Athearn Passenger Cars - Truck Mounted Couplers

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I have a bunch of the older Athearn “shortie” passenger cars, streamlined and heavyweight, with truck mounted couplers and those awful metal clips that hold the couplers in their boxes.

I want to convert them to body mounted couplers.

Any advice or tips that you can share?

Rich

2

Depending on how scalecentric you are you can body mount number 5’ or one of the more scale sized couplers.I would maybe a .020" or thicker but not by much pad.to mount the coupler box you will need a cleance hole in the shim and the hole in the car floor sized for what ever screw size you use.

To startvdrill the cleance hole then drill and tap the mounting screw hole.mount the assembled coupler and check the height you may have the go lower with more shims.Once the coupler height iis where you want it ,remove the coupler and shims,glue the shims together then to the car bottom and when the glue sets remount the coupler.hen remove the coupler and mounting arm from the truck and reinstall the truck.

Then do the other end.By the way I suggest you use a 2-56 screw the ones I use have a hes head and wrenches are made for them.

3

Rich, the best way to convert them to body mounts is with the coupler mounting pads made by JayBee.

These are plastic spacers predrilled to accept a Kadee box and the simply glue to the floor of the car.

They are currently out of stock at Walthers but you may be able to find them elsewhere.

The coupler arm on the truck is simply cut off. I may be able to post a few photos tomorrow.

I have lots of Athearn passenger cars.

A few notes about the cars. You called them “shorties” and in some respecs that is correct. If you don’t already know, many of them are not as “incorrect” as you might think. They are all “freelanced”, but speaking first about the heavyweight cars - most heavyweight coaches were not 80’ long, in fact many were about the 72’ length of the Athearn cars. Same is true of the baggage car - it is actually a very typical length for a heaveyweight baggage car. The RPO/baggage combine is also a prototypical length for such a car. The Central Pacific I believe had a private car that is very similar to the observation - only 70’ long. So really only the diner and Pullman are “too short”.

As for the streamliners, the ATSF did have a series of early stainless cars that were less than 85’ and the Athearn streamlined coach, baggage and RPO are reasonably correct for those cars.

Personally I prefer selectively compressed passenger cars on our model curves, and have lots of Athearn and ConCor 72’ cars that I have super detailed, added working diaphragms, and body mounted couplers/replaced trucks.

Hers is one photo that is handy - sorry for the poor quality of the photo:

Sheldon

4

Something to consider…

Kadee makes some wide swing coupler adaptations that are hard to find on their page.

Model 451 is a long draft gear box with a large swing and a really cool centering device.

Models 453 - 454 use a standard #5 coupler and a torsion spring (their name) for centering.

I use them extensively on my trolley box motors as I have some 11 and 12 inch radius street track work. The 451 version will push a long string of cars better with less jack knifing.

see ya

Bob

5

Bob,

Thanks for that info.

Rich

6

Catt,

I suspect you may be right to build your own coupler mounting pads. I did that on some Con Cor passenger cars, so I may try that again on the Athearn cars.

Rich

7

Thanks, Sheldon. I have used Jay Bee coupler mounting pads in the past and, as you say, they are pedrilled and fit nicely. Unfortuinately, they seem to be out of stock everywhere, and that has been the case for quite awhile. Jay Bee Enterprises is actually in my area. I should contact them to see if they are still in business.

Rich

8

Sheldon,

Thanks for that info.

I made that reference to “shorties” just to specify the exact type of Athearn passenger cars in question. I have several of these cars in the Santa Fe and Union Pacific road names. I purchased them early on when I first got into the HO scale side of the hobby 9 years ago when my first layout had 22" and 24" radius curves. They are actually pretty nice cars, but the truck mounted couplers cause me no end of grief when back up the cars from my coach yard to pasenger station.

Rich

9

I use Kadee # 5s in the draft gear on the trucks. However, I use a small dab of Zap-a-Gap on the place where the spring cover snaps over the tab that’s supposed to lock the cover in place. As soon as I put the small dab of Zap-a-Gap on the this location I use an accelerator to set the glue so it doesn’t work it’s way into the coupler mechanism. After doing this I’ve never had a coupler failure. Yes, it’s not scale. However, it’s also not very noticeable that it isn’t and I’m the only one who knows this.

P.S. I don’t back my passenger equipment.

10

That’s one way to avoid the problem. But, if I don’t back up my passenger cars, I have no way to get from the coach yard to the passenger station without trapping my switchers.

Rich

11

I’ve replaced ALL of the truck mounted couplers on my Athearn passenger cars with body mounted ones. I use “For Sale” signs from Walmart to make the shims. Whether or not you use working diaphragms and who makes them determines the location. I just center and glue them to the body. Holding a Kadee draft gear box in place, I mark where the hole will be, then drill and tap for 2-56 screws. I found the Kadee drill and tap set a wise investment.

12

Great idea, Marlon, thanks.

Rich

13

Rich,

I forgot to mention that I too use the long shank Kadee couplers to give the widest possible coupler swing. I have no problem backing 12-14 car strings around curves and through yard ladders.

i use American Limited working diaphragms, withthe couplers spaced so they touch all the time. And I remove the slight “door frame” on the end of the cars to get very close to prototypical car spacing.

And while my curves are broad, 36" and above, I have tested by diaphragm/coupler set up on curves as small as 28" - they work fine.

I actually have some drawing somewhere I could send you if you are interested, showning coupler position, etc.

Sheldon

14

Sheldon, I would be interested in that drawing.

I need to spend a little more time studying my Athearns before I undertake the coupler conversion project. Part of the problem is, no doubt, some of the flaws in my track work leading into the station.

Rich

15

Private message sent.

16

Thanks for that reminder, Sheldon. I use the American Limited diaphragms, too. They can be a real pain to put together, but they look good!