I have three Trinity Hoppers but was frustrated in putting on Kadees as the typical spring would not fit in there. The guy at the local train store says you cannot put Kadees on these cars. Has anyone out there found a way?
all my hoppers have to be specially fitted with styrene plastic to accept kadee couplers…it’s a slow tedious process but what i do is cut a sheet of styrene plastic in the shape of a T so that it will fit in the underframe of the hopper lengthwise and then glue it in and file away as much of the styrene as possible so it can’t be seen from under the side of the car…I then drill a hole in the styrene dead center of the spot the coupler goes and then mount the kadee coupler draft gear box (adding extra pieces of styrene so it will match to the kadee coupler height gauge) I then put a screw through the entire assembly to hold the coupler assembly in place and then paint it to match the color of the hopper…it works great…i even glue the air tank to the styrene if it has no where else to mount…send me your e-mail address and i’ll send you some diagramsof what i’m talking about…chuck
My opinion, I just cant beleive that there is any rolling stock you cant put a Kadee on. There are just too many options. Have a look at the kadee web site becaus they have numerous types of couplers, it just has to be possible. Oh! [#ditto] on the styreen
cw–Many thanks…my email is fact275@hotmail.com.
Kadee #58’s should work. I’d say you’re using #5’s, as they are the most common.
ok…hope you got my e-mail back with the attachment…if you have a question feel free to ask me…chuck
Kadee had a handout on their web site for installing a #78 on the trinity hopper. Just did a fast search of the site and did not see it. Check and you may find it. It was a printable instruciton sheet.
I know that Jerry(Dunno his last name) from Rich Divizio’s weathering forum should know. His name on here is Neutrino.
No, Kadee #78’s are the only replacement for the cheap plascic couplers on this car. Try this link for a “How To”. It’s a .pdf file so you can save it to your HD or print it out.
“That Jerry”
#78’s? 78, 58, what’s the difference?[:P] Okay, I admit, I was wrong…[:I]This should be of help whenever I can get my hands on some of those CSX “Grain Express” hoppers…IF being the keyword.[:(!]