Closing the gap on a diesel?

Have just test run the pair and they are quite impressive in the sounds and smoothness departments. I like when both units smoke too. From this angle the gap is not as appparant but as she glides past the viewer, it rears its ugly head!

Sam,

 

Are the rear couplers dummy's?

If so lionel has short shank dummy couplers that were made for the centipedes that you may be able to use. I'll see if I can find the part number and post later. 

Yes, They do appear to be dummies Dave - Thanks for the tip.

I must assume that the B units will have an operating coupler on one end but the AA configuration uses the front coupler of the non-powered unit to uncouple from the cars...

Sam

This thread might help. I had the same question on these sharknose.

https://ogrforum.com/t...17#35499620178100417

The gap was a deal breaker but there might be a solution.

Thanks borderman - what did you eventually do to yours?

Sam

 

I just decided on getting the B&O sharks. They were too nice to pass up. What I will eventually do is put on some short couplers. However it seems those on the Lionel part site doesn't have any that are shorter than the stock ones. If this is the case than I assume I can always put on short couplers from MTH. 

Lionel does have a short shank coupler but I see no way to use it on my F3's. It was made for the centipeds. 

David

Do you happen to know the item number? 

 

Boxcar bill on the thread that you posted for Sam has the part number.

If you look at the size to that part number it seems to be the same size of the stock one. 

I have some of them and they are much shorter then the stock ones on my F3's. Although I can't figure out how I would use them.

Thanks David. I will need to try them. if you have no need for them let me know. 

Eric Siegel had the same complaint. I believe he used Kadees to close the gap. Perhaps he may see this post. 

All
Just received my b&0 set today. I must admit they are very nice looking. I can see why you were so happy with them sam. Now for the gap, i have decided to try the lionel short couplers. I order two different sets to try out which ones fit the best. I will let u know what i find out from both sets. I will post pics later on how they look as well.

hi all,

 

Just wanted to give an update on this. I today received the set of couplers I ordered from Lionel. 630-4678-055 as per Boxcar bill for the centipede  The  centipede ones are 1" long and they seem so far to fit as close as you can get. The only issue I see is when going in reverse there might be some binding. I am still testing. But if thats the case then I can always swap one of the couplers back to the stock one and would still be closer than the stock. Here are some pics. There is some modification needed on the new couplers. You will see from the photos that a small piece needs to cut off to allow the hole from new coupler to slide in. I hope this helps. The first pic is one of them being a stock coupler. The last ones are both with the shorter coupler. 

Thanks for posting this borderman - It looks much improved.  Next comes some diaphragms.

Tis a pity that we pay good $$ for a premium piece like these and have to deal with some shenanigans to make them right. Lionel should put the correct couplers on a SCALE item and offer/include extra couplers for running on tight curves...

All

 

I was able to upload a video of the improved sharks with shorter couplers. I am happy to report that there was no binding in reverse that I could tell. Again my tracks are O72 & O81. Nothing smaller. Dont know if you can run these with O63. Enjoy the vid.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...IuyuJeOnrQoE1XauwCdQ

 

 

Hi 

Here is the final product using Lionel's shorter couplers. 

Very nice, I'm going to do that to my sharks as well!

Thanks John. I believe that's as close as I could get and really like the look. 

I wonder if Lionel's 18" Aluminium B&O passenger would match well with these sharks? I believe it would. 

Great job on those sharks. Now the gap is in the same zip code.

 

i used the same coupler to reduce the gap on my F3's also. Now they look great. 

Has anyone tried this with the Lionel GP35s? (Electro or not.)

I just passed on them for two reasons, one of them was the over extension of the couplers. I run O-90.

(I am not interested in Kadees!)

 

Dave

I just received my brand new NYC Legacy Sharks A-A the other day. Absolutely beautiful however, the gap is bothering me. I have seen Eric's fix with the Kadee couplers, and have been reading about switching to the smaller Lionel dummy couplers....my question is, how much does this affect the turning radius? How tight is the cornering...O-54, 72?