Fleischman Steam Locomotive

[TRyburn]

I was considering buying a Fleischman Steam Locomotive, but I notice they come with " Automatic couplings". This would be my first purchase of anything other than U.S. so I'm not sure what this is exactly. Would I be able to use any of my existing cars that have Kadee couplings?

Thanks for any information.

[Anonymous]

Fleischmann steam locomotives are SUPERB runners, especially the newer ones (last 10 or 15 years or more), and they are highly detailed, too. In details they are equal to Roco (and Roco produces the Proto 2000 2-8-8-2), and mechanically they are even superior to Roco's European models (can't say about the 2-8-8-2, I never saw it run).
I really wi***hey produced some models of American steamers (as far as I know they don't, but I may be wrong?). One thing the American modelers do not like is that they have the drives in their tenders (if they are not tank locos), but they are definitely made to run and look great.
I must admit that I haven't seen any recent Fleischmann catalogs (they don't have models of U.S. prototypes, so I wasn't paying attention), but I think that they still use their own unique couplers, not compatible with anything else (even European). The good thing, though, is that on newer models (like all other newer European models) the couplers should be easy to replace because they are inserted into standard NEM boxes, and I think Kadee produces knuckle couplers that go into these NEM boxes.
Btw, NEM is the European equivalent of the American NMRA RP (National Model Railroad Association Recommended Practices) - roughly translated as "Norms for European Modelrailroaders".
So, if the model you're planning to buy has NEM coupler boxes (don't know if "box" is the right word for it, and you can check in the Fleischmann catalog, there should be a symbol stating the model is equipped with these NEM boxes (NEM-Schacht in German)), and you don't mind pulling American cars with an European loco, or planning to get some European cars to go with it - go for it!

Have fun,
Oliver

[TRyburn]

Thanks for the information. I think I'll add some of their cars. After looking around I realized there is not much to chose from for high quality locos.