I know that a lot of folks have been upset over the last year that Horizon took over Athearn and Roundhouse. And I know that there are a lot of folks that are not fans of McHenry couplers. So this news may just stir up a flame session. I hope not.
Anyway, I think that this shows that Horizon is committed to investing in the MRR business, which IMO suggests that there is some health in this hobby. No matter what one thinks of Horizon, they are very close to the hobby market and have grown the business quickly, so they are not dummies. The fact that they are willing to invest in the hobby is a good thing.
As for McHenry, I think that they are often unfairly maligned as having poor couplers with the plastic whisker spring. I have several pairs of their couplers that use a metal spring (ala Kadee) and have had good success with them, so I think that they make a decent product. However, I still nearly always use Kadee.
I think if McHenry got rid of their coupler lines with the plastic spring, they’d start getting less crap from people since I can see no difference in quality between their metal-sprung couplers and Kaydees, McHenry’s are just cheaper.
Right, they are cheaper, which is why they get a lot of crap. No difference in quality, lets see, metal, plastic, yeah there’s a difference. Kadee is BETTER, wait no the BEST.
The last time I looked, Mc Henry’s werent that much cheaper. a #10 pack of drop-in #5’s is a whopping $0 .70 a coupler! - and at full retail.
It MUST be on general principles 'cause that’s less than the price of two postage stamps.
Isn’t money spent on something you might throw away - a waste? Better to have the postage stamps.
I have no axe to grind with McHenry couplers - they’re better than those on Life Like Products, Kato’s, and I.M’s original coupler. Maybe if they’re FREE?
Seems like Simon’s intent is to show that Horizon is making the effort and investing into model railroad product lines. Don’t forget that back in 2004-05 many of us were speculating that model railroad product lines and support under Horizon were going to head for the toilet. Good thing that specualtion was wrong.
Yes, most of us are heavy Kadee users, including me, but why slam the people that use the “other” coupler? [B)] I actually have the "sprung"McHenry’s on my Rivorossi passenger cars and they suffice for now, knowing that I need to be gentle when couplling them together. I’ll change them later once I finish “paint-metalizing” them and get into the mood to body mount new Kadee couplers.
Thanks for the heads up, Simon! [:D] A lot of us that don’t subscibe to or buy MRR magazine regularly would have likely not known!
It looks like Horizon is going to let Walthers continue selling the McHenrys, which may be a good move for them.[:D] I don’t see any of the McHenrys being phased out at Walthers.
Now if only they would start MDC on making steam engine kits again…[:D]
I don’t have a problem with the “other” couplers…provided they work like they’re supposed to. I don’t replace them unless they break. One type I don’t like are the split-shanks included in Accurail’s kits. I simply throw those into the trash.
IMHO, there are specific differences in the quality of McHenry
couplers vs. KD:
the plastic shank on McHenrys can bend up or down, and may be
deformed by collisions, dropping the car, etc.
the knuckle can be pushed back too far by collisions, and trying
to open it again usually is fatal.
the plastic centering spring on the McHenry can take a set if
cars are left coupled on curved track for a long period.
the brake hose is not anchored well in the body, and can rotate
with pressure. Thereafter, it is somewhat loose and can get very
loose. The hose is softer metal and bends easily.
Yes, KS series McHenrys will be satisfactory with casual or gentle
use. But they will fail one way or another under heavy use, and
just don’t compare well for the small difference in price. I have
seen so many problems with plastic couplers that I am now finishing
up converting the 40% or so of my 500 cars which had plastic to KD’s.
Have yet to have a KD fail.