EDIT: Thanks to all those who responded…and all definitely came down on the side of knuckle couplers. I guess I will change over…but it will take a while. (I meant, of course that I have horn and hook couplers…I have only a few that might be hook and loop on some Jouef cars, and these mate nicely with the horn and hook couplers).
But in the meantime, while I am still using the old items, no one responded with information about an uncoupling system for the horn and hook. As I indicated, I am a beginnner…or at least, when I last had a layout as a kid in the '60s I used toothpicks to uncouple the cars. As Peggy Lee would say, “Is that all there is?”
ORIGINAL POSST:95% of the rolling stock I have collected for my new layout is new/good quality, but have the hook and loop couplers which seem an anathema to purists. I do see the point, and like the look of the various knuckle couplers on the other 5 %.
However, being a beginner I am not sure if I want to try to replace all the hook and loop items, or if it is even possible.
What would tip the scale in favour of leaving well enough alone, is if there is a good system for automatic uncoupling of the hook and loop couplers??? I am still in the planning stages of the layout, so I am trying to determine if there is anything the equivalent of the Kadee magnetic uncoupler for the hook and loop. I am assuming that there is nothing to produce the delayed effect and spotting ability that I have read about for the kadee system?
Perhaps, as one forum member suggested to another, I should just use a combination car with kadee on one end and hook and loop on the other. But since my layout emphasizes yard and siding situations, I would need several of these cars always attached to any string I wanted to park.
I would say; just bite the bullet and change to the “standard” # 5 couplers. They fit most rolling stock; and other part numbers are available for the rest. At about $1.50 per car (20 pr. pack), you will actually enjoy switching operations.
I switched over 15 years ago and would not even think of using anything else.
I mostly agree with Alan. You can use the old couplers on strings of cars that are always together. But if you plan to switch all the cars, then get the good couplers on them, and make sure they are all the same height. Kaydee makes a great little tool to check heights.
Hook and loop? Are you talking about G-gauge? I converted my g-gauge to knuckle couplers once and was disappointed with the performance so I went back to the LGB type loops.
My second question would be are you talking about European equipment? The only HO equipment I’ve ever seen with the hook and loop was imported by Hornby or Rivarossi.
Their are pins hanging down on the bottom of each hook. Anything that pushes up from the bottom will lift the hooks off the loops of the opposite car.
On almost all the HO layouts I operate on, the owners are going and and removing the uncoupling magnets and moving to the bamboo skewers for uncoupling.
This has been a standard temporary solution for years.
I’ve used them all. When I built my first layout (in the 80s), I was lucky enough to fall into a hobby shop that 85% of their business was geared towards model railroading. Val turned me onto Kadee couplers and I haven’t looked back since. Even the new Bachmann and Athearn knuckle couplers fail by comparison. When they advertise to be “Kadee compatible”, they’re trying to justify you buying something other than the best. Kadees use metal springs to hold the knuckle closed, not a thin strip of plastic that is going to lose its tension over time and uncouple when you least expect it (the very back of the layout, or inside a tunnel). I’ve converted ALL of my stock (cars and motive power) to Kadee.
I just installed Kadee 148 whisker couplers on all my rolling stock (only about 35 cars). The 148’s are a little easier than their #5’s because you don’t have to deal with the separate centering spring.
Even though each upgrade presented it’s own issue (mix of old Athearn BB and MDC/Roundhouse kits), I was able to use the original coupler box/lid on every piece of rolling stock - sometimes only a little filing was required.
On a side note, I emailed Kadee asking them if the 148’s were ever coming out in bulk packs, and they replied that after some new tooling is installed, they would package them in bulk packs - hence they should be a little cheaper than the way they are packaged now.
If your talking aobut HO scale “horn hooks” get rid of them. Keep your dual use car for the transition and begin to work your way thru your fleet. When you buy your first Kadee’s also get their track gauge gizmo, it will help you make sure the mouted coupler heights are correct.
One of the other replies mentioned the Kadee 148? vs the #5. he is right, the 148? are the new “wisker” configuration with the metal centering spring attached. helps alot with assembly. i love them.
I’ve been slowly updating my ancient fleet from horn-hooks to Kadees. Most of these are so old that there are no direct conversion couplers, so I end up doing a lot of cutting and fitting. The effort is definitely worth it.
I’ve got a few really old HO passenger cars with hook-and-loop couplers. I would have to replace these with truck-mounted couplers to get these long cars around my tight curves, and the cars don’t look like much to begin with, so they may never get retrofitted.
I do use Kadee magnetic uncoupling on my layout. It takes careful adjustment of both the magnet and all the couplers to make it work right, but in general I’m pretty happy with it. My yard is in the center of a 5-foot wide layout, so reaching in to uncouple is awkward. Even closer to the edge, though, I prefer the hands-off approach for my uncoupling and also for my turnouts. Some modellers are the other way around.
A lot of my equipment came with hook and loop couplers - AKA Baker couplers (look like the offspring of a cross between a basketball hoop and the business end of a logger’s peavey.) The last person I know of who used them was Whit Towers, on his Alturas and Lone Pine. I don’t know if he converted before his death in 1999.
In order to assure that I wouldn’t have compatibility problems I made a conscious decision to install Kadee couplers (and make other upgrades) before putting anything on the rails - easy enough to do, since I had (and still have) more rolling stock than running room. Everything not yet modified is residing in storage boxes, awaiting der Tag.
There is one blanket exception. Rolling stock which will never be switched individually only has working Kadees where needed for attachment of locomotives (unit coal trains) or other, fully-fitted cars (the core cut in the middle of a through freight consist, which runs through from staging to staging.) The “non-coupling” isn’t a Baker, however. It’s either an ancient non-magnetic Kadee or a drawbar.