Which Tinplate Coupler Works With Which Engine or Car?

Thomas,

   You ask a good question and in reality there several different Pre War couplers on O gauge Tin Plate Lionel trains.

Look at it in this mannner and it becomes a might easier to understand, there are both manual and auto couplers on Pre War Lionel trains.  The manual have the swing over locking gate and are all metal they must be manually operated, the auto coupler rolling stock all have a black synthetic over cap, and are designed differently than the manual couplers because they have auto uncoupling capability with the uncoupling track.  These 2 different type of couplers were never engineered to be used together, although some people do mix the rolling stock when the cars match up, not all do however.  Remember also the Lionel 2600 series Tin Plate rolling stock is smaller than the regualar O guage and although it will match up with the regular Lionel Tin Plate O Gauge, coupler height ajustment has to be made, most all 2600 series rolling stock came with Lionel auto couplers, however I have seen some custom manual couplers at the train shows.   So when your are purchasing rolling stock both original and repro

you must identify the rolling stocks coupler type, before purchasing, so it fits with the particular train you already own.  All my Tin Plate trains have the auto couplers, however many people love the manuals and only own them, some Tin guys own both.

PCRR/Dave

 

A Lionel Original 810 Crane car coupled to a 2600 mini Gondola and 2660 Crane Car all

with Lionel Auto Couplers.  Disreguard the Erie Car please.

 

The 263E work Train with auto couplers and a mixture of both original Lionel 2600 and regular Lionel/MTH, O gauge rolling stock.

 

 

I just entered the tin-plate world October of this year when I got 2 trains.  One is the Baby Blue Comet (and the 4 car passenger set) and the other is the Christmas Freight set.  Both are 'O' gauge.  Both are brand new issues of LCT.

 

The couplers are not compatible.  The Blue Comet's couplers are 'higher' and the Christmas set's couplers are 'lower'.  there is absolutely no way that I could switch cars from train to train.

 

That bothers me greatly.  If I ever want to get more cars I'll have to take a car from each train with me to see if the couplers mate or not.  After 60 years in the non tin-plate world, the 'O' world, this is puzzling.  But that's life in the tin-plate world I guess.

 

Not happy about it though.

 

- walt

Walt,

  What you will learn is the difference is not only the couplers but the entire train.

You will also find that the MTH Reproductions are different colors than the original Lionel Tin Plate.  The 263E two tone BB Comet with the auto couplers is a beautiful Tin Plate Train, congrats on a fine purchase, Walt which Chrsitmas freight train did you purchase, what engine & tender pull your Christmas Freight Train?  From your other post with Chris, the nice looking Red Engine looks to be a 260E Engine I believe, the tender is not visable for identification however, can't see the couplers on the Christmas Freight either. 

PCRR/Dave

   

Dave: I mentioned this in another post and have to get around to doing it soon: I don't know terms like 263E, etc. but am going to have to learn what I have so that I can answer questions like yours.

 

The freight set is the one in the 2013 Tin-Plate catalogue.  I love it!!!  The PFA sounds are the nicest that I've ever played - it's all Christmasy.

 

If I learn the ID of the set I"ll come back and answer.

 

- walt

The Christmas freight set in the 2013 catalog is #11-5509-1

Thank you Frank.  I'm going to record that but I still have to identify the car series (2600, 2800, 600???), the engine number (like 263E for example) and the same for my Baby Blue Comet set.

 

It seems that numbers like 11-5509-1 are how tin-platers communicate so I gotta get up to speed!!

 

- walt

 

Modern tinplate tends to have two numbers, one is the number of the original Lionel (or Ives or whatever) - like the 263E - of which the new train is a reproduction:  the other number is MTH's current catalog number - like 11-5509 - which is actually more specific because there may have been more than one MTH reproduction of a locomotive like the 263.  Sometimes the two numbers are used interchangeably to refer to the same thing, but there is a nuance of difference.

 

 

 

 

 

Walt and Dave,

 

Both of your pointers are very helpful.

 

One extra thing I noticed in the case of the prewar die cast steam engines such as the 763E in gray and the 226E had the"X"letter added to their tenders on certain occasions.

 

Did the X indicate ANOTHER coupler difference?

Walt, those are 2600-series cars in that Christmas set

Yes, I'm fairly new to tinplate and it takes awhile getting up to speed on old Lionel/ives/whoevers numbering system. I was just going to post a question the other day asking which series freight cars were designed for which engines (I.e. 200 series cars for 400e and 408 engines?)

Thomas & Frank,

    The best way to identify which coupler when purchasing is not by the numbers,

you actually need to see a picture of the rolling stocks and its couplers.

