After all these decades, I'd settle for just having the trip pins come from the factory with some sort of black finish.
They look great, I especially like the coupling distance and the air hose is a nice touch. Is that a 100T Barber truck on the reefer?
True. If they ARE compatible with Microtrains Z scale couplers, I would like to know that. I am also still waiting for an answer about how easily they couple when two cars are pushed together by a loco instead of the "giant hand from the sky."
This could be a game changer for those of us who would like a more prototypical look. And this, plus the FVM imminent 53 foot well car, will go a long way toward atoning for the MT 48 foot well car... There needs to be a version to directly replace a molded in box like BLMA cars. Thanks, Joe!
They are not compatible with any other coupler. They are scale size, and can couple automatically. Sometimes the car will just roll back without coupling. I have been using a finger on the roof or a bamboo skewer to hold the car. The lack of the slinky effect is worth the flying fickle finger of fate in my opinion.
Thank You Micro Trains! I wonder what else Micro Trains has up their sleeves... True-Scale coupler molded in a rusty brown color? True-Scale shelf couplers?
Nice I'll be picking up a few packs for sure. Thanks Something like Sargents Couplers in HO, but in N Scale. I repeat nice
Wow, that's a huge improvement in appearance! I will definitely be ordering a bunch of these, at least for anything that won't get coupled and uncoupled a whole lot.
How many of us actually use the magnetic uncoupling feature of the current knuckle couplers? And, if you do, are you really into "ops" or mainly into running? I have found that I really can't get the magnetic feature to work reliably in n scale. And, with just a few actual magnetic uncoupling spots that then require careful pushing of the car to where it actually needs to be spotted, I find that trying to use the magnetic feature usually results in a mind-set of running a model simulation by manipulating non-prototypical aspects of the layout. That is similar to trying to control the speed and direction of multiple locomotives by manipulating track polarity and voltage of the track in multiple blocks - limiting and takes my focus away from the actual operation. So, to me, I FEEL more prototypical using DCC and a bamboo skewer to uncouple cars where they are to be spotted. If I was really 1/160th of my actual size, I would be standing there pulling cut levers instead of using bamboo skewers to uncouple, but I would be there doing something to physically uncouple the cars. I think the difference is that, with magnetic uncoupling, we can make it APPEAR to a BYSTANDER that things are happening on the model without 1:1 human intervention, at least if we can actually make it work, whereas, to a PARTICIPANT in the ops, it FEELS more realistic to use the bamboo skewer. I like the feel, and I like the scale appearance, so I expect I will like these couplers a lot. I just hope it is going to be cheaper to convert than it is to put metal wheels on all my rolling stock.
One question, have they been tested pulling a 100+ car train up a grade and through curves and crossovers? Just wondering what the operational behavior is, and how strong the couplers are? Not trying to rail against them, just wondering how they are behaving operationally through yard ladders etc. All products have their pluses and minuses and I just want to be sure I know them before jumping in. I got burned early on with exploding accumates and I would rather not have to deal with something like that again. With out a centering spring, do these just flop around like Unimates?
I think those are good questions, so I hope we get some authoritative answers. It does look to me like there are integral, springy plastic arms on both coupler halves that are going to keep the assembly centered as well as closed. And, without the "slinky effect", I suspect that these couplers will do well with long trains, especially with respect to not sporatically uncoupling while under way. As for strength, the look at least as robust as the z scale couplers that have proven to be sufficiently strong. I do wonder about those cast plastic springy appendages, though. Will they fatigue and break-off? How quickly might that happen?
