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Post by tankcarsrule on Feb 10, 2018 17:30:07 GMT -8
This thread has turned into a pretty good discussion, mostly on point. As I said earlier it's pure tounge in cheek, but one never knows. I was bowled over by the amount of participation. I think it was lots of fun, and no one got angry, very civil. If you choose, keep on keeping on.
Bobby
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Post by Great-Northern-Willmar Div on Feb 10, 2018 18:58:54 GMT -8
I received my first HO scale trains for the Christmas of 1965. I was 5 and had Lionel from the age of 2. The passenger cars and matching F's were a Tyco(red box) set. The cars and F's were chrome plated and lettered for the Santa Fe. The freight train was a mixed lot of Tyco, Revell, AHM with a Tyco Santa Fe GP20 to lead. Everything had horn hook couplers.
My father constructed a double track "layout"(Dad painted a sheet of plywood green) using Atlas brass sectional track. Still have photos of me and the layout. We moved when I was six or seven and got an L-shaped layout....this time it was painted flat gray. This layout featured the Atlas bridge set for an over and under layout. Both layouts came out of an Atlas book of track plans.
Moved again, when I was nine and this time, Dad recycled the second layout. I kept it and ran on it until 1976. Dad used to ask why I ran the passenger train all the time and hardly used the freight train. The reason was simple the passenger train stayed coupled(all Tyco/Mantua made with their version of the X2F coupler) The freight train with its mix of different manufacturers each with their own individual design features on the horn hook, separated all the time. Frustration and rear end collisions were a constant.
1976, the NMRA had its national convention in Chicago. My father and I went and it was the first time, I was exposed to "real" model railroading. The one thing that caught my 16 year old eye was the Kadee number 5 and how reliable it was compared to the horn hook. Needless to say, in came the Athearn, Roundhouse, etc. and into a box went the Tyco, AHM and Revell. Never looked back.
Now, I'm beginning to be drawn in by Sergent Engineering Couplers since they make a scale AAR Type H tightlock. My Empire Builder is demanding that attention to detail along with some tuning up of the under the body equipment on the Walthers model. The Walthers diaphragms have to go too.
I still have fond memories of my early train sets and layouts, but so happy that now I'm modeling and no longer just running around in circles. The rear end crashes aren't missed at all.
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Post by grahamline on Feb 11, 2018 9:31:11 GMT -8
I'm still in the market for straight-pin pre-magnetic Kadees, if anyone has a box of them laying around. Got several off of a friends' coal unit train, by swapping the straight-pins for 148s. Also found a package new in sealed envelope at a swap meet. But I would like to have more.
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Post by riogrande on Feb 11, 2018 10:33:13 GMT -8
What is the deal with straight-pin pre-magnetic Kadee's. I've been in the hobby since the 1970's and don't recall every seeing them. What do they look like and why are you looking for them? I tried googling them but am not sure what to look for.
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Post by The Ferro Kid on Feb 11, 2018 10:49:26 GMT -8
Same here. I've been in the hobby since the early 60s and don't remember having seen them except maybe in some old 1950s ads. Were these the "K" couplers with an uncoupling ramp that looked like a wire scissors?
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Post by stottman on Feb 11, 2018 11:19:27 GMT -8
I still use them. On the old BlueBox stuff my 3 year olds like to play with.
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Post by mvlandsw on Feb 11, 2018 11:21:41 GMT -8
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Post by grahamline on Feb 11, 2018 11:23:34 GMT -8
The couplers are flat on the inside of the knuckle -- slightly angled but no lip -- and the pin drops straight down from the tip of the knuckle with no curve. The unopened package says "Automatic coupler with draft gear" and "K-5". The coupler shank is straight with an internal channel for a spring that allows the coupler to move fore and after. The wire uncoupling ramp was meant to push the pins together to release the knuckles, but then, as now, the ramp was never in the right place. Because there's no lip on the inside of the knuckle, it's a simple matter to flick the straight pin with a skewer or small screwdriver. We used them on a guy's operating layout for a decade and had no problem with false uncoupling. 
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Post by mvlandsw on Feb 11, 2018 11:46:17 GMT -8
I've wondered if you could get the same results by grinding the lip off the inside of the knuckle of the magnetic couplers, but I've never tried it. Permanent magnet uncouplers could not be used.
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Post by grahamline on Feb 11, 2018 12:08:08 GMT -8
The angle is shallower on the magnetics that followed the K-5.
