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759 Posts
Am I the only one frustrated by the status of knuckle couplers in the hobby today? In HO scale, there has been a defacto standard coupler for half a century. Same goes for N and even Z, though they haven't been around quite as long.
In G, though, there are two different (but thankfully compatible) Kadees, Aristocraft, USA Trains, Bachmann, Accucraft, and I'm sure there are others that I am not aware of. As far as I can tell, they're not compatible with each other. I don't even know for sure if there's a standard height for the various couplers.
Now, I don't intend to worry too much about the situation, because I plan on using link and pin couplers, standardized at 26" (32.5mm) above the rail head. However, I would like to make some adapters which would allow my locomotives to pull other folks' cars and vice-versa. The concept is simple enough - make a knuckle couple which has a shank that fits the coupler pockets on my rolling stock and holds the coupler at the correct height. The devil is in the details, as usual. Which coupler should I use? What should the height be? Am I going to need an entire set of adapters? I'd thought it would be nice if I could have a single adapter, which I would keep in the toolbox on the tender.
In G, though, there are two different (but thankfully compatible) Kadees, Aristocraft, USA Trains, Bachmann, Accucraft, and I'm sure there are others that I am not aware of. As far as I can tell, they're not compatible with each other. I don't even know for sure if there's a standard height for the various couplers.
Now, I don't intend to worry too much about the situation, because I plan on using link and pin couplers, standardized at 26" (32.5mm) above the rail head. However, I would like to make some adapters which would allow my locomotives to pull other folks' cars and vice-versa. The concept is simple enough - make a knuckle couple which has a shank that fits the coupler pockets on my rolling stock and holds the coupler at the correct height. The devil is in the details, as usual. Which coupler should I use? What should the height be? Am I going to need an entire set of adapters? I'd thought it would be nice if I could have a single adapter, which I would keep in the toolbox on the tender.