I have several old (c. 1970) HO rolling stock units that I would like to use in my future layout. I’ve given about 15 of them to my 6 year old for his little bedroom layout and I’m finding it difficult to couple all the different brand cars. Any input on a coupler that fits all or most brands? He also has one each of a Life-like, Bachman, AHM, diesel and a couple 0-6-0 Tyco steam locos.
I’m also looking to get rid of all the plastic wheels and was wondering if there is any metal wheels that would work for all rolling stock units (or at least most of them)?
I am keeping 10 freight and tanker cars for my layout…
Well the “standard” HO coupler is the Kadee and it’s clones. Things were a bit hit-and-miss in the seventies, some cars had coupler boxes that would fit the Kadee coupler and some didn’t. If these are the cheaper entry-level cars they probably have horn hook “talgo” couplers/trucks - the trucks and couplers are all one unit, rather than having the couplers attached to the body of the car. The hornhooks are pretty unreliable and unattractive to boot. If that’s what you have, you can either remove the coupler and coupler box from the truck and tap a hole and attach a Kadee no.5 coupler in it’s own box (comes with the couplers), or Kadee also makes talgo’s with their coupler in place, and I believe they use metal wheelsets.
You mean the “trucks,” I assume. You can do it either way, sometimes. It’s best to replace the trucks, in general, but it also costs more. However, you’ll find that it’s very hard to just replace wheels in some cases, particularly old Tyco Talgo trucks with the couplers attached. These trucks are all-metal, and the frames are pretty stiff so it’s difficult to swap wheels. Also, you have to be sure the old holes for the axles match the wheels you get. I’ve got a number of old cars by Crown, and those axles are cylindrical, not conical, so I have to grind them to fit. I also have some very old Athearn cars (older than yours, even) that I got wheels on to without much trouble, but the cars wouldn’t stay on the tracks and I ended up just replacing the trucks anyway.
Kadee, by the way, makes couplers for just about everything. I use #5’s almost exclusively, but each replacement on a different model old car is an “engineering challenge,” to say the least. The good news is that once they are properly mounted and adjusted for height, they all work together flawlessly.
It sounds like you are planning to do this in stages. The first thing you should pick up is a Kadee coupler height gauge. As another poster pointed out above, there was little consistency in coupler mounting back in the seventies, and for proper compatability and reliability, the couplers need to be mounted at the proper height and trip pin clearance. The gauge is only $4.00 and comes with instructions for proper use, even if you decide to use another brand of knuckle coupler. Kadee also markets offset head couplers and several types of shims to adjust the coupler to the proper height.
The choice of whether to use the talgo mount or cut it off and body mount the couplers should be based on your layout’s minimum radius and your skill level in being able to do this. Kadee also makes adaptors to install their couplers in the common talgo trucks, such as Tyco and Life Like, making the changeover easier. Their 20 Series couplers come with this adaptor and instructions, and the adaptors are available separately. Later, you can change them to body mount if your minimum radius and skill level permits.
One of the things I’ve noticed with the plastic wheels, especially around the time you’re talking about, is that several of the man
Sounds like I have some fun ahead of me. I have several different types of ‘trucks’ (thanks for that…I was trying to think of the word with a 6 year old and 16 year old having their typical debate behind me), some with screws, some that just snap in.
Might be best for me to just let the 6 year old use all of my old existing rolling stock on his little 42" x 72" table w/ Power-Loc track and for me to just get new rolling stock from the same vendor…
I have read on other threads about magnetic couplers…are they the most used out there and does Kadee make those too?
Magnetic couplers refers to the ability to open the coupler (pair) by passing over a magnetic field and allowing slack in the train. Most (all ???) Kadees and many other brands can do this. Magnets can be either the specialty ones sold for trains or simple 3/8" diameter “super magnets” sold on the web. Embed one under each rail and you’re in business. Electro-magnets work too.
Look for ‘delayed uncoupling’ and you can’t go wrong with Kadee. You can make a transition car with the old horn hook on one end and a kadee on the other to to keeps the trains rolling while you are converting.
I’ve have slowly been replacing the trucks and couplers on my old cars from the late 60’s and 70’s. I am using the trucks that have the coupler box attached to them (Kadee # 502). On the original snap in type trucks, I glued a small plastic tube in the snap in hole so I would have something to hold a screw. (I can post a picture if your interested)
The link below has a picture of the trucks I’m using. http://www.kadee.com/htmbord/page100.htm
On my old rtr Tyco, AHM, etc. I body mounted Kadee #5s & replaced the wheelsets with 33" metal wheels from Intermountain. They fit almost perfectly On my Bachman I did as was suggested earlier and glued a small diameter piece of tubing in the hole that would hold a 2-56 machine screw. I had a couple of tank cars with no end frame to mount the draft gear to. On these I opted to use knuckle couplers mounted on sprung trucks “talgo” style. Tweet.
I did pretty much the same thing to my Tyco rolling stock–body mounting couplers on their boxcars is pretty easy. The only problem I’d sometimes run into…are cars with full-length metal weights. The easy way around that problem, is to glue the weight to the floor, and then use a Dremel to drill a hole through both pieces. Tap the hole 2-56, screw the coupler box on, and you’re done.
Swapping out the wheelsets was pretty easy too. In most cases, I didn’t bother replacing the trucks–I installed metal wheelsets and made sure the bearings were reamed out.
Putting Kadees on Athearn tank cars takes a bit of surgery. Don’t bother trying to use the stock coupler arrangement. Cut the boxes off the lower frame and subsitute the Kadee box. It should come out at the right height–if not, Kadee washers above the trucks (or filing down the upper frame) will adjust the height. Use the shortest 2-56 screw you can find to hold the box on–if the end is visible, a dab of black paint will fix that.
Does anyone know where the best place is to get kadee couplers and metal trucks?
Also, In posts above, a small plastic tube was inserted into the hole to allow for a 2/54 screw. Where could I get this tubing? Any size or description information I could use? I’m wondering if I could find it on McMaster-Carr, but not sure what to call it or what size to get…
I have several different types of ‘trucks’ (thanks for that…I was trying to think of the word with a 6 year old and 16 year old having their typical debate behind me), some with screws, some that just snap in.