3 Rail Coupler Incompatibility

Nothing simple that I know of. I know K-Line couplers often wouldn't latch when coupling to other manufacturers' couplers because they needed to be pushed farther in before the retaining pin would snap up into the gap in the knuckle base. 

 

I theorized that perhaps one could put a dab of hot glue on the end of a K-Line coupler knuckle so it would be pushed farther back when hit with another companies' coupler. One might also enlarge/elongate the pocket the coupler pin fits into to latch the knuckle closed so that it "reaches" the pin earlier as the knuckle swings to the closed position. But I haven't tested this method, and haven't heard of anyone trying it either.

 

---PCJ

Are there any modifications to the various types of 3-rail couplers to make them each compatible with the other...so, that relative slow coupling can be accomplished?

At the risk of sounding flippant, yes there is; Kadees. 

 

I gave up on the lobster claws.  As you have stated, they need to be slammed together to close, and with 20 plus car trains, I had more "unintended emergency brake" applications due to coupler separations that I care to remember. The worst of the bunch for uncoupling was the Weavers and GGD on their passenber cars. 

 

At least five of my train buddies have reached the same conclusion. 

 

Even if you stay with moving pilots and truck mounted couplers, the Kadees will work well. 

 

Regards,

GNNPUT

For someone with 300 or so pieces of rolling stock, Keedee's are awfully expensive!

Does kadee make a truck and coupler all in one for use on our rolling stock and if so could a link to it be posted? Knew they made them in N scale and Ho but did not know about O scale! If they have them how about backing up long trains and derailments?

Gunrunner said:

For someone with 300 or so pieces of rolling stock, Keedee's are awfully expensive!

Too true.

You don't have to convert all at once, of course. I have a few transition cars for interim use. All new acquisitions get KD's right away.

And then, maybe you don't need 300 pieces of rolling stock....

When did need ever enter into the equation?

Yeah, too much stuff to change, Kadees aren't perfect either (but good), the large coupler
on scale equipment isn't too bad (Kadees are not prototypical in design, nor are they
"scale", but certainly a visual improvement in some ways).

The term "lobster claw" is a little irritating to those of us who choose to use them; it's
use is one of the reasons I don't visit the 3-rail "scale" (oxymoron alert) forum too much.

I do wish that "we" had adopted the Kadee-type coupler back in the 1980's when O-gauge
took off as a scale-ish enterprise. The Electro/Proto coupler idea could be engineered using
this size coupler; but, really, unless you put remote couplers on all your rolling stock,
how much good does the loco Electro/Proto coupler do you anyway? It finally dawned on me
that they are not worth the trouble. I have been leaving them off my recent ERR conversions.
(Been skipping the sound, too; life gets easier...I would like a default whistle/horn, though.)

But...on your O-gauge coupler situation: tune each uncooperative car as best you can.
Some will be healed, some will not. The O-gauge coupler can work flawlessly; it can also be
infuriating. Use dry lubricant (graphite) behind the knuckle. Can help.

The worse are Weaver plastics and early K-line anything. The Weaver plastics are a problem
not because they are plastic (aren't some Kadee's plastic?) but because they are a bad
design. Treat them as dummies. Later K-line are probably the best. Atlas is iffy.

Funny; Postwar Lionel's were typically dead reliable and got better with age. Not nostalgia;
fact. Hint: make them just like that using precisely the same dimensions and materials,
and maybe this topic goes away? Just sayin'. I'm not a PW guy, either.

I wish that there was one O-gauge coupler company and everyone bought from them.
BTW, the Kadee #1 scale (1:32) couplers are similar in size to O-gauge, and will mate with
them, I do believe (I have some, but never really started that project...)

When did need ever enter into the equation?

My bad