For as much as I’ve learned lately about trains, I know nothing about couplers and trucks…neither prototypical nor modeling. What type of couplers and trucks are being used by modern freight today? Is there only one major manufacturer of trucks? Do the trucks vary between freight car types? As far as modeling, Do the Atlas couplers work well with Micro-trains? (n scale). I know little about this topic and would appreciate any help…in both real world and in the modeling world.
You, me and another guy… We posted a similar message last week without any response. I get the impression the nobody in N-scale is switching.[xx(]
Out of all my stock, the Atlas Accumate coupler seems to work the best for coupling. Haven’t tried uncoupling. If I can find a deal on trucks I think I will swap out this coming winter. Micro Trains seems to be the only other alternative.
Hope to hear more information from others.
Peter
I thought there was an article in the last MR about N couplers.
Hi Jkroft,
In the May issue of Model Railroader David Popp gave an overview of N scale trucks and couplers in his Step by step column. Also one of the online bonuses in the May issue is a comprehensive guide to freight car trucks. Click on the link below.
http://www.trains.com/Content/Dynamic/Articles/000/000/006/549ifjap.asp
If you’re interested in passenger car modeling, there’s a new Information Station PDF that includes a guide to passenger car trucks. It’s available for purchase at this link:
http://store.yahoo.com/kalmbachcatalog/model-railroading-downloadable-articles-how-to.html
I hope this helps.
Best wishes,
Dana
The trend nowadays for N scale couplers is the knuckle type. The Accumate knuckle couplers by Atlas are compatible with MicroTrain. Generally, most modellers prefer MT for its reliability. For trucks it depends on what rolling stock you have and which era you are modelling. A good guide will be at the MT website: http://www.micro-trains.com/
Hope this helps!
Cheers,
Cliff
http://cliffordconceicao3310.fotopic.net/c328807.html
Some general thoughts on what I have learned with Kadee/MT couplers in HO/HOn3.
Prototype couplers have grown significantly since the introduction of the Janney coupler in the late 1800s. The early MCB couplers were approximately 3/4 the size of today’s couplers. Some modern prototype knuckle couplers have “shelves” added to them to prevent knucke over/under-rides in the event of a derailment of cars with hazardous cargoes.
In HOn3, some modelers use the MT N couplers because they are about spot on for scale size in knuckle height for the early MCB coupler (and for mounting space reasons as well). Some HOn3 rolling stock shares the “too light and too free-rolling to couple” problem with our N scale brothers. Turns out the MT 1015/1016 couplers are a different internal design than the MT 1023/24/25 series. The 1015/16 couple easier.
The knuckle couplers of various makes will generally all stay coupled to one another without any problems. Automatic coupling is not always as consistent between couplers of different makes. Between couplers of same brand, automatic coupling works fine, unless “light car bounce” gets in the way (see previous paragraph). Weighting cars helps a lot to prevent “light car bounce” but significantly affects train length on grades. How much to weight cars really ends up being a choice of what type of operations you prefer in HOn3 and N. Continuous runs of longer trains on mountain grades favors light cars. Switching operations favors heavier cars.
Delayed uncoupling is difficult to achieve consistently in HO and smaller scales, especially if the car needs to be pushed through a turnout. Everything - track, locomotives, cars, couplers must be in excellent operating condition - for the pushing movement to be successful. The engine cannot stall or hesitate at the slow pushing speed or the car will separate and recouple when they touch again. The car(s) cannot lurch or roll unevenly for the same reason.
Because of the