I am switching all my couplers toa kadee 3118 “SF” shelf coupler. that way all the couplers will have working shelves on them and coupling will be much more realistic and easy to do.
I was under the impression that the type F coupler was used mainly on tank cars (where the coupler slipping, and puncturing the tank is possible in a derailment) whereas most other freight cars have type E couplers (Kadee #5/#58 series, as well as the 2x,3x,4x series)…
They’re your trains and you can do whatever you please, but shelf type couplers are not used on all rolling stock. They are required to be on tank cars that carry flammable or hazardous cargo to prevent the couplers from coming apart and puncturing the tank, but every other type of car I have seen still uses the standard coupler.
Besides all that has mentioned, it’s not a good idea to use shelf couplers on any long equipment or cars that have extended coupler boxes. Unless you have perfect trackwork and very gentile upeaseings and overeasings for your grades, you risk derailments from the coupler of one car lifting the truck up off the rails. Watch your Kadees during normal running and you will notice the knuckles side up and down where coupled going up and down grades or over irregular trackwork.
Actually ALL tank cars have shelf couplers including the clay slurry and the corn syrup cars.
and short of a hook-and-loop, Kadees have to be THE most unprotoypical coupler devised.
Show me a prototype in NA that has a gold-painted 1958 Cadillac front coil spring laid horizontally on the side, and a fixed metal “air hose” without gladhands that hangs UNDER the coupler and not to the side…
That tank car doesnt have type F couplers…so your statement is a little too encompassing.
David
Even the “air hose” is in the wrong location.[:O]
David,That tank car is not in revenue service its coupled to a wooden box car for pete’s shake.
I will stand firm on my statement.
I model the 1950’s. When did “shelf” couplers first appear on tank cars?
Brakie…when were shelf couplers introduced?
Curmudgeon,
Hey, at least Kadees are knuckle couplers. [:)] I’d say that in HO scale, hook and loops were the least realistic, followed closely by the X2F horn-hook. Also worse than the Kadee in the realism dept. are the Accumate couplers on all the Atlas equipment these days. Those don’t even have a swiveling knuckle, they split right down the middle.
If I were to rank operable couplers for realism, I’d list 'em like this:
1). Sargeant (or Lincoln Pin…depends on your era).
2). Kadee “scale” couplers.
3). The plastic “scale” couplers by various manufacturers.
4). Kadee #5-type.
5). The plastic #5-type couplers by various manufacturers.
6). Accumate.
7). X2F.
8). Hook & Loop.
Paul A. Cutler III
Weather Or No Go New Haven
Lincoln Pin?
Hopefully you don’t mean “link and pin”?
Good read here: http://www.geocities.com/budb3/arts/tech/cuphist.html
with a quote:" No magnetic, operating coupler in HO has earned the right to be called scale. "
Now, if you mean Sergent, yes: http://www.sergentengineering.com/
Followed by MDC, DeVore, and X2F (they are all one color…and no coil spring on the side), then Mantua (my standard because the nmra hates them), with ANY Kadee at the bottom of the list.
I get stuff in the shop with Kadees on them, I rip them off.
In “0”, I use operating Scale Models, followed by Monarch.
In real life, passenger cars cannot be coupled to tankers. The shelf of the tanker’s coupler will damage the walkways used to pass between the cars.
I see shelf couplers on plastic pellet covered hoppers near me all the time.
Most of the hoppers I’ve seen use a lower-shelf coupler whereas the tank cars use couplers that have both upper AND lower shelfs.
No, no–the “Lincoln Pin” was introduced in 1809, but was discontinued in 1865.
Curmudgeon,
Even tho’ I can’t find it now, I recall seeing someone selling so-called “Lincoln Pin” (brand name) couplers for 1800-era HO equipment. And yes, they really worked. A fellow member of my club (who models the 1800’s) knew all about them when I asked him about it. They were a cast white metal pocket with brass wire links and pins. They may have even been compatible with a Kadee #5 box (but obviously didn’t rotate).
Edit: Ok, I looked around the web a little more, and found that Tomar makes an HO “Link & Pin” coupler (but they aren’t the “Lincoln Pin” brand): http://www.tomarindustries.com/A-6002.jpg
As for the rest of your post… BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Stop it, you’re killing me! An X2F and the hook and loop are more realistic than any Kadee??? (giggle) Oh, man, that’s some funny stuff. I didn’t know you were such a comedian. [:D]
Let me put it this way: I agree that Kadee’s are not true “scale” couplers, and knuckle springs are not realistic. However, from 3 feet away, you probably can’t see the spring (especially if it’s blackened). At the same time, there’s no mistaking the X2F or the hook and loop coupler for even being close to realistic.
For operating couplers, the Sergent are the most realistic. But Kadee’s #58’s are in second place.
Paul A. Cutler III
Weather Or No Go New Haven
ANYTHING is more realistic than a Kadee.
Unless you can find me a NA Prototype with a gold-painted 1958 Cadillac front suspension coil spring tied to the side.
Only someone who has never seen a prototype coupler would think a Kadee was prototypical.
Even one of the folks who writes for Mentally Ret…ooops, I mean &qu
[quote user=“Curmudgeon”]
ANYTHING is more realistic than a Kadee.
Unless you can find me a NA Prototype with a gold-painted 1958 Cadillac front suspension coil spring tied to the side.
Only someone who has never seen a prototype coupler would think a Kadee was prototypical.
Even one of the folks who writes for Mentally