The O Scale Kadee Coupler - Video Series - NEW VIDEO 11/13

New video added 11/13 to original post

 

Converting a 3 rail O scale car with lobster claw couplers to Kadee scale couplers.

This is a great series of videos. Very informative. Can't wait for the next one. Thanks again for taking the time to do these and post for us all to learn from.

I'd like to thank you for this topic. It motivated me to give Kadee's a try.

For anyone interested, Kadee 745 couplers do work on O-36 curves. The largest car I've used is a 36 foot reefer.

Many thanks for the videos!  I've been wanting to try Kadees for several years but didn't really have the knowledge to proceed.  Now I can give it a try.

 

Jan

That may be true but there are more factors involved.

 

The 745 is the same coupler as the 740, it just uses a plastic draft gear box instead of a metal box. So yes, the 740 or 745 medium shank coupler may work on 036 curves...

(I sound like a Kadee salesman now...I am NOT)

 

How big are the cars?    36' OK that's a short car...

 

Are they truck mounted or body mounted?

 

How many cars are you running together as an entire train?

 

Do they run through reverse curves ( "S" curves)?

I have a few questions on why you did what you did.

 

1.  On the Pecos River car you ground/cut off the tab on the bolster that held the coupler.  Could you not have just turned the truck around so that the tab faces the center of the car?  It would save cutting the truck and you could covert the car back to the lobster claw.

 

2.  Did you take into consideration the height of the boxcar's floor above the track?  Aren't floor heights standardized?  You only added spacers to the coupler pocket.  Would you add spacers between (or trim down) the bolster/mount so that the car floor and the coupler are at their proper heights?

 

Jan

 

Jan,

 

1. I will never convert my cars back. I don't buy them for other people so I am not concerned about resale value. I'm quite sure I could get more for a converted Kadee car than a 3 rail claw car anyway 

 

"My way" usually isn't the quickest or easiest. I do things once, and don't want to go back and replace redo things. You could probably turn that truck around on that car, but most cars you can't. The underframe details usually would hit that thing and restrict movement of the trucks.

 

Most importantly, like I said, Kadees look much better than the claw. I want realistic looking, scale equipment, with scale couplers. If you turn the truck around and sit the car on our layout (which is eye level), that thing is going to stick out like a sore thumb. It doesn't belong there, real cars don't look like that.

 

Kadees are not for everyone, they are not a quick, cheap and easy conversion many times. 2 railers and 3 rail scale guys are very familiar with it, and do it for a reason. I posted in the Hi-Rail category because some guys are interested but not familiar with them and the process.

 

2. Floor heights standard? Pretty close from the floor on the inside of the car! Not from the bottom of the car, that depends on how the car was made. Every car is different under there.

 

That car already has a decent ride height, so if I tried to lower the car, the floor would hit the wheel flanges. Adding a spacer/washer to the bolster is very common in the HO world, but most times with O scale, it has to be a drastic change. 3 rail flanges don't allow that, you would have to cut the floor out above the wheels. 2 rail cars, yes, you could lower the car a lot without worrying about hitting the flanges.

 

   

 

Inside floor heights and side sill heights are pretty close on the different cars. If you start lowering cars, instead of couplers, now the floor height will be way too low. These are Atlas cars with Atlas trucks and they line up perfect with that Pecos car on the outside, but the bottoms of the cars are completely different. In another video, I will do an Atlas car and show the difference, but I don't have any that haven't been converted already.

To clarify my O-36 comments:

 

I'm body mounting the couplers on Labelle and Ye olde huff n puff cars. I'm modelling 19th.-early 20th. century Colorado standard gauge, in three rail of course, which is an  odd combination for three rail...

 

I've been testing on my layout for a couple days, and the Kadee's do pretty well mated to Atlas 36 foot reefers with standard O-gauge couplers, with weights added to the wooden car kits, so it is possible to mix couplers, although it varies from manufacturer and coupler.

 

No S curves on my layout, so cannot confirm.

 

I'm looking at running a train with 6-10 cars, so don't really need to know if a 40-car freight will handle the Kadee's. My layout is only 4X12, so that's not even an option. The track is also level, no grades. Nothing longer than 40 foot, either.

 

Using Athearn archbar trucks and Atlas track, if that matters.

 

Just wanting to let folks know that Kadee's are a worth consideration on a small, tight curved layout. Not saying they'll work on all layouts/track/truck combinations, just that they may be worth consideration.

Remember: This is just how I do it, there is no right or wrong way. Whatever works best for you. There's a lot of ways you could do it, and I have tried many different things.

 

It's also the reason that many people feel...... "well we have a center rail in our track anyway, so why bother?"

OK no problem.

 

I can tell you that if you couple Kadees to the claw, on a grade, coming down hill they won't stay together. Level track, no problem...but when the slack runs in coming down the hill, that opens the Kadee knuckle and they will separate.

Theres been a few Kadee topics as of late, so I'll bump this back up for those who are interested but haven't seen the videos.