Bought a nice Orient Express set & would like to convert to Kadees. How can I do that without destroying the car in case I, or someone else, wants to go back to the originals.
leewalBought a nice Orient Express set & would like to convert to Kadees.
There have been several different train sets offered under the name "Orient Express" in HO scale.
I believe the most recent one is marketed by Bachmann and is very high quality. This set is supposedly manufactured with the European standard NEM(362) coupler boxes. I have never seen the set up close.
Kadee manufactures several couplers that clip right into these standardized European coupler boxes with no modification. This will allow you to switch back to another coupler style with no damage to your equipment.
If you have one of the earlier versions of the Orient Express by Bachmann, Model Power, or Con-Cor, then a different approach would be required.
One example of the Kadee series of NEM(362) compatible couplers:
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Once you convert to Kadees, I see no reason why you would ever want to go back. The only reason I could see would be if the trainset had value as a collector's item and you wanted it in the original condition but I seriously doubt such a set would ever be a collector's item. Even if it did, I doubt having Kadees would lower the value to any significant degree.
I am not familiar with the Orient Express set, it might (not likely but possibly) be a special case. Most rolling stock comes from the factory with coupler boxes that will accept a Kadee coupler, no mods, no filing, just pop the Kadee in. If the Orient Express comes with truck mount couplers, I would keep them that way. Truck mount couplers help the train get around sharp curves (anything less than 30 inch radius is sharp in this discussion). The Kadee doesn't care if it goes in a body mount or a truck mount coupler box. Kadee prints a "what-fits-what" list showing the best Kadee coupler for every piece of rolling stock manufactured over the last 60 years. The list is on the Kadee website and printed in the big Walthers catalog. Although you can warp a Kadee #5 coupler into anything with enough work, the coupler listed by Kadee will go right in, no hacking, no filing, no cussing.
David Starr www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com
Thanks for all your replies:
I guess I derailed everybody with the term "set". What I have is a very nice running Jouef Orient Expresss locomotive and 5 individual Orient Express cars from several different manufacturers. All have the European style couplers. The couplers seem the same but each are maybe a little different. Trial & error to see which cars stay coupled together. I want to change to Kadee but it doesn't look that easy and I don't want to destroy the car in the process. And, with 25" radius, I don't think body mounting is the answer.
Without seeing the couplers and pockets, it's hard to say what would be involved in replacing them Kadees. Some minor surgery might be necessary to mount them if they don't have drop in coupler boxes. In the days of horn hook couplers, I would sometimes have to do that. Sometimes it involved removing what was there and attaching a Kadee coupler box with glue and a small screw. I did this with all my Rivarossi locomotive tenders. It might be necessary to look at Kadee alternatives to the standard #5 or #148 coupler in order to get the coupler height correct.
Since you don't have an actual set of Orient Express cars, I wouldn't be concerned with devaluing them by installing Kadees. I think once you put Kadees on, you will never want to go back.
leewal I guess I derailed everybody with the term "set". What I have is a very nice running Jouef Orient Expresss locomotive and 5 individual Orient Express cars from several different manufacturers. All have the European style couplers. The couplers seem the same but each are maybe a little different.
I guess I derailed everybody with the term "set". What I have is a very nice running Jouef Orient Expresss locomotive and 5 individual Orient Express cars from several different manufacturers. All have the European style couplers. The couplers seem the same but each are maybe a little different.
My temptation would be to leave it as it is. You won't be interchanging those cars with any "American" locomotives or rolling stock. While sometimes passenger trains do switch out cars along the route, I doubt if you'd be doing that with this train, so the operational and interchange benefits of Kadees are not needed. Assuming locomotive and train are more or less always going to run together, swapping out to Kadees seems more a symbolic gesture than a useful or needed change, at least to me it does. I am not thinking of collector value here, just practical issues of how this train would be enjoyed.
Plus if you get more European made Orient Express cars to add to the consist they probably won't be coming with Kadees either. If the couplers work well, I'd let things stand as they are. Just my opinion.
Dave Nelson
dknelson leewal I guess I derailed everybody with the term "set". What I have is a very nice running Jouef Orient Expresss locomotive and 5 individual Orient Express cars from several different manufacturers. All have the European style couplers. The couplers seem the same but each are maybe a little different. My temptation would be to leave it as it is. You won't be interchanging those cars with any "American" locomotives or rolling stock. While sometimes passenger trains do switch out cars along the route, I doubt if you'd be doing that with this train, so the operational and interchange benefits of Kadees are not needed. Assuming locomotive and train are more or less always going to run together, swapping out to Kadees seems more a symbolic gesture than a useful or needed change, at least to me it does. I am not thinking of collector value here, just practical issues of how this train would be enjoyed. Plus if you get more European made Orient Express cars to add to the consist they probably won't be coming with Kadees either. If the couplers work well, I'd let things stand as they are. Just my opinion. Dave Nelson
This would be true if the couplers mate well. Based on my own experience however, off brand knuckle couplers do not operate reliably with KDs or with other off brands. If that is an issue with the Euro couplers, I would seriously consider replacing all of them with KDs. On the other hand, if the existing couplers are working well together, I'm a believer in the adage, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it.".