Kadee, without a doubt!
Rotor
I wanted to like Mchenry I really did…but you get what you pay for Kadee all the way. I will say that Mchenry has imrpoved over where they were a couple years back, they still aren’t there yet though.
Like most everybody else, I only use Kadees. Every new car that goes on my layout gets both Kadee couplers and Kadee trucks with metal wheelsets. I have had zero problems with either… ever!
I will point out there is a lot of stuff that "regular "couplers won’t fit which is why Kadee (and only Kadee) has so many different types. Kadee is the only one to take the coupler business seriously. Also, try to get some technical help from McHenry.
This has been a good discussion…My final question on this one is reallly quite obivious…Since Kadee is a favorite of most modellers…why mot make it an industry standard of all future RTR equipment. The difference in cost wouldn’t be that great and I for one wouldn’t mind paying a little extra knowing the quality was there for my money…Any thoughts on this one…
Enjoy your layouts…It’s a clean vice we have mates, and one that keeps on giving
Michael
This question comes up periodically. Originally it had to do with patents. By now most of the original patents have expired, some of the newer items like the Whisker may have current patents. I’ve heard the current reason is cost. Kadee’s are metal and made in the USA (by people who care!) and therefore simply cost more. Appearently enough more that those making such decisions feel it isn’t worth it.
As some of the replies indicate, people will run the couplers until they fail and only then replace them. That’s probally good enough for some manufacturers.
Tilden
I think the industry wised up and got away from the “NMRA” horn hook coupler defaults, one model I got had kadee clones installed and in the corner in a pocket were hornhooks!!
I’m not sure why the industry wont use default Kadees, obviously McHenry’s are cheaper, so I guess they made a price move. I have a test loop of track, my BLI 2-6-6-4 so far is fine with a shorty bunch of cars, and some new equipment I got have the clones. I’ll leavem alone for now till they bust, then throw kadees on, its not on my priority list to change them for now. Layout building now. If your already running big trains and going up/down grades, better go kadee.
The model trains really can have the same torque effects of the prototype and a plastic coupler is going to fail. If I get my Big Boy pulling the paint off the wall I don’t think a McHenry’s gonna work…
At least my DM&IR 2-8-8-4 is gonna get kadees and the big coal drags its gonna haul aint gonna have plastic couplers…
Kadee’s only.
Any other coupler is a broken coupler sooner or later.
I use Kadee on everything except one application and that is for a set of IHC passenger cars. McHenry makes a drop in coupler for these with a metal knuckle spring and for my money they work just fine in this application. Of course the IHC passenger cars are probably the cheapest made passenger cars known to man, but with a bit of care and attention can work OK. The Mchenry couplers happen to be a simple inexpensive option in this particular case.
I would go with Kadees all the way.I have seen the new whisker couplers and am very impressed by them.When I get my future layout going I am going with Kadees. Steve Church Milwaukee road Iowa Division
That’s probably the best description I have ever heard! [:D]
Rotor
I use both with no problems. Kadee’s are the best all round couplers on the market. Mchenry couplers mate up the best with kadee’s. Kadee’s would be my first choice.
Here is a quote from Jason Shron, President of Rapido Trains on why his cars don’t have Kadee’s on them.
"I love Kadee couplers, and I would love to put them on our models, especially the new whisker scale-size couplers, which drop right in to our coupler boxes.
But if I did that I would have to increase our MSRP by about $5 - remember we have two pairs of couplers in every box: a short shank scale coupler installed on the model and a long shank regular coupler to use if you have tight curves. If my cost increases by x dollars, my distributor price will have to increase by that amount just so I can break even, which means the retail price increase will be more a lot more than x.
It is much more economical for you to swap out our couplers for a pair of Kadees if you want to, especially if you buy a bulk pack. That way you can choose which type of Kadee you want - not everybody wants a scale coupler and not everybody wants a #5. It probably takes longer to open the box and remove the passenger car from the plastic wrap than it does to swap the couplers.
