I’m modernizing my locos & freight cars (finally!) by replacing the old horn couplers with new Kadee-style magnetic knuckle couplers. Any recommendations on where to start? The couplers aren’t all mounted the same way on my freight cars (mostly Athearn & Atlas brands). Kadee has so many different varieties of couplers to order. Is there a kit that is compatible with all of my locos & freight both old and new, or do I need to order a different style for each individual design?
Almost all feight cars will work with the Kadee #5 its resonably priced and contains everything you need.
First there is nothing new about Kadee. They existed before I was born. They are so old their patents have expired. [;)]
First and formost, buy a Kadee coupler height gauge. It will be the most valuable tool for converting any fleet. http://www.kadee.com/htmbord/page120.htm
Then I am NOT in the Kadee #5 for everything camp. I too could figure out how to use a Kadee #5 in every situation, in fact we used to have to before there was the great selection available today. But why work like mad making modifications, cuts, filing, shims, etc. to force a #5 to fit when there are drop in replacements. The Kadee #5 will be great for the Athearn blue box freight car kits. You will probably need to add a Kadee red washer to each bolster to get the hooks high enough. I am unfamiliar with the Atlas (really old Atlas were actually Athearn rebranded), but on the Kadee web site there is a “conversion” list that states exactly which coupler is needed for which application. http://www.kadee.com/conv/holist.pdf
You might also find you like the new “whisker” line ( 1xx series ) instead of the old ones with the brass springs (#5, #58, #4x series), or the finger springs (#20, #30 series - one of my favorite because of the shortness and flexibility of the mounting box).
Personally, I have a box where I keep two packages of every Kadee type just so I don’t have to go running to the store when I want to “convert” something. I also bu
Traindog - A lot depends on the age of your locos and rolling stock. You’ll find the Kadee conversion charts helpful, but only going back so far. My old relics go back to the 1960’s, and typically are “off the charts” as far as coupler conversions go. The one exception is the old Athearn blue-boxes, which I just dropped #5’s into.
I’ve learned how to put Kadees on all sorts of cars. In a lot of cases, I’ve ended up cutting off the old mountings completely, and drilling and tapping a hole to attach a Kadee “draft gear box.” Those little boxes, simple plastic housings that Kadee sells for a very reasonable price, provide a perfect mount for new couplers.
One thing to be careful of is mounting Kadees on your metal-framed engines, and even some rolling stock. Unlike horn-hooks, most Kadee couplers are all-metal, so they conduct electricity. Therefore, they must be isolated from the frame if the frame is electrically connected to the tracks. Once again, those little plastic draft gear boxes make sure this is the case. Kadee does make some plastic-shank couplers for those special applications where adding a draft gear box is impractical.
Oh, and there are other brands of couplers on the shelves besides Kadees. My advice is to leave them on the shelves. Kadee is the way to go.
My 2 cents is go with the whisker couplers, as TexZeph mentioned, these are the 100 series(148 is the whisker version of the #5, the 158 of the #58, 153 & 156 are short and long shanks respectively). The whisker springs to me are a lot easier to work with than the centering springs(I’ve had to use them for my 30 series loco conversions). My guess is they may end up being more reliable, re: longevity than the centering springs, but time will tell on that. As said above, would buy the 10 packs to save $$, particularly with the whiskers which are a little pricier.
Jim
I’m not sure the word you want is “modernizing” but rather “updating” and I’m at that point myself. I am currently without a layout and will be for a few years until I can get some things squared away and I am going to use this “breathing space” to get a few things done in regards to my locomotive and rolling stock fleet. Painting in my house road is one item on the agenda; converting couplers on my equipment is another.
My HO-Scale catalog is locked away at this particular moment so I can’t check the availability myself but Kadee used to offer a sampling of all their (HO) couplers which you could “test fit” on a particular piece of equipment. I have one of these “kits” stuck away in a drawer someplace; most of the envelopes are still sealed but I did find this “kit” of some value in determining which coupler fit - and looked - best on a particular piece of equipment.
It has always been one of my goals to body-mount all of my couplers and - until I can get back to layout building - I am going to work on that by updating my N-Scale rolling stock fleet with Z-Scale couplers. I test fitted one car this way awhile back and it added a dramatic sense of realism to that car; Model Railroader had a feature on this very thing just an issue or two back. The task of doing this looked daunting when I first considered it
Z scale couplers for N scale trains look more realistic but are not very reliable. They are known to uncouple in curves, especially on grades, and they are not as strong as N scale couplers, especially if you run very long trains.
I’ve only tried the HOn3 size for HO, and the N couplers for HOn3. They work, and look very, very good especially for my late 19th century rolling stock. The original prototype knuckle couplers were smaller than present day, too.
The drawbacks are:
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less lateral swing, which means larger minimum radius
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shorter shank length, which although more prototypical, again means larger minimum radius
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and the real “gotcha” is the smaller vertical gathering range. The smaller couplers are much more sensitive to vertical irregularities in the track. The smaller couplers are guaranteed to find any vertical transition curves which aren’t smooth or long enough - there’s nothing like seeing half your train on an uncontrolled descent down a 5% grade to stress your heart!
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and you often have to make up as subsitute trip wire to mount the small coupler at the higher than intended height if you are going to use magnetic uncoupling.
In HO, if you are looking for scale size and appearing modern couplers,
Here are two articles that may help to explain the process at http://cid.railfan.net/tips.html