I buy a lot of cars off Ebay, and so have several different knuckle couplers. Much to my chagrin, they are not all compatible with each other. Is my only option to change them out to the same couplers? What a nightmare. If I *ever* do decide to do that, which couplers should I go with? MTL just because they have the largest selection of mounts and trucks? I prefer Rapido for their simplicity and reliability, and have made several transition cars. But I've even had problems with them, especially with body mounted vs. truck mounted, and bad springs. Can Rapido springs be purchased separately?
I would and have standardized on Micro Trains couplers. Overall, they are still the best. I started converting as soon as they were on the market in 1968. As you discovered, Rapidos aren't as reliable as they have always been made out to be. Admittedly, however, that is due to poor manufacturing with many of them poorly formed or the action not precise enough. The original Rapido or Atlas (RoCo) cars were great but others not so much. Doug
MTs and Accumates work well with each other. And both work with Kato couplers but a few people have had bad luck with that combo - I don't. MT's new True Scale Coupler I've heard only work with themselves. I don't own any myself. And the stationary Unimates also only work with themselves although I've never tried to hook them up to MTs or Accumates manually (pick the car up and "slide" the coupler in from the top).
Unimates stay coupled well with MT's but, as you say, you have to lift the car and drop the coupler in. I hate doing that, especially as age make me a bit shakier. And those multi-ton cars are tough to lift. Doug
I experienced similar coupling problems as Rapido couplers were almost standard with most manufacturers in the earlier years. I agree with Doug's advice. I progressively changed to Micro Trains couplers. I know this could be slightly expensive but having standardized coupling will save lots of headaches. Buying bulk packs will ease the cost. Cheers
Agreed. Con-Cor's Rapido couplers on rolling stock were often chunky and wouldn't easily drop in place.
I also converted to MT's on my rolling stock. Never used Accumates as other people reported having trouble with Accumates on train lengths of 20-25 cars or over. I run NTrak so trains of 40+ cars are not unusual and false uncouplings are a real pain. But they may be a cheaper remedy for you if you do not plan on running long trains. The Unimates I use for engine consists that I don't intend to separate. They do a great job and they close up the coupling distance between units.
Converted all my cars to MTL's as soon as I get a new car. I use McHenry's for engines where a MTL is difficult (if not impossible) to install. They fit perfectly in a Bachmann coupler pocket. Fred
