I am converting much of my N scale rolling stock to Micro Trains couplers, and it is mostly Atlas cars. While looking at the MT conversion guide (which I didn’t find helpful), I decided to order the “MT-1000-10 Bettendort Trucks Bulk Pk”. Not withstanding that Bettendorf might not be appropiate for 40’ and 50’ boxcars and gondolas used by the Great Northern (not modern cars), I ordered the regular shank length for the couplers, not medium or long. Will these trucks work, or should I have ordered a longer coupler length?
Anyone have any experience with them? Thanks. [:)]
The length is determined by a couple of factors. First, how far does it have to reach to clear the car? I’ve found that some of my cabeese need a longer shank on them to get out from under the car. Also it depends on how sharp your curces are. The sharper the curves, the longer the shaft.
The MT bettendorf or friction bearing trucks are just right for '40s & '50s. Of course there are allways exceptions, consult proyotype photos, some may need the roller bearing (the ones with only two springs visible like the bettendorf). I don’t use the Barber (100 ton) style on any of my pre '60s era stuff. Most of my “steam era” ,Atlas and such, equipment uses the short but some do need the medium extesion. You have to experiment a little, if the ends of your cars contact eachother or the end corner of one car strikes against the end of another when going around your curves. Sometimes it’s just one car that needs a longer extension or sometimes it’s both.
Since you have already ordered the regular shanks, test fit them to some of your cars and try them on your sharpest curves. You will know right away if you need longer shanks! Also look at a string of cars coupled together on a straight section of track to see if they look too far apart. Some of them may benefit from short shanks.
In either case (too long or too short), you can purchase smaller packages of trucks and couplers to convert only those cars that need the different lengths of coupler.
Thanks. One thing I didn’t consider was the radius of my curves when ordering. I have a minimum 11.5" radius, so I will have to see if they work. If not, maybe I can sell them on ebay or exchange them with someone who has mediums to trade. Thanks for your help guys! [:)]
The short is the one for most 40’ and 50’ box cars built before the 1970’s. The medium usually works better on more modern box cars although the short will often work too. The medium is good to represent cushion underframe cars as on the prototype the couplers stick out further than on non-cushion cars. Long cars(like 89’ boxes) use the long shank.
The short will work on the majority of the car types.
I keep all sizes of coupler/trucks on hand for different applications. I choose the most appropriate for the particular car. I do however like a more prototypical ‘close’ coupled look for most of my rolling stock. For my locomotives, if conversion is required I stick with what is recommended.
Is it worth purchasing their “binder/catalog” item that lists all the conversions? I see you can download them and read it in Excel, which would seem to make the conversion book a bit obsolete. Am I missing something?
the binder is an absolute necessity for the serious N scale modeler. It has instruction sheets for most of MT’s coupler kits, drawings of components with measurements, and a list of conversions. The Excel spreadsheet suggests which kits work with which models, but is short on details for dealing with some of the more complex conversions.
In my experience, the trucks with the short couplers will work on most freight cars, especially those representing transition era prototypes.
MT sells a small assortment of trucks with various length coupler shanks which can be used to determine what will fit on a particular car.
Incidentally, when representing a cushion-underfram car, you should have one truck with a medium and one with a short shank. On the prototype, the carbody slides on the underframe, and the cushion unframe draft gear will tend to protrude more on one side of the car than the other.
In that case, I probably should look at picking up the binder. Is it ever updated, or do they put it out annually, or what? I mean, if I find one on ebay should I worry that it will be 10 years old and not useful anymore?
The big yellow binder should have the most current information. The older (the thin plastic binder) one might still be useful, however. (I didn’t throw mine away when I got the big one.)
Although Micro-Trains said updates would be issued, I have yet to see any.