So I finally got to give Tyler the engine that I had ordered 2.5 years ago for his 5th birthday. It’s the Lionel #38634 NYC Hudson from the 2007 Vol. 2 catalog. (Old thread about the delay: Well this really sucks!!! ) And it’s deja vu all over again as it has the same problem as Corey’s new engine did last fall. The coupler on the tender is very weak, and releases the trailing car(s) before it’s gone around the layout 3 times. Needless to say Tyler is very disappointed as he absolutely loves the engine otherwise. Is there anything that can be done about this or am I better off taking it back to the train shop that I bought it from? (Since that’s located in NJ I probably won’t be going up that way for a couple of weeks.)
The simplest cure is a black rubber band, I pick them up in the grocery store’s hair care aisle, an orthodontic rubber band lasts longer but they only come in a kinda off white color.
Thanks Doug, I’ll give this a shot tonight.
Shot off an email to the train store last night describing the situation - hopefully they’ll get back to me.
DJ - when you say the coupler is very weak, how many cars are you trying to pull? Is it releasing on a curve, or grade?
Orthodontist’s tiny but strong rubber bands for braces or retainers. Use them all the time on MTH rolling stock as they seem to be prone to “popping” open with a big load of cars behind them. If you can not get them, send me an email. I will send you some as I have “tons” of them. Were almost impossible to get from an Orthodontist office [you would have thought I wanted an atomic bomb]. Then a guy that supplies dentists gave me several bags. Let me know.
Released when pulling only one car, no grade, and on both straight and curved sections of the layout.
I run both HO and O guage and find that couplers in O seem to have this problem a lot. Can anyone shed some light on this and is there a thread or website that would show how to fix these on going problems?
Bruce
Many couplers have the armature pivoted at the same joint as the drawbar. When the coupler joint flexes up and down at vertical irregularities in the track, the pin that holds the knuckle closed can work its way out of the coupler head. Some of these have a pin that is thick enough that you can cut a notch or slot in the side of it to match the part of the knuckle casting that the pin is supposed to immobilize. When the knuckle is under tension, it will lock the pin in place by fitting into the notch and preventing it from being withdrawn. But, when the train is stopped, the coupler can still be opened in the normal way.
I had the same problem but with a K-Line freight car, my fix was to replace the piece(looks like a thumbtack) that has the pull-down to release the coupler, I installed a Lionel piece and it worked properly. The reason here might be that the shaft on the release part is too short(almost a 64th of an inch short), I think that was K-Line’s problem.
Lee F.
By what I read … it’s the Lionel couplers … not the MTH couplers not functioning and releasing when it should’nt . I think Bob it it on the head … [tup]