How many 3 rail modern freight cars can you pull before you break a coupler and what exactly breaks?
Original Post
Replies sorted oldest to newest
They're more likely to simply open due to the stress. I had 133 cars behind two Legacy U28C U-Boats, one about 40 cars back as a helper. No issues other than we had to swap out a couple of cars because their couplers wouldn't stay closed. No broken couplers.
I doubt you could break a 3 rail coupler off. Pull open, absolutely, but not break off.
@Gunnerjohn A mid-train helper(s) is definitely a must. Going to have them. I've used very small black plastic ties on the thumb tack type couplers to keep them closed which works fine. The reason I ask is because some of us are planning to run longer and heavier trains on the NJ Hirailers layout. Its interesting to see if anyone had issues with their couplers.
Originally Posted by PAUL ROMANO:
@Gunnerjohn A mid-train helper(s) is definitely a must. Going to have them. I've used very small black plastic ties on the thumb tack type couplers to keep them closed which works fine. The reason I ask is because some of us are planning to run longer and heavier trains on the NJ Hirailers layout. Its interesting to see if anyone had issues with their couplers.
I managed to break K-Line's version of the Kadee coupler...twice. with the "40-Car Rampage"
It happened on the Hirailer's layout during an open house, of all places. Oddly enough, both breaks happened on the downgrade after exiting the helix. I don't think it was the couplers that were defective, though--more likely a combination of slack action plus violent surging of the three Plymouths pulling the train. I think the Z4000 powering that section of the loop was doing something odd, because I couldn't re-create the fault on the shop's test track.
But the last time I actually broke a knuckle on a 3-rail coupler would have been in the MPC era, when a plastic knuckle failed on a 4-bay hopper. I believe the knuckle hinge was fatigued from day one, since I had only a few cars added to a starter set, nothing out of the ordinary, weight-wise. I know I kept it "married" to my caboose using a couple of twist ties imitating a brake hose until I learned you could buy replacement parts for Lionel trains.
Now, I've seen broken knuckles on low-end postwar equipment, notably a cop/hobo car--but having come from an estate sale, wasn't privy as to how they got broken. Judging by the overall condition of the lot it came out of, it probably wasn't from pulling long trains.
---PCJ
Attachments
@ RailRide I remember seeing you run that train. That is an unusual place for a break going down the helix. We do have nice long runs, curves and grades to put engines and cars to the test. Can't wait to try DPUs on a sixty car unit train.
The only time I've seen couplers actually break is due to "zinc rot" Some of the lots of zinc alloy used in the castings were impure. The couplers (or complete trucks) work fine then suddenly crack or completely crumble.
@ AGHRMatt I've had similar issues with Atlas O cars where the bolster castings disintergrated where the truck screws mount. More commonly damaged from hard pulls on heavy trains were the plastic bolster mounts. They snap off with the truck.
Originally Posted by PAUL ROMANO:
@ RailRide I remember seeing you run that train. That is an unusual place for a break going down the helix. We do have nice long runs, curves and grades to put engines and cars to the test. Can't wait to try DPUs on a sixty car unit train.
It was indeed an odd place. But the downgrade was the only place the Plymouths were running erratically. You could see their marker lights flashing like high-brightness LED's (the Plymouth markers are bulbs) all the way from the control tower, which meant they were getting repeated power surges in that section of track. Going upgrade on the west side of the loop they ran normally.
---PCJ
