None of my rolling stock has horn-hook couplers. If I found a car that I liked, the couplers were ALL replaced with Kadees. Using their conversion chart, I can usually find a body-mounted coupler. If they have Talgo trucks, I usually clipped the ends off and used the Kadee draft gear to body mount the couplers.
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR
Back in the 2000s I had a generic 35 car 1940's coal drag part of which had my old Blue Box 5 pack of hoppers. I used them in a block with Kadees at either end and horn-hooks for the intermediates. I cut the vertical doohickeys off and TBH was perfectly content with them. Would I do that again? I probably would, it worked well and recycled some old cars (Blue Box are often very nice for next to no money) with no real hassle.
I occasionally buy both kits and RTR that include hornhooks as an option. My first HO layout back in the 1960s had exclusively hornhooks and my first adult layout was the same.
I remember they used to make hornhook uncoupling ramps which would squeeze the pins together between the rails causing an uncoupling. It wouldn't work for delayed uncoupling but if you knew where you want to uncouple it was workable. I remember buying one just to try it out but can't remember how reliably it worked. I found this on ebay and I think they are for hornhooks.
Perfect Uncoupling Ramp Set of 2 Packs 407 | eBay
I wonder how many modelers have stayed with hornhooks to this day. I'm sure there are a some as indicated by the OP.
philo426Also when were the horn hooks phased out?
I don't think that they were ever "phased out".
Wallthers still has them listed as available, as well as an uncoupling ramp.
philo426 Yes most of the time a conversion to Kadee #5 is standard procedure when necessary.Good thing they sell bulk packs!
Yes most of the time a conversion to Kadee #5 is standard procedure when necessary.Good thing they sell bulk packs!
I'm snooty when it comes to couplers. When I got a new piece of rolling stock, I used to use the Brand X couplers until they gave me trouble, then I'd replace them with KDs, either the old #5 or the whisker #148. Now I don't bother with a trial period. Whether kit or RTR, all rolling stock gets a KD before it goes on the layout.
philo426 I know Horn Hook couplers are obsolete but I do use them on certain older Athearn rolling stock because they do hold the cars securely together .I put a Kadee #5 on one end and just leave the horn hook coupler on the other for the transition box car.Do any of you do the same?Also when were the horn hooks phased out?
I know Horn Hook couplers are obsolete but I do use them on certain older Athearn rolling stock because they do hold the cars securely together .I put a Kadee #5 on one end and just leave the horn hook coupler on the other for the transition box car.Do any of you do the same?Also when were the horn hooks phased out?
I used to a long time ago with Rivarossi passenger cars. Since I didn't switch my passenger cars back then, I didn't see any need to replace the truck mounted hornhooks. All my locos had been converted to KDs so I put a KD on one end of a baggage car and a hornhook on the other and the rest of the consist would have all hornhooks.
By the time I got around to starting the current layout a little over 20 years ago, knuckle couplers had become the standard and I the roadnames on my old Rivarossi passenger cars didn't fit the new layout so there was no need to have a conversion car.
The good thing is how easy they are to convert back, especially on this MDC Ore car!
i -think- i did, way back maybe eight years ago ...
since then it's all been number 5s [or kadees anyways]
didn't save any of the horn/hook, just tossed them into the garbage
Back when I was getting started in the 1980's, I did that horn hook thing. These days there doesn't seem any reason to have horn hook couplers on any rolling stock, what with all the clones out there people are throwing away and replacing with Kadees.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
I have replaced 99% the couplers on my cars and locomotives with Kadee or compatible couplers. The rare exceptions are some old Tyco cars which I haven't ever gotten to yet. I have a lot of Tyco cars that I did convert to body mounted Kadee #5 in boxes.Horn hook couplers were phased out in the 1990s when the patent held by Kadee ran out. When it did Bachmann and Athearn started making knock offs. Some were not very good but others are nice. It did force Kadee to come out with their whisker style couplers which was a nice innovation, but I still prefer the old school #5 couplers or their equivalent with underset or overset shank, or the one with longer shanks for use on locomotives with snowplows.
I converted totally over to kadee back in the late 70s. I remember telling a friend, "It's going to cost me ( a hard earned) 7 dollars, but I'm going to do it'
And I did. Never ran horn hooks again. Dan
Maxman: What if the trunk had some junk?!
Haven't run a transition car in 25 years.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
jeffhergertMany years ago there were couplers available that could mate with either the horn hook or knuckle couplers. Way back then, most equipment was still coming with horn hook couplers. If you wnated knuckle couplers, you had to convert yourself. I never converted to Kadees back then, but a fellow modeler (like many others) had. To operate some of my engines on his railroad, I tried some of those compromise couplers on a few of them. They worked OK for either coupler. They were supposed to also be able to have the delayed uncoupling like Kadees, but they didn't really do that so well.
