Coupler Question - The folks on this board have far more knowledge than my LHS.

[Roadtrp]

I was at my LHS yesterday to pick up some supplies. While there I asked one of the staff what I would need to convert my 'N' Rapido couplers to Atlas Accumates.

First off, he had NO IDEA what a Rapido coupler was. Then when I showed him an Atlas car with an Accumate coupler on it he said "Oh, you want horn-hook couplers". [sigh][D)][sigh]

So, since my LHS was so little help, I ask the informed folks on this board. What do I need to convert my Rapidos to Accumates? Can I replace just the couplers, or will I need to install new trucks with the Accumates on them?

Thanks! [:)]

[fec153]

click on www.nscale.org They should be able to help you.

[Anonymous]

I don't have a working knowledge of Accumates, but I am in the midst of replacing the trucks and couplers on all my older Rapido-equipped N-scale cars. I would recommend going ahead and replacing the trucks as well; in my case, it is a way to standardize the whole fleet on one manufacturer's trucks (Micro-Trains). This makes it easier for me to lay my code 55 trackwork, because all the wheels will track through it in the same way. With trucks and wheelsets from mixed manufacturers, I was always having derailment problems, even with far more forgiving track. Plus, the differences in friction are minimized, making the pulling power of my engines a bit more predictable. Finally, by replacing the truck I'm also replacing the coupler mounting, which allows me to replicate a closer coupled spacing by choosing the right truck. Of course, if you body-mount the couplers then you can get the coupled length to be just about exact, even if the couplers themselves are slightly oversized.

[Roadtrp]

Thanks Avondaleguy!

That is what I thought I should do, but it is great to have it confirmed. I'm such a rookie that I didn't think about closer coupling, pulling power or tracking. I just figured that all other things being equal, I would be better off having my truck/coupler combination uniform on all my rolling stock rather than a mix.

I'm also planning to convert any plastic wheel-sets that I have to metal. Life Like P2K metal wheel-sets seem to get pretty positive reviews. Would this be a good choice to standardize on?

Thanks

-Jerry

[Big_Boy_4005]

Jerry, Rapido is the name of the standard N scale coupler, but most serious modelers hate them just like the NMRA's in HO. It has been a long time since I've done any N, but doesn't Kadee (Micro Trains) make make trucks and couplers? They used to be the best, but I'm not sure if something better has come along.

[Anonymous]

Roundtrp, suggest to your LHS they enroll in our model rr class 100/101 here at trains.com

We don't discriminate.

[jrbarney]

Jerry,
I know you wrote Accumate, but you still might want to look at this Micro-Trains link:
http://www.micro-trains.com/conversions_.htm
Big Boy may be right.
Bob
NMRA Life 0543

[Wdlgln005]

Your LHS goes back to train school if they don't know Rapido from horn-hook. Both coupler systems are out of date. Kadee makes HO couplers, and most good HO mfr's have switched to their version of automatic couplers. Kadees will let you pull down the house before the metal brakes.
MicroTrains spit off from Kadee many years ago & makes a great line of Nscale couplers & freight cars. If you buy Atlas or Lifelike freight cars, you can simply swap both truck & coupler by removing the bolster pin & swapping the whole truck. some modelers use a cheater car with one of each type at one end. Eventually, you will also swap the coupler on your engine. check the MTL website to find out which one to use. Or point your browser over to the Atlas Nscale forum. Look forward to see your posts there & ask away any questions you may have.
Nscalers are a fun bunch that love to run Nscale trains.

[Big_Boy_4005]

Gee Jerry, first the watery cement and now this. If it wasn't so far I would consider going back to work for Bill. He's one of the owners at Hub. It is so hard to find good help these days!!![swg]

Wdlgln005, did Micro Trains really split off, or did they just stop using the Kadee name? Kadee may have wanted to use their name only for the coupler business, and spin off the N scale car business. Aren't Micro Trains available both ways, with and without Kadees, I thought they used to be. Again I'm very rusty with N, I've been "playing" with 3 rail O for too long.[swg]

[Anonymous]

From what I recall reading KD are the brothers Keith & Dale. The brothers split apart .

[Wdlgln005]

It's been at least 10 years when Keith & Dale spli up their business.
Kadee continued with the HO & larger scales, while MicroTrains continues the N&Z scale lines. The Kadee company bought the MicroTrains name from a Swedish company that made toy trains.

I'm no lawyer, but I'm sure that MTL/KD carefully guards any patents they have about their automatic coupler system. in either scale. As far as I know, the KD coupler uses a metal alloy. The other brands of HO and larger couplers use plastic.

MTL runs both N & Z scale cars, trucks & couplers. They haven't used Rapido couplers in years. (Rapido is the old swarish coupler that has been in use since the scale was invented in the 1960's) Only in the last couple of years has Atlas started using a competitive Accumate coupler product. IMHO, they just do not compare with the old KD/MTL coupler.

[Anonymous]

i am getting an gp-40 engine with accumate knuckle coupler, how do i change the coupler to an rapido coupler. does anyone know how to do it?

[DSchmitt]

QUOTE: Originally posted by [e-mail]

i am getting an gp-40 engine with accumate knuckle coupler, how do i change the coupler to an rapido coupler. does anyone know how to do it?

It would be much better to change the rest of your equipment to MicroTrains, or Accumates (Accumates and MicroTrains are compatible) They are both better looking and operate better than the Rapidos.

Most of the Kadee and MicroTrains patents have expired. This has resulted in competition from clones such as Accumate.

MicroTrains offers an extensive line of conversions for locomotives (they have made a conversion that will work for almost every Americam prototype loco ever mass produced for the US market), trucks with and without couplers, and body mounted couplers for cars.

I have never seen Accumate conversions but have heard the do packade their couplers for sale.

There was a thread within the last few week about which brand is best. It had some very interesting information and opinions. While compatible, they have different "good" and "bad" features.

I read recently that at least one manufacturer of cars, who was using Accumates, will be using MicroTrans in the future because of customer requests.

[egmurphy]

Snowball

Can't really help with changing the Accumate back to a Rapido. I've never seen anyone post on any of the boards about going that way. Probably because up until recently that has never been a problem. It's only very recently that some of the manufacturers are starting to go away from Rapidos on locomotives.

One suggestion that you can use in the meantime is to convert one freight car to having Rapido coupler at one end, and replace the truck/coupler at the other end with an Atlas truck with an Accumate coupler. You'd have to use this car between the engine and the rest of your Rapido equiped cars. It's not an ideal solution, but it beats not being able to use the locomotive.

I'm in the process of converting my cars and locomotives over to Accumates (and/or MT's). Since I have a mix of couplers while the conversion slowly gets accomplished, I have two boxcars equiped with the Rapido/Accumate combination for just this type of situation.

Regards

Ed