hook couplers, but the new ready to run Athearn GP38-2s come with spring-loaded McHenry type knuckle couplers. New Bachmann freight cars also come with knuckle couplers. It appears as though horn hook couplers are being phased out by the model manufacturers.