I still have a couple (no pun intended) in my toolbox! They look like horn-hooks if you took the long flange thing off, and added a Kadee type trip pin. I used them on some cars and engines when I first started in HO in the late eighties. I did find a trip-pin gauge gizmo in the toobox for "Magic Mate" couplers, made by (or imported by?) IHC, that look like what I have.
Darth Santa Fe Did you know you can clip the "horn" off the horn-hook coupler to work as a temporary make-shift conversion coupler? They can actually couple to Kadee #5s this way. It's useful for some models where Kadees may be difficult to install without modification to the chassis.
Did you know you can clip the "horn" off the horn-hook coupler to work as a temporary make-shift conversion coupler? They can actually couple to Kadee #5s this way. It's useful for some models where Kadees may be difficult to install without modification to the chassis.
When I got back into the hobby a few years ago, I was on a tight budget and did the transition thing of combining couplers. It worked OK for a while.
As indicated by Darth, you can clip some parts off. I clipped the bottom pin out. I'm not 100% sure what Darth means by "horn". If it's the plastic extension that facilitates the coupling operation, be aware that although the couplers will look better that way, it will affect the coupling action in curves. Just don't clip the part too short. They will mate with KDs.
Another option is to permanently connect some cars that will always stay together. You can remove the couplers altogether, and make connectors using styrene (and screws) connected to the body of the cars. Just make sure the connectors move freely. They would definitely look better that way until you have the resources to install better couplers. Or buy better cars .
Simon
Thanks for the thoughtful replies!Glad to see I am not the only one who see the merits of the old Horn Hooks!
As to your second question, if I recall correctly, horn hooks began to be phased out when Kadee's patent expired and the copy-cats started hitting the market (McHenry for example). Late 90's maybe? I can't remember for sure.
Mike
I am pretty sure conversion cars/trucks will be around..... forever.
I can think of 5 reasons right off to have them.
I normally use an Athearn Hi-Cube as a conversion car/height testor.
Here are some trucks I also use instead of a car.....
PMR
I still have my MDC/Roundhouse transition box car, Kadee #5 on one end and a X2F hook with the uncoupling pin cut off on the other end. I can't say without diggin through paperwork or layout pictures when I installed the Kadee or even say when the last time it was used. A good guess would be when I installed my first two Kadees on an Athearn BB engine and then one this box car.
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In my 55 years in this hobby I have never used "horn hook" X2F couplers on my layout.
Let me explain - My father gave me his trains, and a complete working layout, at age 10. All his equipment at that time was equipped with dummy knuckle couplers, a popular choice amoung some modelers in the 50's and early 60's.
So when I started buying additional rolling stock, most Athearn and MDC kits, or Silver Streak wood kits, I installed dummy couplers on them as well - for a while.
Then I started to convert them over to Kadee's.
By age 14 I was working in the local train store/hobby shop and Kadee couplers were afordable enough at my employee discount prices.
So for over 50 years, nothing but genuine Kadee couplers.
Sheldon
Many years ago there were couplers available that could mate with either the horn hook or knuckle couplers. Way back then, most equipment was still coming with horn hook couplers. If you wnated knuckle couplers, you had to convert yourself.
I never converted to Kadees back then, but a fellow modeler (like many others) had. To operate some of my engines on his railroad, I tried some of those compromise couplers on a few of them. They worked OK for either coupler. They were supposed to also be able to have the delayed uncoupling like Kadees, but they didn't really do that so well.
I've long since sold off my original HO (to a family member) and went into N scale. I did dable in HO for a while some years back, until deciding to continue with N. By then, almost all the HO rolling stock was coming with some kind of knuckle coupler.
I think Bachmann may have made some, but I think there was also another company that had them available.
Jeff
I have a few cars that have part of the horn hook coupler cut off. They work with kadees but it is a little hard to couple and uncouple them.
-bmtrainmaster
maxmanIf I were an elephant I think I would be very annoyed if someone wanted to fool with something attached to my trunk.
Yeah, who needs nose-pickers?
Wayne
Well they are Athearn so they are body mounted so they perform well
kasskabooseTrunk-mounted cars are annoying to fix.
If I were an elephant I think I would be very annoyed if someone wanted to fool with something attached to my trunk.
When I started in HO in the mid-'50s, it was with Kadee couplers, but not the ones that we use nowadays...
If there's anyone out there that's looking for couplers somewhat similar to Kadees, but doesn't have the cash... I have over a hundred of these...
...that I'll donate simply for the cost of shipping them (which won't cost much, as they're very light).
Talgos have mostly been upgraded to body-mounts as I did the couplers, and the trucks came later. The exception is a few passenger cars that wouldn't work in my 18 inch curves without Talgos. Still changed them to Kadees, though.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.