Interesting discussion of 4-wheel versus 6-wheel trucks on prototype passenger cars.
I plan to replace all trucks and couplers on my HO pullman cars (bought cheap at train shows). Walthers makes 4-wheel trucks with couplers but no 6-wheel trucks with couplers.
Are BODY-mounted couplers better for pax cars? I thought the overhang on tight curves would be bad, not to mention pushing instead of pulling long cars.
Body mounted couplers are better for ALL cars, freight and passenger.
It’s “talgo” trucks (trucks with attached coupler assembly) that cause problems, especially backing up. Talgo trucks will allow you to run long passenger cars around 18"R curves, but if your curves are larger (say 24"R or more), I would stick with body-mounted couplers. (Body mounting longer shank couplers can sometimes help around tight curves.)
If you really decide to go with talgo trucks, Athearn heavyweight cars some with six-axle talgo trucks. The old AHM/Rivarossi heavyweights do too. You can often pick up old Athearn or AHM cars at RR flea markets for $10-20.
I don’t agree; body mounted couplers, in my experience, suck entirely. But I need to use tight curves, which is part of why.
Thank you! Maybe this explains why Walthers do not have 6-wheel trucks with couplers (no Talgo). Like many MRRs I try to get the maximum radius curves that space allows. All my freight cars already have body-mounted so I’ll standardize.