I am still learning all these new things of model railroading, and one of my questions here is really pressing me. I would like my first train to be a small Amtrak, a really nice engine, fallowed by good qaulity passangers cars. So I found the locomotavie, the Kato F40PH, cause well, i just really like the looks of it. Now the product says that it is intended to work with kato passangers cars, but I don’t like them. I found some other ones that i like from Walthers but am worried that they will not “hook” up right. The term, knuckle couplers and magnectic couplers gets me confused. Is this a possible link up, or do I have to stick with one company from loco to all passanger and stock cars. Thanks for the help…
You don’t need to stick with one company. That would be too limiting.
As long as the couplers are the same style. There are two major styles of North American couplers in HO, horn-hooks and knuckle couplers. Knuckle couplers can either be plain, or magnetic. Magnetic knuckle couplers allow the operator to use hidden magnets under the track to “automatically” uncouple cars. Some knuckle couples are entirely plastic, so there is no way they would work, and therefore, are not magnetic.
As long as you are not trying to mate horn hooks with knuckle couplers, you should be, for the most part, on the right track.[;)]
there are several different types of couplers out there and sooner or later you’re going to end up with at least 2 styles that don’t work together . what you have to do is decide which ones you like best , buy some extras , and replace the ones that don’t work with them . most people prefer kadee couplers , also known as magnetic because they uncouple when moved in a certain way over a magnet under the track . they look most like real couplers and come in a large assortment of sizes and special configurations so they can be adapted to most cars out there . other companies make couplers that are kadee compatible , some of them are okay , some aren’t of as high quality and can cause problems .
the good news is that almost all passenger and freight cars made in the last few years can be easily converted to kadees .
replacing plastic wheels with metal wheels , replacing couplers with the brand you prefer , and checking coupler height and operation are all parts of the process of getting a new car on your rails
hopefully someone here will give you more exact info , since i don’t own either of those types of cars that’s about as helpful as i can be
Your Kato loco almost certainly comes with a knuckle coupler (Buckeye style)… which will not be a Kadee. As noted above many people like Kadees better than any others. They are good and they work reliably… when set upn right… doesn’t take a lot to get them right.
What you might do is put Kadees on your loco and on each end of your passenger consist. that way anything you want to push/pull the consist with and/or any head or tail end traffic you might want to add - that is also fitted with knuckle couplers - preferably Kadees (others such as McHenry will couple but won’t - necessarily- do the clever tricks {like staying coupled} when mixed with Kadees) - - will couple to both the loco and the passenger cars.
What you couple the cars with within the consist doesn’t really matter so long as it hangs together and you’re happy with it.
The same applies to block trains of coal hoppers or gons and intermodal.
A halfway house is to put Kadees on all the stuff that switches around a lot (where you want the magnetic facility) and cascade any non-magnetic knuckles into the middle of blocks… so long as they are ones that work well.
Horn/hook look and are rubbish… the only reason they survived is that the trade didn’t want to pay Kadee royalties for the years that they held the full patent rights. (I suspect).
as long as the couplers are the look about the same they will work. ex-atlas works with kato. if you get walthers couplers change them!!! the stink
I’ll assume that we are talking HO here?
Did anybody ask?
What if we’re talking N? Or Z, or G?
There are no horn hooks in N. But we do have rapido’s, which aren’t in HO.
I don’t mean to muddy the water here, but this question does need to be answered before we can really go ANY further…right?
I THINK O scale is the big knuckle coupler that had a plate below it for magnetic uncoupler to “work it” as well as a peg on one side for a finger to uncouple manually. I also THINK that O scale has made a few small changes in the last 30 years since I last played with O scale.
I support the other’s responses that:
Kaydees rule. Anything else is simply tolerated until it breaks and is replaced by a Kaydee.
Horn and Hook are the easiest way to get frusterated and want to get out of the hobby.
i am talking about ho scale. thanks everyone, you all have been very helpful…
As an old newbie (built rolling stock kits 25 yrs ago, then put them into a box and never continued with the hobby), I 'm considering replacing horn-hook couplers with Kadee # 5’s. Do I have to buy complete sets or just get the couplers without the draft gear boxes? I realize this doesn’t have to be done now, but it will give me something to do while my train room is being readied - I’m chomping at the bit to get started. This is HO by the way.
jblackwelljr you can get kadee #5 couplers in either a 10pr or 20 pr bulk pack, but if you want your cars to look right you’ll also need to get some packs of #5 draft gear boxes.
it seems everybody also forgot some other important things he’s gonna need-- draft gear shims, kadee truck washers in the various sizes offered by kadee and also a coupler height gauge.
torbian if you are able to get a 2006 walthers ho book kadee lists what couplers they manufacter for different types of cars, that way you will have the right couplers on your passenger cars and locomtives. the #5’s are basically freight car type coupler
hope this helps
tom
Jim,
You probably won’t need the draft gear boxes for most cars. The 20 packs will work fine (they include the metal unit that holds the coupler – it fits in the exisiting slot for most cars). You might want to consider doing a couple of “transistion” cars while you’re in the process of changing over with a horn-hook on one end and a Kadee on the other.