I'm new to the hobby and have been trying to search for the many topics of things I don't understand. I've read quite a few posts about trucks and couplers. I understand what a truck is, and what a coupler is, but I'm very confused about how you guys go about things. Lets say for example a guy has 24 atlas cars. Lets say he doesn't like accu-mates. Now would someone in that situation that wanted MT couplers put MT couplers on the Atlas trucks, or is it a situation where you buy the MT truck and it has the MT coupler on it? Or are there several ways to go about it? Thanks, Bill H.
1st. Accumates refer to only the couplers. If you would like to exchange out your atlas truck w/ accumate couplers, you can do a couple things. 1. Buy Mico-Trains (or whom ever) trucks w/ couplers and replace the the Atlas trucks that have the Accumates couplers. 2. Clip off the Accumate coupler from the Atlas truck and mount a Micro-Trains (or whom ever) coupler to the body of the car. Personally, I replace all couplers with Micro-trains Z scale couplers but generally keep whatever trucks that came with the car if the mold is good. Jason
I usually replace all of my Accumate couplers with Micro Trains couplers. Whenever I can install it, I prefer body mount coupler. That means on boxcars I cut the Accumate coupler from the truck and I install a 1015 MT coupler after I drilled a proper hole in the car's frame. The 1015 worked great on a lot of cars like boxcars, reefers, gondolas, etc. For hoppers, tanks and such I completely replace the trucks by using MT trucks with couplers.
Thanks. I'm not sure if body mounting couplers would be a good idea for me because I'm not sure how big of a layout I'm going to be able to go with. Don't you have to have a certain size minimum radius to be able to use the body mount couplers?
"Don't you have to have a certain size minimum radius to be able to use the body mount couplers?" That would be something you should just test for yourself if you can. The conventional wisdom would probably be yes, but there are other factors that come into play. One of which is the coupling distance. Most Atlas cars with Accumates are spaced a country mile apart. If your body mounts were this far apart you would probably experience some issues with smaller radii or back up moves through turnouts and such. But one of reasons to go to body mount couplers is to crete a closer coupling distance which will off-set some of the issue that small radius curves present. Another thing you may want to if you go to body mounts is make sure your cars are properly weighted. Between the coupling distance and weighting the cars properly, I don't think you will have a problem with cars that are 40' or smaller. Of course with the McHenry couplers coming out, you might just be able to replace the Accumates on the truck with another knuckle coupler. I don't remember off hand if this is supposed to be possible. Jason
Other than Rapido couplers, most couplers are pretty much the same if you have a small layout. Yes....there are minor differences between manufacturers, but for a new modeler, I think you should concentrate on having a non-Rapido set of cars and engines. After that, the minor differences between the coupler types will become a factor. You are a new modeler....but a modeler who has taken to this like a duck to water....that part is good, but remember, in this hobby like others, sometimes KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) is the best policy. If you have a large layout....like 20 feet by 20 feet or you are building a swither yard, then the differences of non-Rapido couplers WILL make a difference. But, until then, you efforts are better spent on wiring things correctly, and improving your landscaping skills. Just my 2 cents. And I really do mean that compliment about your ability in the hobby. You have displayed a remarkable ability at such a new endeavor.
Just while we're on this topic, how compatible are the different couplers? Like if I had a mix of Atlas, Kato and Lifelike locos, and a mix of atlas and microtrains rolling stock, would I be needing to replace the couplers so everything was using the same brand coupler, or will an Accumate couple to a microtrains coupler? [appologies if this is a stupid question, I haven't even started buying rolling stock yet as my first layout is still in the planning stages...]
I'm new as well and I'm finding that accumates, MT and Kato are very compatible for going round in circles. The layout I'm designing will have a switching yard, so tune in........
Rapido - Burn them all. I grew up with those couplers and hate them, I even replaced them with MT on my old european rolling stock. Totally crap, unless you accept the visual awfulness and you just want to run trains with no switching. Accumate, McHenry, MicroTrains - Are supposed to work together both for switching and running. I would use only one brand for best compatibility, though. Kato - Good if you just want to run trains and they look pretty much like the real (well, definitely better that Rapido). Not for switching. As for body mount couplers, I'm using them on 40', 50', 89' cars and they don't have any problem on #5 and #7 turnouts, and they run smooth on my sharpest curve which is 15" (radius), of course at prototypical speed
One of the things I learned in this hobby is that things work best when every thing is uniform. When you start mixing things together the usual result is that things operate at less than optimum. Therefore I would suggest that whatever coupler/truck you decide upon to go with it universally. For me that was MT. Sure, they are more expensive but the old addage that you get what you pay for still applies and going cheap can get expensive in the long run. Yeah, I went that route once.
i agree. go all the same. i have changed to MT. and i have not had any problems. like said they are more expensive, but i would rather pay more than later.
That's exactly how I'm looking at it. The small door sized layout I will have now does not necessarily dictate I change couplers and/or trucks right now to do what I'm doing but I'm in this for the long haul and it's a lot easier to change over the cars as I buy them now since I only have 10 or 12 versus once I have hundereds to change over later. I don't plan on staying with this small layout, it's just to get me started with some chance of success.