The X is not a universal indicator of any certain coupler in the Tin Plate world unfortunately.  Also as HoJack indicated the 263E engine and 12 wheel tender has been used on different MTH Repro trains, with different rolling stock.  The couplers are usually the original Lionel auto couplers, but not always.  It seems different type couplers were used on most all the different numbered original Lionel rolling stock and

MTH is pretty much doing the same thing in their reproduction line. You must Identify what type couplers you want before you purchase, think of this as you would a car option.

PCRR/Dave

 

Thanks Frank.  I looked at the on-line tin-plate 2013 catalogue to try to find out what series cars are with that Christmas set but could not find the information.  Thanks for supplying it for me!!!

 

- walt

Mike, Walt and Frank,
    For you guys who are just new to Tin Plate, you can adjust the original 2600 Rolling stock auto couplers to couple with the original 800 series rolling stock by bending the 800 cars auto coupler down slightly and the 2600 cars auto coupler up just a little.  The auto couplers will then couple together and even work automatically once you get them alligned correctly. Us Lionel Tin Plate owners have been doing this sense we were kids, mixing the original 2600 with the original 800 series cars can be done quite easily, if you take care doing it.  Ofcourse the rolling stock must have the same kind of O gauge couplers to make this work.
PCRR/Dave

Again the 263E Work train with both 810 Crane Car and 2660 Crane Car and Gondola and the 800 series spot light car and MTH repro Caboose.  On FasTrack Tin plate runs smooth as glass.


When I run the full consist of 2600 rolling stock, I run it on the inside 031 MTH RealTrax loop, the 2600 rolling stock handles this quite well.


Both Tin Plate Trains running at the same time in oppsite directions, on the Christmas layout.

wow Dave, your suggestion surprises me.  Mine have box couplers and I can't imagine being able to bend them one way or the other.  The best that I can describe what I'm thinking is by using a wood example.

 

If I have a 2"x4" board that's long enough, I can bend or warp it slightly left or right, assuming the 2" side is top/bottom, but not bend it upward.  The coupler hook is like the 2"x4" board.

 

- walt 

Walt,

   Unfortunately they must be differently designed couplers than on my original Lionels, there have been some changes during MTH Reproduction and not everything is the same.  This is why I stress to everyone that you must actually see the couplers on the rolling stock when purchasing, there are so many different variations, especially now. 

Hope you get your 263E Baby Blue Comet back for Christmas, I almost bought a P3

myself, and your Christmas train with the repro 2600 cars must be some kind of great, please post some pictures of her for me, so I can see the complete train.

PCRR/Dave

Something that I have noticed with the prewar couplers is that there are different versions in the box & pin style coupler. One has a solenoid and one version don't have the solenoid for uncoupling, the number usually gives it away, three digit number is manual and a four digit number has the solenoid, both can be uncoupled manually.

I have a 224E (around 1941) with a set of three green passenger cars. I added an extra center roller for better lighting in them. The other prewar set (around 1939) has a 249E & 2225T tender with four freight cars, and these have the solenoids for uncoupling.

 

Lee Fritz

 

Lee,

   You are absolutely correct, for the most part, however depending on the years

the trains were made, this can vary also.  However over all it does identify the difference most times.  Even with this knowledge I still recommend a visual when purchasing, to make absolutely sure what is being delivered to the purchaser.  Remember also there are Tin Plate cars, especially Coal dumping cars, designed to go on post WW II trains, that have newer type auto couplers, with all kinds of numbers identifying them.

PCRR/Dave

 

Funny you should mention that, because I have seen 226E's pull the 2800 series freight cars in many instances. I'm guessing that the engine had the 2226WX version tender.

overlandflyer,

    You are infact matching the rolling stock with the engines that Lionel

released them with as sets.  What we did as kids was mix the 2600 Rolling stock with the larger cars and pull them with the 263E, in reality they were never intended by Lionel to due this, it was a kids trick to be able to play with both size rolling stock on the same consist.  If I led you to believe any Tin Plate train sets were released by Lionel in this manner, it was not my intention.  We got away with doing this because the original auto couplers were all the same, we simply adjusted the couplers by bending them a little up or down on two different cars, to form a joint consist of different size rolling stock.  As you see in the picture I still do it today.  We did this so the work train would look like it was pulling 2 different size Crane cars, which do exist on the real railroads here in Pa.  It was just a little boys trick to set up something on his layout that he saw on the actual Railroad here in the Pittsburgh, Pa area.

Little boys simply playing with their toy Trains, making them look a little more real.

 

 

PCRR/Dave

 

 

OLF,

   You bet, it's one of the reason us Tin Plate Runners are so layed back, most of us

view our Tin Plate as little boys toys and with the advent of DCS we can now run all our different Tin Plate via remote control, Tin Plate with remote control and auto couplers. In my case a dream come true for a little boy who will never grow up, especially at Christmas time. 

PCRR/Dave