The MT couplers also utilize a small spring which causes a "slinky effect" when looking at the back of the train. There are no springs in accumates. The MT couplers are more reliable than the accumates which have a tendency to uncouple on grades and with heavy loads( long strings of cars). You can get closer spacing of cars with short shanked MT couplers than with accumates. Both couplers have a strong following. I only use the MT couplers and will switch any cars with accumates over to the MT coupler. Stay cool and run steam.....
I haven't had the derailment trouble with accumates, but I have found that they are oftentimes very difficult to couple. When switching I have to just about slam the cars together to get them to couple. This is rarely the case for me with MT couplers.
FiveFlat, On the majority of rolling stock it is just a matter of replacing the trucks with MT trucks with coupler shank size of choice. Truly simple. Locomotives can vary....I have only done two so far. Most of my Katos still have the Kato knuckle couplers and I still have a few locos with rapidos. Of course most of my Atlas locos have acumates.....those will be replaced.
The Accumate trip pins seem to come loose in shipping; I've seen large display cases full of cars in boxes and a couple always had a dropped trip pin. Plus I have bought Accumate-equipped cars and run them right out of the box only to occasionally have the trip pins catch because they had loosened from the knuckle. A trace of glue will take care of things there. FWIW, unless I dropped a car the wrong way (hmm, is there a right way?), I've never had to adjust the trip pin on a MT truck. For operability, Wig-Wag's customer is on the right track though opposite from what a lot of others do. IMO Accumates work best with Accumates, MTs with MTs, but not 100% with each other. I've found the earliest Accumates were very floppy and that seemed to cause the majority of coupling/uncoupling problems for me. Things are better now but are still not up to the level of MTs yet IMO.
accumates are problems for me. I see no differance from the older cars to the newer ones. They still explode or fall a part and the trip pins are the biggest problems. They are to low to the rail and catch on many areas of the layout like switches. I have no good way to pull the trip pins out. Trying to bend them higher results in the couple coming a part. Holding the coupler between my fingers and using my other hand I can carefully pull out trip pins - but this isn't a very good solution. The accumates look good & I hope they can be made better in the near future. Mike
I have 98% of my cars equiped with Accumates. I usually take out the trip pins and that takes care of any problems for me. I've run 20-35 car trains up a 3%+ grade with them with no proplem. Just my 2cents
I have problems pushing 40-50 cars through a 180 degree turn with a 24 inch radius. The coupler shank will not always stay straight. As for the trip pin, I was unable to remove the trip pin from my MP15DC engines as I had removed trip pins in the past. I just cut it off. I prefer accumate appearance and rolling capability. I do hope they improve.
Flash: If you place metal wheelsets on some of your Atlas trucks they'll roll even better. Stay cool and run steam.....
Now I have a question. I bought two Maxistack auto racks which have Accumate trucks. One runs like butter, great so far. The second had trucks that don't! I tried replacing them with Micro-Trains, but the cars will not stay on the track. I was ready to order new accumate 22056's to relace the thee offending trucks when I read this post. So, what do I do? The Micro-Trains won't work? Doc
Do they derail on curves? I am not sure whether this will help. Check the pivot around bolster (diaphragm unit) of the center truck. There are two screws that attaches the two car halves with plastic tabs. Choose the correct hole to match your radius. I hope this works for you. Cheers, Cliff http://cliffordconceicao3310.fotopic.net/c328807.html
