Are the Bachmann EZ-Mate magnetic couplers compatible with their EZ-Mate Mark II couplers?
Yes, all clone knuckle couplers are compatible with each other and with genuine Kadee couplers. The only ones that are not compatible are the new Sergent Engineering couplers.
I do not have an answer but you could go to the bachmann forums.
http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/board/
Rich
Don’t waste your money on the Bachmann Maybe Mates. Use the real thing Kadee. While Kadee couplers cost a bit more they are metal and are lots more durable. If you plan to run longer trains the imposters won’t hold up. The imposters are made of slippery plastic and will sometimes just slip apart resulting in train in twos.
I have ran some very long trains up and down 2 percent grades with McHenry, Bachmann, Kato, and other brands of plastic knuckle couplers and have had no such problems.
The worst of them were the original McHenry couplers and some of the Bachmanns that used a plastic finger instead of a metal spring to hold the knuckle closed. I have discarded all couplers of this type.
My currrent favorite is the Kadee #148 Whisker coupler, but I have ran into a couple of instances where I had to resort to McHenry plastic couplers to prevent metal locomotive frames from shorting out when MU’d. I know Kadee makes a plastic coupler, too, but I didn’t have any of them on hand so I used McHenry and they are holding up just fine.
People who complain about plastic couplers being too easily broken must really abuse their rolling stock. I’ve never broken one under normal use.
I find the Bachmann couplers (mark I and mark II) worth avoiding, same goes for the McHenry couplers. All I use are Kadees.
Similar to the experience I had with the EZ Mates, with my Walthers Superliner cars. The only reason I used them was that they came with the car. I found that they slipped apart going up the club layout’s helix because the shank of the coupler would actually twist under load. Once I discovered this, they were quickly replaced with Kadee’s.
On my layout, the only thing the EZ Mates are compatable with is the trash can.