I’ve got a few odds and ends around now and gradually getting more. The Bachman’s couplers don’t mesh with Lil Guy nor do the mesh with the Hogwarts Express. When I get my new Broadway, MDC, and IHC, I expect they’ll all be different as well. Not to mention Bachman, MDC, and Con-cor rolling stock.
So, I figure need common ground… I have two general eras, The Hogwarts, the 4-4-0, and the 2-6-0 (and a future yard goat) and
An E7, a 4-8-4, and Lil Guy.
Figuring I’m going to want to do yard work with both, what kinds of couplers should I get.
I’m guessing your E7 and your FEF came with knuckle couplers. These are the best way to go and most (if not all) HO models come with them today. By the looks of it your SW1200 (Lil guy) has the older horn hook couplers, and your Hogwarts has European link and pin style couplers. These can couple with knuckles, but I suggest replacing them with knuckles.
The Hogwarts probably has the standard British “Tension Lock” couplers - not nice things to look at! Fitting Kadees to the cars would be protypically correct as the real ones (British Railways MK1s) have drop-head buckeyes - the knuckles hinge down to reveal a standard drawhook behind and the buffers extend, so they can be run either with other buckeye-equipped stock (buffers retracted) or with stock fitted with the old screw-link couplers (buffers extended). The loco should, technically, have screw-link couplers though these can be a real pain in model form due to their small size and the difficulty of coupling/uncoupling them - I’d advocate fitting a Kadee on the tender and removing the front coupler (should just unscrew). There should be something in the #30 series couplers that will be suitable (these have smaller draft gear boxes than the #5s and are good for situations like the end of those cars, failing that Walthers have offered a kit to fit swinging coupler pockets to Athearn 85’ freight cars that might be adaptable).
The switcher might be harder to fit out - best advice might be to check the Kadee site under “conversions”, and if it’s not listed email them - someone will have fitted Kadees to one of these locos before, and they will probably be able to help. Hope this is of some use!
Kadee. The ONLY brand worth mentioning for appearance and performance.
There are others that are compatible with Kadee – they will couple and usually uncouple when you want – but they fall short of the Kadees over the long haul (no pun intended).
Kadee ( http://www.kadee.com ) is pretty much the acknowledged king of knuckle couplers, as they make one for damn near anything ever produced in HO ( and N and O and G and…) scale. The #5 is the old (since 1950 or so) standard, and to my knowledge, the first/most successful scale-ish knuckle coupler in the American market. The #58 is a more scale-sized version, and there are dozens of others that offer shorter and longer shanks, centerset, overset, and underset coupler heads, and at least 3 different kinds of draft gear on the shanks, all of which combine to make a truly formidable catalog. Pick the 5 or 58, since they fit pretty much everything.
They also have this thing called magne-matic delayed action uncoupling, which is pretty cool for yard operations. http://www.kadee.com/int/c1.htm
Their patents are starting to run out these days, and there are a large number of companies (Bachmann, McHenry, Athearn…) copying the designs, sorta, in plastic. I have examples of most on my layout, and on my trains they just dont’ work as well. My $0.02.
With the disparity of products you now have, this may not be simple. You need a coupler for each, that agree. What fits the Rivarossi may not fit the Hogswarts, or Lindberg.
You have an Italian made product, an English made product, an a 45 year old American made product., and have talked about an IHC-.
One of the nice things about Kadee is that they make different style shanks that will adapt to almost ANY model you’ve got. I’ve even gotten some Kadees to fit one end of a couple of European electrics I have! What I’d do is take one of each of your cars (1 Hogwarts, your Lil Guy, etc.) to your LHS and check the Kadee display. You’ll probably find everything you need. And despite all of the other knuckle couplers around, Kadee is still the most reliable.
Tom
PS: Don, if you’re reading this, WELCOME BACK!
There is; the Walthers catalog prints one every year, and the Kadee website (http://www.kadee.com) has a complete section sorted by manufacturer that tells you what couplers to use for which locos and rolling stock.