Has any one here added an operating front coupler to their PW Lionel steam engine?
Pictures? Instructions?
I'd like to do that to a 2037 or similar size loco.
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I have done it to a General. I used the front truck; without it the American's driver wheelbase design being at the rear would have made it impossible to keep railed without being prototypically scale weighted 
The big factors will be:
Lateral pull, via a frame vs truck mount i.e. will it be shifted to the side hard enough to derail? The distance the coupler is mounted away from wheels that will guide it, increases the lateral leverage to derail as the distance grows.; attaching to the front truck, you would likely need to increase the down force spring on the 2037.
The tracking of the coupler must stay near the center rail in curves. It suffers an "overhang" in curves too. Long shanks have more overhang. That's why some trucks have articulated coupler shafts. The coupler to coupler pocket itself has an limited left to right angle as well. Not all couplers are the same size either. They mostly work together, but e.g. I have small cast Postwar couplers that don't play well with a few later ones.
You might want to try a more scale looking dummy coupler from Scale City. Not operational but fit to Lionel's couplers and dummies have a thinner shank needing a smaller hole in your cowcatcher. (or you can shave the cowcatcher off and mount a flat switching pilot.) I don't think you can get a flat drawbar to run under that cowcatcher as is, the 2037 sits low.
There was an article in CTT some years ago about doing so to two different PW steamers. I think there was at least one similar write up in OGR, but I don't remember any specifics.
There is another thread on this topic. David From Dearborn wrote an article on how to do it. He reposted his videos in the thread below.
His layout is fantastic and has done some amazing and creative things to bring his layout alive.
If you search something like "dummy front coupler" you will get all kinds of hits. I did a couple of railking 2-8-0's several years ago with good results. Basically you have to open up a slot in the cow catcher casting that puts the coupler at the right height, then drill and tap a hole in the casting to accept the screw. Simple really. Both mth and Lionel have dummy couplers available. Sorry I don't know pn's.
rod
Buy a postwar Lionel 1615 that already has a front coupler?
Operating is the catch. Many dummy couplers would work.
The shortest coil coupler I am aware of is 1 1/2". How much room do you have between the front pilot axle and pilot? Also will you have the height? You could eliminate the self centering action and leave only a round lug to deal with, maybe. Do you have room for a second whistle relay to active the coupler? Most modern magnetic thumb tack couplers are 2" long. Then you would have to extend the coupler so the thumb tack clears the pilot.
I have done this a couple of Weaver brass steamers but it was a lot of work and I think they have more space to work with.
Pete
