Shorts Between a Brass Steamer with a Metal Coupler on the Pilot...

Yes, it was quite common earlier.    A lot of newer cars such as Atlas have double insulated wheels, so they do not short.   but any car with wheels insulated on one side and a metal frame will short that way.

Even worse, a string of metal cars with metal couplers can short out the same way, even if half the cars have double insulated wheels.  Those kinds of shorts can make you nuts in a hurry.

One cure is plastic coupler boxes (draft gear).  Some of us are dismayed, though, when we see good Lobaugh or Lionel 700 cars butchered that way.

For locomotives, freight,  and passenger cars where the mounting pad is on a metal underframe I mix and match plastic and metal Kadee couplers and pockets so that a metal Kadee coupler is  never mounted in a metal Kadee pocket (I use metal and plastic Kadee's interchangeably).   For steam locomotives used in switching or local freight ops I use a Kadee 804 plastic coupler with a trimmed/reshaped shank mounted in the pilot without draft gear.   If you have a large number of Kadee metal couplers with metal pockets and need additional plastic ones to do the "mix and match" you can purchase plastic draft gear pockets directly from Kadee.      

Hi Ed R, et al,

I have been using a plastic draft gear box and a metal KD on the tenders.  The engines get a plastic KD on the pilot if I can encourage the coupler to cooperate.  By that I mean, the new hole is still in the solid part of the shank.  I have filled the slot in the coupler with epoxy and JB Weld.  Neither will stick to the slippery plastic that KD uses.  Any suggestions on how to fill the slot when the new hole is in the slot? 

Thanks,

Ed K

Insulate everything else and leave pilot couplers hot?  That's what I do, and it works!

But if you insist on plastic Kadee, drill crosswise #65, and use pins to anchor the JB Weld.

Thanks to all.

Ed