Hi!
Perhaps an “add” to the list is allowing anyone else to run your trains…
At our club, members bring their own trains to run. When you see the person opening the RTR box car he bought on the way to the club you know it will have problems. Trip pins too low, couplers that do not work properly, trucks that are too tight and so on. These guys will fool with this car after several derails and tie ups for hours before taking it off the rails. Not following the rule to inspect your equipment before an op-session is just as troubling as not returning turnouts to normal position in my book.
Pete
Pete,That will depend on the manufacturer…90% of my RTR cars as been spot on as far as coupler and trip pin heights…Too date 100% of the metal wheels has been in gauge(lucky).
The cheap plastic KD wanna bes gets replace while the Walthers Protomax 2 stays since its a all metal coupler with knuckle spring.
Also if your running a short test train the Accumates and Athearn’s McHenry scale coupler will work and will fail on longer and heavier trains in a matter of a few minutes or at least that’s been my experience with the plastic wanna bes.
WORD