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Post by riogrande on Feb 11, 2018 12:13:04 GMT -8
If there is an advantage to that old straight pin design the modelers are seeking them out, maybe Kadee should produce them again.
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Post by canrailfan on Feb 11, 2018 12:44:29 GMT -8
I don't know when Kadee's 'Coupler Evolution' illustration was made but it's missing the various Sergent couplers. It's interesting to see that Kadee once supported the X2F coupler market with a magnetic version. I also hadn't seen many of the older more prototypical-looking knuckle couplers before; some were dummies but a few appear to have been operable. I have heard in the past that a number of attempts to come up with better-looking couplers fell short because it was considered necessary to mate with the Kadee 5 which came to dominate the market. I'm glad that Frank Sergent told the bold step of marketing a coupler that is both scale-sized and reliable in operation. The market will always be predominated by Kadee but I do like the Sergents better. |
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Post by grahamline on Feb 11, 2018 13:36:37 GMT -8
Kadee has very definitely said the K-5 is not coming back. It looks like the non-magnetic K series was only available for a few years before becoming magnetically attractive.
Edit: Kadee's photo chart has been around a while and probably pre-dates the Sergent coupler.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 11, 2018 19:18:33 GMT -8
I have a few Life Like passenger cars with horn hook couplers on them. The baggage car has a kadee on it, and I see no reason to change the rest. They stay coupled far better than a Kadee ever could, and are impossible to see under the rubber diaphragms.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2018 19:40:36 GMT -8
I found this paper box with one pair on mk-5 talgo metal trucks fully spring with metal wheels. Also i found an mk-5 coupler height gauge. Inside that paper box is instructions but i don't want ot tear it open. Also inside is a little plastic sleeve with a pair of washers, screws and some kinda little cuppy things. Not shown are the little cuppy things. I'd add a picture but every time i try to upload a picture it says this forum is at it's limit. Here's a link to a picture. puu.sh/zmBpr/f4cfb4ccd5.jpg |
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Post by roadkill on Feb 13, 2018 8:56:14 GMT -8
There was a guy in Marion, OH (Brakie knows who I'm talking about  ) that used horn hooks well into the '80s. He modified them with a wire "uncoupling lever" that stuck out to the car side, one would lightly squeeze the two levers together and the cars would uncouple. Rather ingenious IMHO  ! |
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Post by Judge Doom on Feb 13, 2018 21:32:29 GMT -8
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Post by Great-Northern-Willmar Div on Feb 14, 2018 3:44:15 GMT -8
Wow horn hooks on a Rapido caboose....impressive. Also saw in the photos talgo mounted couplers on freight cars and brass track. |
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Post by Christian on Feb 14, 2018 4:45:31 GMT -8
Wow horn hooks on a Rapido caboose....impressive. Also saw in the photos talgo mounted couplers on freight cars and brass track. Brass track secured from the top with galvanized square drive deck screws! For those living north of Lake Erie that would be a Robertson screw driven through the track. All in all, it comes together looking pretty nice. Until you realize what you are seeing. |
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Post by Brakie on Feb 14, 2018 6:27:20 GMT -8
There was a guy in Marion, OH (Brakie knows who I'm talking about ) that used horn hooks well into the '80s. He modified them with a wire "uncoupling lever" that stuck out to the car side, one would lightly squeeze the two levers together and the cars would uncouple. Rather ingenious IMHO ! Yes,I know the man and I first met him back in the early 60s at the Columbus HO club. That X2F uncoupling lever was used in the 50s to mid 60s at the Columbus HO club.. |
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Post by Brakie on Feb 14, 2018 6:33:25 GMT -8
Wow horn hooks on a Rapido caboose....impressive. Also saw in the photos talgo mounted couplers on freight cars and brass track. Brass track secured from the top with galvanized square drive deck screws! For those living north of Lake Erie that would be a Robertson screw driven through the track. All in all, it comes together looking pretty nice. Until you realize what you are seeing. I thought it was a rather nice layout overall even though its a joke but to my mind,X2F couplers,talgo mounted couplers on freight cars and brass track doesn't fail the layout just as long as the owner is happy. |
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) that used horn hooks well into the '80s. He modified them with a wire "uncoupling lever" that stuck out to the car side, one would lightly squeeze the two levers together and the cars would uncouple. Rather ingenious IMHO 
!
