Hi All anyone else using “Sergent” couplers. I am going to use them on all my Hon3 stuff. Not shure about standered gauge. Thanks Roy
I’ve bought some to try out. So far I’m liking them. I’m planning on equipping the cars and locos that will be on my (potential) home layout with them. I like the fact that you have to manually align the couplers just like the prototype. I have found that having extremely free-rolling cars can be a disadvantage when it comes to coupling, though.
I tried a couple and they didn’t seem to work too well with my kadee #5’s. Clean looking though.
They are not intended to work with Kadees and will not couple with Kadees. They are not compatible with any of the other coupler brands.
Thanks.
They shoud push that as a big selling point. [(-D]
this is beginning to look like the “better mouse trap” situation. remember the old red and blue victor spring traps? they still do the job. a little bait on the trip plate and SNAP. one late rodent.
i wager that in 10 years, the good old KD number 5 will still be the most dependable and popular coupler in HO scale.
i tried the Sergent and it was just like visiting a hick town just to see what was there. nothing.
and forget the KD knockoffs. plastic is just not durable enough for serious operation and the whisker springs are a joke.
grizlump
I’ve mounted the first four Sergents on a pair of HO Seaboard/Fruit Growers Express insulated box cars, and I love 'em! Each new freight car and locomotive I get will now be equipped with Sergents.
That said, they are NOT for everyone (as we discovered in a previous thread on them). Since there’s no way to uncouple them remotely, they’re not good for large layouts where you’ll need to set out cars on an inaccessible part of the layout. Since they’re not compatible with Kadee couplers, you can’t really use them in club settings (unless, as was discussed before, your club has pure running sessions and is willing to use “transition” cars – cars with a Kadee coupler on one end and an incompatible coupler, like a Sergent, on the other). Those who already have large freight car and locomotive fleets equipped with Kadees won’t be likely to want to go to the expense of changing over. And since Sergent does not (yet) make the Type H “Tightlock” coupler used on modern passenger cars, you won’t want them if you run mostly post-war passenger trains, mixed trains, or fleets with locomotives that are used in both freight or passenger service (however, the issue of getting around passenger car and locomotive diaphragms to uncouple them has been solved).
All those issues aside, they look great, work well, and add another touch of realism to one’s models. I’m building a small layout, so reaching the cars to uncouple them with the magnetic wand is not a problem. I don’t belong to a club. I’m just getting back into the hobby and have a small locomotive and car fleet, so the cost of conversion is not really an issue for me. And since passenger and freight equipment won’t mix on my layout, I’ll be perfectly happy running Kadees on my passenger cars and locomotives until Sergent makes the Tightlock.
The last time Sergents came up on this forum, there was a lot of heated debate on whether or not they were “better” than Kadees. In this