Is anyone using Sergeant Couplers? I've seen a photo of them and they look more to HO scale than Kadee. I'm wondering if they are as good as they look, and if they are compatible with Kadee's? And, how much do they cost?
WHen I was considering moving to S Scale, I looked at them. Thought they were very nice appearing and would have definitely given them a try. If an HO version is anything similar, I must believe they are well worth testing.
They look pretty good, and Operation isn’t that bad either. I have seen a few videos on them, but I don’t have any. They lock shut when a marble falls in place inside, so you need their magnet want tool to open them up: no uncoupling ramps here. They don’t connect to regular knuckle couplers, so you would need to change all of your cars. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
I currently have Sergent couplers on about 60% of my equipment. I love how they look and they function prototypically. I assembled over 300 by hand, had a total of 12 failures (too much glue, too little glue). A friend of mine also uses Sergents exclusively, but his layout is designed to "run" and involve very little switching. My layout is opposite, there is a decent length of run, but a lot of switching, which I enjoy. To be honest, I don't think Sergents were the best choice for me. Sometimes they won't couple or uncouple (but the knuckle will open and close by hand), and making a coupling at 20 scale mph so the doggone ball will drop is a kill joy. I am reasonably confident that I assembled all of mine correctly and even reamed out the holes the ball rests in to help performance (which worked). But I cannot get the performance out of them that I need. Not a criticism of Sergent Engineering, I think it is a wonderful product, but not for a switching layout. A 200-pair pack of Kadee 158's sounds pretty good these days. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Thank you, Pat. That's the sort of information I have been looking for. I guess I'll just stay with the trusty Kadee's. But I'll probably use Sergeant on my static display units. Have a great Thanksgiving.
