Hey everyone, I’ve got this Atlas engine that i got from ebay, and it has knuckle couplers on both ends. They appear to be Kadee’s and are mounted with the bronze Kadee centering spring and what appears to be a Kadee coupler box, but the coupler itself is something that I haven’t seen before.
It looks like a normal #5, except that its got two little pieces that extend out over the knuckle spring, on top and underneith. I’ve never seen these before, and they look really cool. I haven’t been able to find any pictures of this coupler anywhere online. I don’t have a digital camera with me right now to take a picture, but I’m hoping that this description jogs someones memory.
They’re shaped almost like a 1/4 of a circle, and when the knuckle is fully open, the little bulge on the actual knuckle where the spring is connected lines up with these protector plate thingys that extend out over the spring.
What are the advantages of a “shelf” coupler, over say, a #5? Or is it just for looks?
They do work, just like the prototype. If you have a derailment with your HazMat tanker, it will keep the coupler on the next car from punching a hole in the tank.
OR – I use them on my full length passenger cars, and 89’ flats and Hi Cubes, or at least every other one. Our club modules tend to have humps at the joints, and usually at least 1 is bad enough to raise or drop the adjoining couplers enough on the long cars so they come un done. Even with just the bottom shelf (top filed off for appearance or clearance) they do not slide apart. Of course, you can NOT uncouple the cars by lifting. You need a magnet or a pick (I use a dental spoon).
As Kadee says, they will not make up for extreemly bad track work. If the hump is bad enough they will lift the low side truck off the rail. But they do help.
Double shelf couplers were developed to try to keep cars from uncoupling in case of derailment or wrecks. They are used on tank cars or other typically hazardous lading cars. We see some carbon black and resin cars with either single or double shelf couplers. I don’t know that I have ever seen a locomotive with them however.
No no, thats not what this is. This looks just like a regular #5 coupler, except that its got two fin-shaped pieces extending out over the spring, one above it and one below it. Thats it. everything else is the same.
DeadheadGreg, There are a number of Kadee couplers like you describe. All of our 20/30 and 40 series couplers have the guards over and under the knuckle spring. The 20 and 30 series couplers have strong plastic shanks and heads but with a metal knuckle. The #28 and #38 couplers (centerset medium shank) are equal dimensionally to the #5 coupler. The 40 series couplers are all metal but do not include a #48 which the medium shank #5 fits into that series number slot. The long #46 and short #43 are centerset couplers like the #5 but have the top and bottom guards around the knuckle spring. Both the 20 and 30 series couplers come with the standard #5 type of draft gear box and the 30 series couplers have a rounded box and a thin wire torsion type of centering spring. All of the 20/30/40 series coupler are made with the same molds and are actually the same couplers (except metal and plastic) and they all are completely interchangeable with each others centering systems and draft gear boxes.
The way inderstand it is that the McHenry and KD represent different style of shelf couplers. Plus with the spring instead of the finger, ithe McHenry acts a lot better than the old finger style McHenry. Perfect, probably not. Better? Yes!
Thats what it is! I knew it must have been a Kadee. Its just kind of hard to describe that little plate that extends out over the spring, without having a picture. But yeah, thats what it is.
