Not sure where I said I "don't like body mounted couplers." I did suggest that they might not be necessary for reliable operation, but that certainly isn't saying I don't like them. They're fine with me provided that they don't result in non-prototypical spacing between equipment (e.g. IMR F units).
Whew, guys! Regarding the original post's question... I convert any new cars to MTL trucks-with-couplers and have been doing so for 25 years. No problems at all, except in one case: coupling an engine (with body-mounted coupler) to a car (with truck-mounted) on a curve, the body-mount swings to the outside farther than the truck-mount. I regularly back up 20+-car trains and they don't derail. I don't add weights to cars either. It's a mystery to me why some posters experience problems with truck-mounts and others don't. Same with insistence on metal wheels. It may be something like the brand of track or flatness of the track installation that causes issues. I use ME c55 flex. The flex has zero slop, hard to get the track to go out-of-gauge except maybe at soldered joints on curves where the ties might melt and lose their grip on the rail. Atlas c80 OTOH has plenty of wiggle on one rail and can go out-of-gauge pretty easily. At any rate, I've been happy with my choice and will continue to convert any new cars to MTL trucks-with-couplers. I would really dread having to spend the time needed to install body-mounts on 100+ cars.
Wow, that escalated quickly. To the OP: Amanda, I do prefer body mount coupler for switching. I like how they look and handle. I have large curves (22”-36”) and I only have about 65% of my fleet body mounted. I lower cars and add crossover platforms to hide the fact some of the cars still have truck mounted couplers. Once they are in a train, you are hard pressed to tell which ones are which. That being said, I operate on a good friends layout. He is predominantly truck mounted couplers. As part of the ops we have to back 40+ car trains around a 12” curve into the yards. There aren’t any problems with the couplers. I think the important thing is to experiment and find what works best for you on your layout. Once you find your formula, let us know!
Take all that time and effort to do body mounts and focus on getting your track really good, because if you make sure the frog and back-to-back turnout dimensions aren't too sloppy, and the points seat to the stock rail and are sharp, the whole problem about 'backing cars with truck mounts' really doesn't exist. I back 30+ car trains regularly, no issues. If you've got issues on points & frogs, yeah, you're going to derail truck mounts backing through switches, it will happen. And, if appearance bugs you, focus on lowering the trucks as way, way too many car ride too high. Bigger impact on appearance than changing to body mounts. I've lowered every MT flat, gondola, and most boxcars I own. I have 13" and 15" main line curves, 30 car trains. What nobody seems to be saying is that if you're using magnetic uncoupling instead of pick sticks, truck mounts do a far better job of keeping the vertical and horizontal alignment of the coupler to the track centerline for precise coupling and uncoupling. I also have a couple really sharp industrial spurs on 9 3/4 and those still work there. I have lots of cars with bodymounts now, and for the most part, no issues with mixing the two, no need to promote or ban either. The only complete fail was an 89' Atlas TTX flat with short-shank bodymounts that simply didn't have enough coupler shank sideswing and stringlined an entire train regularly. MT flats bulletproof on performance by comparison. I've been converting my old Rivarossi heavyweight passenger cars to bodymounts more so that I had proper vestibule steps, and anyway, that doesn't work to mix old Rivarossi's with new MT's on 11" curves, nope! I'm also one of those guys that tried low-pro MT wheels and panned them, but have no real issue with most of the other metal wheels as long as the tread is wide enough. Opinions expressed from experience on testing, not repeating what I've read elsewhere.
Even more replies! Thanks much guys. I will probably body mount anything which comes with couplers other than MTs, as it's cheaper than buying complete MT trucks, but the cars which come with MTs, I will just leave alone. I'd much rather spend that time and effort on things like scratchbuilding structures or locos, or as has been said, getting my turnouts perfect.
My sincere apologies to NorsemanJack and Inkineer. I read too much into what they wrote and I'm a man enough to say I'm wrong and sorry. In the end, it is your railroad. Do what works for you. In the past based on my experience, in my sliver of the modeling world, body mount worked for me. The only limitation was the human one, specifically with my eyes. Carry on and learn WM183. And again, sorry NorsemanJack and Inkineer.
