I was wondering what the good folks on The Gauge use for couplers. I am not sure if this is the appropriate area for this post, as I was going to do a photo comparison, only to find my camera needs recharging. I wanted to show the Kadee scale #58 coupler next to some of the other knuckle couplers on the market. My point being is that it is amazing the difference they make in photos {especially when lightly painted a rust/brown color}, almost making other knuckle couplers look "horn hookish". Hmm..hope I dont ruffle any feathers with this, it's just that they make THAT big of a difference. It is understandable that some with larger layouts may not prefer to switch over all at once considering the initial cost output, but rather those with smaller layouts, or just starting out might want to consider this as an option. One other thing, they seem to work just fine with the other knuckle couplers on the market. I am still amazed after purchasing a fine kit, the additition of the #58's make...it still wows me every time. Like I said, I wanted to do a photo comparison {and will}, but the camera wasnt up to it tonight. However, I am interested to see what others think about these couplers. {hehe...no, I do NOT work for Kadee]. Stuart.
scale couplers...
- Thread starter Art67
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L
lester perry
I have one set of scale Kadees used on the front of steam. I think I am going to use them there and on cabooses. That is the only place you can really see it in my opinion. Except in yards & droppped cars which I can deal with.
Les
Les
N
nachoman
I belong to a modular club, and hope to build a switching layout at home once my daughters move away. I expect to have a spare room in the next year or two. On the modular layout I model Santa Fe in the 50's, and because of the variances that seem to occur at train show set ups, and dips that develop after running a day or two, I will stick to #5 Kaddee's for the trains I run on the club layout. When I build my home switching layout, it will be an "L" shaped 7' x 9' permanately mounted to the top of a book shelf unit. I will be modeling the Los Angeles Junction (LAJ) in the 1990's to recent times. I will run a Cf-7, no lng locomotive for me. I have some #58 Kaddees, and will try them out. If they work well on the home layout, all of my modern equipment will get #58's.
I have to agree that the 58s look more to scale than the 5s and I do have a few. However, I'm barely over the experience, many years ago, of having to change all my mechanically operated Kadees over to the magnetic ones. If I was going to change couplers again, I'd definitely look at the ones from Sergent Engineering: prototype appearance and scale size, although only manual uncoupling. Anybody have any experience with them? Their ad in RMC offers five couplers in kit form for $6.00: I'm not sure if they mean five pair or really only enough for 2 1/2 cars.
Wayne
Wayne
Our LHS hadn't heard of the sergent couplers 'til I showed them the ad. They were going to check.
I have a caboose with the Kadee old-timer couplings on it (HOn3 with a longer trip pin) and anything else looks gross beside them. The work with the standards, but I wouldn't want to load a long train on them.
I'm starting to put the 58 scale couplings on cabeese.
I have a caboose with the Kadee old-timer couplings on it (HOn3 with a longer trip pin) and anything else looks gross beside them. The work with the standards, but I wouldn't want to load a long train on them.
I'm starting to put the 58 scale couplings on cabeese.
Hello again, I too am interested in the Sergent Engineering couplers as well, and have been eagerly awaiting a review in one of the magazines. The companys website gives way better photos than the magazine ads that I have seen from them. One drawback{as docterwayne has pointed out] is that they are only mechanical operated. On shelf type layouts, that doesnt seem to pose too much of a problem, although I am hoping that a reliable review will emerge in the near future. The Mchenry scale shelf couplers look nice as well. Tankers should have shelf couplers for safety reasons. The only concern I have with the Mchenry couplers is less than satisfying results in the past from their regular knuckle couplers. {less than satisfying is an understatement}. Their new "scale" size couplers do, in my opinion, at least look nice. Since I am working on a smaller shelf type layout, these kind of things{scale appearence} let me get a bit more modeling satisfaction on a layout my size. The Proto:87 idea intrigues me as well, as the new semi scale wheelsets look amazing, I however am afraid my track laying skills {or lack thereof} might come to light. My layout is heavily influenced by John H. Wright, and his Federal Street yard layout, his website is a must see in my opinion. Anyhow, hope to hear more feed back on this topic. Stuart.
That link doesn't seem to work. Try http://home.freeuk.net/nmrabr
Hmm. That one works, but it doesn't show anything about the Federal Street layout. For any of you older, like me, gotta-see-it on-paper types, I copied the link from an article in the May 2003 issue of Model Railroader, which shows several excellent views of this very well done layout.
By the way Stuart, I was under the impression that the Sergent couplers were magnetically operated, but with a hand-held tool, rather than automatically, like Kadees
Wayne
Hmm. That one works, but it doesn't show anything about the Federal Street layout. For any of you older, like me, gotta-see-it on-paper types, I copied the link from an article in the May 2003 issue of Model Railroader, which shows several excellent views of this very well done layout.
By the way Stuart, I was under the impression that the Sergent couplers were magnetically operated, but with a hand-held tool, rather than automatically, like Kadees
Wayne
Here is that link to the federal street yard layout. I dont know how to post links on this forum yet, but if you type it in google it comes up. CLick on the federal street yard for some amazing HO scale modeling shots by John H. Wright. http://www.xclent.freeuk.com/