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Williams couplers uncoupling

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  • Member since
    January 2005
  • From: Lake Worth FL
  • 4,014 posts
Posted by phillyreading on Monday, June 1, 2015 8:12 AM

Bob,  that's a new one to me as well about WIlliams passenger cars. Usually it's the engines that the couplers come open on. However I have a set of Williams passenger cars(6 car set) that won't stay on the track even on a 5 foot length of straight track. One thing that I have noticed with Williams couplers is that the track needs to 100% level or the Williams cars will slip under at the couplers and come undone.

Interested in southest Pennsylvania railroads; Reading & Northern, Reading Company, Reading Lines, Philadelphia & Reading.
  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: Austin, TX
  • 10,096 posts
Posted by lionelsoni on Sunday, May 17, 2015 12:13 PM

Well, I think I have fixed these couplers.  I squeezed the sides of the coupler heads, which I think are made of bronze, in a smooth-jawed vise, bending the "thumb" (which Janney called the "guard-arm" in patent US 138,405) inward by about .01 inch.

Bob Nelson

  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: Austin, TX
  • 10,096 posts
Williams couplers uncoupling
Posted by lionelsoni on Saturday, May 16, 2015 6:27 PM

This is a new one for me.  I bought a like-new 5-car Williams set of heavyweight 14-inch PRR cars (set 2502) at a train show today.  The cars will not stay coupled under load--but neither do the couplers open!  The plastic knuckles just slip past each other under a modest load.  I have a very similar Williams Erie-Lacawanna set that has no such problem.  Has anyone else ever seen this?

Bob Nelson

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