Which Brands of Wagon Allow Easy Coupler Conversion??

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Due to a preference for collecting the older stuff, I have about 80% wagons & locos with horn/hook (HH), couplers & 20% knuckle.

I would like to run mixed coupler consists so want to convert a few wagons to HH one end & knuckle the other to facilitate this.

Which brands make it easy to do that , eg, have screwed on trucks & the current coupler of 1 type can be replaced with 1 of the other type without major plastic surgery??

As I have some spare #5 Kadees, I would prefer to use those to replace an HH as a 1st approach, but would like to be aware of what wagon brands can be used to go the other way.

While I am on the topic, (& I doubt it exists), but has anyone made a coupler that will work with HH & knuckle?

Tanked

2

your best bet is Kadee’s website

http://kadee.com/conv/convpl.htm

you can look up the cars you have rather than getting answers here that may not apply since you haven’t told us exactly what you have

if you still have questions after looking there i’m sure someone will know specific details

ernie

3

Thanks

Very useful site.

A lot of my old HH don’t have easily removable trucks or couplers so I am looking for something with easy truck removal & HH that comes off so can put a Kadee on.

Tanked

4

If you’re collecting mostly older stuff, Kadee #5s or #4s will fit most cars with body-mounted couplers. The #5 coupler will fit most Athearn, Model Die Casting, and Varney, and all Train Miniature and TM of Illinois. The #4 coupler will fit those not included in the “most” categories listed above, such as the earlier Athearn, MDC, and Varney metal cars, plus Authenticast and perhaps a few others. And by “fit”, I mean a drop-in replacement.

Wayne

5

Another option, for cars with talgo (truck mounted) couplers, KD makes trucks with KD’s on them - 1 pair wil convert 2 cars - this would be especially helpful on cars that have something weird on the coupler mounting pockets. My [2c]

6

Many older “train-set” cars can be fitted with Kadees. By “train-set,” I mean brands like Life-Life, Bachmann, and Tyco. Sure, you can get Kadee-equipped trucks, but I’ve found another method. Many times, the car is already at the right height. I like to take advantage of that…and body-mount the Kadee #5 coupler. If the coupler’s not at the right height, you can raise the body a bit using a Kadee red washer on the truck bolster.

7

Another option, for cars with talgo (truck mounted) couplers is to throw the darn things away and body mount the couplers. Talgo couplers are bad and do not operate as well as body mounted ones.

Numerous articles in all the magazines support this argument.