I installed two MT Bettendorf trucks on an old box car I had. I also installed Z body mount couplers. They look real close to the end of the car. I ran it hooked up to other cars with both MT's and Accumates. There is enough clearance, car to car, but I wonder if there is a "standard" as to how far from the end of a car the coupler (without housing) should actually commence.
Mark: With the MT Z scale #905 you will get close coupling which BTW isn't a bad scenario. Most of the N scale coupling has too much space between cars. Stay cool and run steam......
Mark, I'm not up on this any longer. I'm as puzzled by coupling distances between cars as I am by different wheelset/truck/kingpin variations. I think there is no standard in N scale. I strive to adjust my body-mounted couplers so that they will go around my radius curves without the bodies colliding or the trucks getting derailed. This is a detailed-oriented and labor-intensive effort. I'm not good at those kind of efforts. From memory--always declining here--I know that our couplings are usually too far apart from the prototype. How much far depends on our minimum radius curves. IIRC, you have 9-3/4 inch radius curves. Theoretically, that means you should have spacing between your cars greater than people with 18-inch curves. To truly determine minimum spacing requires a lot of trial-and error. With body-mounts you can adjust the spacing by moving them back and forth. But each car behaves differently. So I think we settle on a safe standard for spacing, probably on the generous side. To me, it's a horrendously complex question that I haven't taken up yet--and may never do so.
Pete- I clears the 9 3/4" without any problem, so I guess the closer the better unless it starts shearing off parts of the ends of the cars. Bob- Visually, it is pleasing to the eye.
