I have noticed that most rolling stock come with “horn hook” couplers, and also that the NMRA, standard is “horn hook” I therefore have a question. Why do most model railroaders want to change over to “knuckle” type couplers, and why if this is what we all prefer then why doesn’t the NMRA update there standards to reflect this trend?
This message checked with “spell check” and all words found to be spelt corectley!!
OTM
I would say that most models produced today are provided with knuckle type couplers, not horn hook. I don’t recall getting a horn hook in a kit for a long time unless it was an old stock kit.
Knuckle couplers look better and operate better then the old horn hooks. Kadee has become the de facto standard in many ways. They held a patent that protected the knuckle design and only in the last few years have other brands started to appear that follow the Kadee formula. Many would agree that Kadee still makes the best coupler.
i thought horn hook was provided for modelers to be able to see who dies with the most useless crap. kadee was the king by default but for the money i get satisfaction from mchenry. although i use a kadee coupler guage to set up all my couplers. and all rtr have knuckle couplers, and no enjoyment for us kit builders.
The horn-hook coupler was developed by the NMRA in an attempt to create an automatic coupler that worked and didn’t look TOO horrible. (Contemporary automatic couplers were hook-and-loop, and looked as if somebody had mounted an oversize basketball hoop on the end of the car. Alternatives were dummy and Devore - the latter looked more like a prototype coupler but operation was, to be generous, unreliable.)
At just about the same time, the Edwards brothers introduced the mechanically-actuated Kadee ‘K’ coupler. It was smaller than the horn-hook, coupled reliably and could be uncoupled reliably over a retractible diamond ramp.
The NMRA design was finalized with the ‘X2F’ version, and the toy and RTR market was urged to adopt it. Since it was inexpensive and simple, they did (but it was reported at the time that not one of the commercial manufacturers got the dimensions exactly right.)
Then Kadee introduced magnetic uncoupling. One manufacturer tried to build a magnetically-uncoupled horn hook. It worked, but was a marketing prat-fall. Serious modelers adopted the Kadee ‘MK’ and ‘MKD’ designs, leaving the horn hook to the toy market (although it was still included in Athearn BB and other kits.)
There was one notable exception. The late Ed Ravenscroft had been NMRA president during the big push for the horn-hook. His own railroad ran X2F couplers, reliably, long after the world had gone to Kadees.
After the Kadee patents ran out, cheaper ‘copycat’ designs became available and soon replaced horn-hooks on all the RTR rolling stock except Christmastime toys.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with Kadee couplers replacing Bakers)
Good synopsis, TomikawaTT.
I remember the changeover from mechanical to magnetic versions of the Kadees in the sixties. I was an eager banisher of NMRA couplers and a ready recruit for Kadees. Kadees were more realistic-looking and operationally-reliable. The NMRAs were the default and couldn’t have cost more than a cent or two to the manufacturers. Kadee had a patent and earned well-deserved profits for its product. I still consider Kadee’s product superior.
Mark
First the NMRA does not nor never had a standard coupler.The X2F was never voted in as the standard by the rank and file even though it was design by the NMRA.
The X2F did standardize the couplers that came with the locomotives and rolling stock…Before the X2F there was a hodge podge of couplers being offered by the manufacturers and most was incompatible.
The KD coupler became popular in the mid 60s and gain popularity and became the de facto standard coupler even with its flaws.
Looking at McHenry, EZ-Mate Mark II and Kadee, the Kadee is the best coupler overall. It’s all metal design stands up to stress much better than the plastic construction of the other two which twist and deform under stress. The failure point of the Kadee design is far beyond the point where the others fail. Give me Kadee’s any day.
Yeah, those horn-hooks are dinosaurs, all right…
It’s Kadees for my railroad.
Mr B, Er . . . dosn’t that dino belong in another thread? [:-^]
No, the Sinclair dinosaur was a brontosaurus. This guy is a parasauropholus. (Unless maybe it’s a female parasauropholus. Do they have antlers?)
The Brontosaurus survived the great dinosaur extinction, and thus was the only witness to the alien landings which prompted it. The Witness Protection People, in an effort to maintain the “giant asteroid” theory, has changed its name to Apatosaurus. The name brontosaurus was common during the Transition Era, however, so it is more applicable to the Sinclair dino.
“HORN HOOKS” - labeled "X2f’'s and “NMRA” by some only come on OLD equipment.
TODAYs purchases are all 'knuckle types - CHOICE is (1)to USE it until it fails, or (2) Kadee. Since manufacurers do not have a ‘standard’ coupler pocket, different KD’s can be used. #148 is latest ‘drop in’. BEST results are obtained when identical couplers match.
TWO: ‘Knuckle’ couplers need matching height. The KD #205 height gauge is highly recommended. The #205 matches the #5/#40 series promoting ‘delayed uncouplig’.The #206 is a slightly better match for the #148/158 (Scale) coupler, and has a different centering device. BOTH, however give the same height.
‘Scale’ couplers have less ‘handshake’ than ‘Regular’ and require more careful installation.
One other thing the X2F did is create a standard coupler box which other couplers like Kadee could be designed to use. If the NMRA had voted to endorse one coupler back then, it probably would have been the Mantua hook-and-loop one, would have been interesting how that would have affected later products like Kadee.