I posted a few days ago about getting a couple of Midgage cars. At that time I mentioned that the couplers reminded me of what you'd find on the old Athearn HO scale cars. Here is a side-by side of both:
Although certainly not identical, they are surprisingly similar.
I also have some of the old Model Die Casting couplers of a similar vintage: these are a little bigger than the Athearn types, and look pretty close to the Midgage couplers, at least in terms of coupler "head" size:
Since the MDC's actually do work, I wondered if they could be adapted to fit the S scale cars. I first had to enlarge the slot in the shank to accept a 2-56 screw. Lots of fussy filing:
Due to the much shorter MDC shank, I also had to move the coupler pocket mounting screw forward:
Before:
After:
...and it works! Midgage on left...
I don't suppose there's much interest in all this, but I was home today and figured "what the heck"...
Mark in Oregon