Hello guys, I met a man, a N scale specialist, a few days ago and he told me that I should not buy Atlas cars because the couplers are not that good because they often disconnect from each other when the train is running. He told me that I could buy Atlas cars but change the couplers for a micro-trains (if I remember well) or for almost the same price, he suggested me to buy a little bit more expensive car with the micro trains already installed from company like Kato, Micro-Trains or Inter-Mountain.
First,your N Scale specialist is dead wrong about Atlas cars… Atlas makes some very nice cars and I highly recommend them.
One reason I left N Scale is because of the slinky I mean Micro Train couplers…I hated the way the last cars slink back and forth at slow speed.MT is aware of this design fault and sells tiny axle spring that fits on the end of the axle.These springs causes drag and eliminates the slinky action.This slinky action will also cause unwanted uncoupling while passing over uncoupling magnets.
The good.
Now,about the Atlas Accumate coupler…I found them workable at best and the best coupler for slow speed switching-no slinky action like the MT coupler and they’re ok for 25 or less car trains…
The bad…
If your planning to run long trains in mindless loops then the Atlas Accumate coupler should be changed out to MT couplers.
If your planning to run long trains in mindless loops then the Atlas Accumate coupler should be changed out to MT couplers.
Ok that’s probably what he meant because I told him I would like to run long trains.
The guys also told me that buying a Micro-Train car with Micro-Train coupler is about the same price than buying an Atlas car and changing the coupler for a Micro-Train coupler. Is that right also?
Depends. Run a price check with half a dozen different retailers and compare. You should also consider the “cost” to you in time substituting the one coupler for the other if you go that route. If you want to run long trains, that’s a factor to consider, too.
Even with limited use of my right hand around 1-1/2 minutes was my average time.
Body mounting couplers takes about five minutes per car.Its a matter of,removing the trucks, drilling a hole and screwing on the coupler box.Best to replace the truck and sell the trucks with the coupler on e-Bay.
Locomotives aren’t clothing. Something isn’t in use for a couple of years and then discarded. They stick around for their anticipated service life (and sometimes a lot longer. So, locomotives and structures thst would appear on a 1955-65 era layout could plausibly appear on your 1975-80 era layout. The reverse isn’t true, though. The era will mostly affectclothing and road vehicles. What you do depends on your own desires, and how close you wish to stick to the prototype. On my railroad (New Haven based), I set the layout in 1956, but in my world, the NH is still running steam in 1956 (historically ended in 1953), so I can run steam and early diesels, but also the McGinnis paint scheme that didn’t appear until 1955. But it’s really up to you. “The world is what you make of it. If it doesn’t fit, make alterations.”
Atlas accumates are pretty good, though I’m switching everything to MTL’s because I really like MTL couplers. Brakie, I view that slinkyness as the air brakes not being hooked up yet.
