Hi! Three of us spent yesterday running at the SDSoNS layout in Balboa Park, and we had a fun day with Accumate couplers. My friend Hans just got a very nice string of 34 Atlas black tank cars to run as a unit train, equipped with Accumate couplers. The first sign of problems was when the last third of his train uncoupled in the Gorge, just outside the tunnel, downhill of the big Goat Canyon trestle. I didn't notice it, so the train went on. Tap tap on the window, "Hey Mister, you know your train uncoupled?" Grrr, sure enough, I retrieved the cars, rerailed the first car, and pulled them down to Coyote Wells with the engines off another train. Bzzz! The telephone goes off. Seems the train has uncoupled again, this time on the other side of the layout (80 feet away). "Hey Hans, go check out your train!" A half hour goes by, and my D&RGW Yampa Valley Mail (lost in the mountains of San Diego) running uphill stops suddenly just as the first F Unit gets on the high bridge. Oh great, two derails in the same place, do we have a broken rail on the hand laid code 40 inside the tunnel? So, I go crawling up the canyon, terrified I will fall on the three foot long, irreplaceable trestle. Hmmm, the two engines and the first car of the train are derailed, but the cars are stuck and won't roll! Lift one up, still stuck. Next one, that's better. What's it stuck on? An Accumate trip pin! "Hey Hans, lookee what I found!" Sure enough, over on the other side of the layout, Richard checks out Han's train, which has been pulled into the National City Yard for inspection. There are now 8 missing pins! Aha! Accumates strike again. These are new cars, so enough with the PR that the new couplers are "fixed". A bit later, Hans wanders by with a handful of trip pins. "I expected to have to use a pair of pliers, but I just sneezed on these and they fell out!" Well, the cars ran the rest of the day without the trip pins. He's going to replace all the trucks just as soon as he can. There's another $100 to spend fixing up his unit train! We left word to roll the magnetic track cleaner car around the layout, since those other 7 pins are somewhere! Cue the Jaws music!
Ah, sounds all too familiar! I was showing off my layout Friday to a friend I haven't had to the house for about five years. The layout's been running very well lately--except for Accumates. I was running a 40-car train up the ruling grade past the Cape Cod bridge when--ca-chunk!--trip pin drops from about the fifth car, derailing it and uncoupling the rest of the train. Leaving 35 cars to race downhill, accelerating to lightspeed. "Watch this crash!" I remarked, as every runaway has derailled on the switches before the bridge. I guess my detailing work is paying off. The 35 cars sailed through the switches, across the bridge, and back into the yard. Only a few hundred replacements to go . . .
Pete: I no longer have any accumates to worry about on the JJJ&E. There are no more "runaways" from errant accumates. Stay cool and run steam.....
Thats a real shame. I know we shouldn't have to, but, would it help to put a drop of some kind of glue on the top of the pin to hold it in place? Or would this not help?
Jerry: That would cause the coupler to be inoperable as the glue would seep into the coupler mechanism. Stay cool and run steam.....
Actually the trip pin on an Accumate does not travel thru the coupler like on a MTL so a drop of med or thick ACC should solve the problem w/o affecting the rest of the coupler. I guess there is a place for everybody's preference in this hobby. We have a customer who has done that since day one on his Accumates and claims to have never lost a single pin nor affected the operation of the coupler. He even swaps out MTL trucks for Atlas with Accumate couplers. Go figure.
You know, if you don't use magnets, you don't need the pins anyway. Our club uses bamboo skewers to uncouple, so I've trimmed off all of my pins. Not many derailments either. Kel
George: I have to try that on some of the remaining spare accumate couplers that are attached to trucks in my accumate coupler parts box. I'd like to test it out.. and see how it works. Thanks... Stay cool and run steam.....
Same here. Useless, so trimmed off. Car appearance is also improved! I use the Rix uncoupling picks. Boxcab E50
Boxcab RIX Uncoupling picks? What do they look like? How do they work? Sounds like a solution to my problem.
They are small, plastic tools with a spade end to them that lets them uncouple cars. I ususally use the MicroMark uncoupling tool, which also works great. Kel
Owen, as Kel has pointed out but with a flat pointed end not unlike a spear, if you will. It is placed between the coupler knuckles and a slight gentle twist will open the coupler. Takes a little practice and a steady hand, though. Mind, same can be done with those small 6" BBQ skewers too.
Owen- I bought mine years ago. I just looked on their web site. No picture shown. But item is still listed. #628-0024 $2.99. Mine were in a two-pack. Rix Boxcab E50
I use toothpicks.. Can the pins be pulled out sans damage to the couplers? I can just pull out all the pins, and that should reduce the troubles, methinks. What about the mysterious coupler explosions that earlier Accumates had issues with?
Hey Tony, have Hans contact me with all those Accumates he wants to dump! On my long mainline trains I've also switched to MT, but for my industrial switching layout, nothing works like Accumates! With Bamboo skewers, with or without trip pins... and without any slinky effect!
According to a post on the A-board, you can eliminate the slinky effect in MT couplers by removing the spring and filling the space occupied by the spring with a small piece of foam. I've never tried this, but I might test it out. Stay cool and run steam.....
What is the difference between Accumate and MTL couplers? I am still in the Rapido stage and really getting frustrated with them. I'm ready to upgrade to something easier and more realistic. I don't think I want to do these magnet deals, manual uncoupling is okay with me (I think).
MT couplers are a two piece knuckle, held together by the trip pin. Accumates are one piece. Boxcab E50
