Hi. I’m not too handy yet with these little couplers and changing them.
Do any companies make rolling stock that come with Kadee couplers already on them? Or does Kadee not let any companies do that, you have to but them from Kadee and change them.
Do any companies make rolling stock with couplers on them that work well with Kadee’s? that couple up just fine with the Kadee’s?
Thanks alot.
Billy
Kadee do make a very nice range of freight cars under their own brandname, and I think Intermountain also use Kadees on their RTR cars? I’m unsure of this as I don’t own any Intermountain equipment. Most RTR stock from Athearn, Lifelike Proto, Walthers, Atlas, etc now comes with Kadee clones like the Bachmann E-Z-Mate or McHenry couplers. These will, on the whole, work perfectly well with Kadees, though you will probably want to change them for Kadees as you progress in the hobby. To my mind, Kadees look nicer (metallic rather than plastic finish), work more effectively (I’ve not had much luck using delayed uncoupling with clone couplers), and are more reliable than other brands. Having said that, I do have three Bachmann locos using their own brand couplers that have worked superbly so far.
I too wish Kadee’s were fitted or supplied in the box. The kit prices would probably not rise by that much - if you consider how much it must cost to package and ship those paper envelopes with the Kadees inside them, the cost of the couplers would be very low to a bulk-buyer such as a kit manufacturer. Only snag I can see if that Kadee’s own sales would drop as a result, as people would not need to buy couplers seperately.
P.S. Lifelike Proto locos and cars use a system which makes fitting Kadees very simple. On my C-Liner and Erie-Built locos I found Kadee #58s (or #5s) were a straight swap - the original couplers used a centring spring that’s identical to the Kadee one, so I just removed the coupler pocket cover, swapped in the Kadee coupler, and reassembled!
IM & I believe Broadway.
www.kadee.com makes over forty different couplers for Diesel, Steam, Freight & Passenger.
Broadway doesn’t always use Kadees. In fact their hoppers will not take a kadee without major surgery, although I understand the upcoming PRR stock cars will come with Kadees.
I do believe LBF also uses Kadees.
As a note, I’ve found that McHenry’s and EZ-Mates tend to work decently with Kadees, but have a short life. They do not couple on curves as well due to their centering springs. The MkII EZ-Mates and McHenry’s last loinger than the MK 1 EZ-Mates, as they have metal springs. These are a great source for blackened springs for your Kadees, once the knuckle breaks on them.
P2K Couplers don’t mate reliably with anything, but swap out for Kadees easily, as they use a #5 style shank & spring.
Accumates work better than P2K’s. They’ll couple, they don’t uncouple easily though. I haven’t tried their Proto:HO coupler though, but I’ve heard good things.
Note: I don’t use magnetic uncoupling, preferring manual operation.