Best regards,
Jason"
Maybe that will answer your question.
Yesterday I ran my 50 car train of PFE ice bunker referigerator cars. The train is equipped with Kadee couplers. The cars are weighted to four ounces so this is a fairly heavy train. This wouldn’t have been possible with McHenry’s or other imposter couplers as the slippery and soft plastic couplers would have failed in some way. The couplers would have broken or the couplers slipped apart from the strain.
Somehow, the folks who picked up the Kadee operating design when the patents ran out never have realized that the material is also important. Granted, plastic is cheaper than metal - and bathroom cup plastic is cheaper than engineering plastic.
I have a few clones in service - came with kits I kitbashed and I simply installed what was in the box. When one fails, it gets replaced with a like, serviceable Kadee.
Pastor Bob, I’ll match your 20-year-old MKDs and raise you a quarter-century. Some of my cars (which will never be magnetically uncoupled) are fitted with Kadee K couplers that were surplus to Malcolm Vordenbaum’s requirements when he converted his roster to MKs. I’m sure some of them are 50 years old.
Back to the clones. This quote is all I intend to add:
“Nothing has ever been made, but some person can’t make it more cheaply and sell it for less. Buyers who consider price alone are that person’s legitimate prey.”
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Definitely Kadee’s. First thing I do with a new car is replace the existing Accu-mate, McHenry or whatevers with Kadee’s. They’re pretty fool-proof as far as I’m concerned.
I DO have one Con-Cor dome car that is outfitted with McHenry’s (with the metal spring) and it’s worked okay for the time being, but that’s because I’ve just been too lazy to go down to the LHS and pick up the appropriate Kadee conversion kit.
There’s nothing quite like having a 30-car train split in half on a 2% up-grade because I overlooked replacing one of the cars with Kadee’s. That can be a MESS!
Tom[:I]
Interesting comments from Rapido Trains…My purpose in starting this thread was to hopefully elicit the responses that have come from experienced modelers and thus help the rest of us avoid a few frustrations in this area.A lot of hobby shops should check out these forums from time to time.These discussions are the best reference work currently available for this great hobby of ours
Michael
[#ditto]
At the risk of piling on, Kadee couplers all the way. We have them on 300+ freight cars and have been using them for well over 30 years.
We run live coal loads with 15-17 car trains of triples, quads, and bathtub style gons up and down 2% and 3% grades and have absolutely no trouble with the Kadees.
The one time we tried the McHenry couplers was on a train of 15 Stewart triple hoppers, all empties. The train kept derailing while backing through some turnouts and we couldn’t figure out why. We went over all the cars and found nothing out of the ordinary. When we finally tried the only thing that was different, and went back to Kadees the problem was solved.
I don’t understand the complaints several people had with the bronze centering springs though, since they didn’t elaborate on the problem. Or was it the knuckle springs? When we put Kadees on a freight car or locomotive, we do a few things that I haven’t seen too many other people do.
1.) We take a fine file and knock off the mold parting seam on the face of the knuckle. Then we buff it with a Bright Boy or other block of it’s type. This filing and buffing is done side-to-side since that is the way the knuckle faces slide over each other when coupling.
2.) We run a file on the inside of the knuckle to knock off the parting seam too.
3.) We also run the file over the inside edge of the other side of the coupler where the outside edge of the mating coupler would touch, to take off the rough edges there. To illustrate what I mean, if you make a coupler out of your hand, the inside of your thumb is where I am referring to.
4.) Last thing is we also run a file over the leading edge of the bronze centering spring to knock the sharp edge off there. (Also on the metal coupler box cover on older Athearn cars.)
These mold parting seams and sharp edges all contribute to the couplers hanging up and not wanting to couple/uncouple. All this takes no time at all while installing co
Kadees, all the way. I have had some of the cheap plastuc ones break right off the car. How cheap!!! Now when I weather my cars I change them all over to kadees. I think they work great.