N scale trucks and coupler recommendations?

[The Other Kevin]

Hi all, quick question...

I have 30 N scale freight cars on which I need to standardize couplers. About half of them are older ones still using rapido couplers with trucks and wheel sets from that era, the other half are a mix of 4 different knuckle style couplers and random newer looking wheel sets. A few have body mounted couplers, but most are truck mounted. obviously some couplers aren't playing nice with others.

I want to convert all of my rolling stock to the same coupler, and I'd like to do body mounted. Which of course means converting most of the trucks as well as most of them have truck mounted couplers. That aside, I'd like to update the trucks on the older equipment.

I'm not fully up to speed on the current brands of couplers and trucks (I'm new to N scale!) and I could use some help figuring it out. Whatever brand I choose will be the standard going forward for all rolling stock on my soon-to-be-built layout.

Reliable magnetic uncoupling will be a necessity, using in-track magnets as opposed to something on a stick. These will be mainly limited to the yard area. I'm accustomed to the operation of HO Kadee couplers so I'm looking for something that operates in a similar fashion.

I'd like to do couplers with shorter shanks so the cars couple closer. My minimum radius is 12.5" except for the yard where there's some short 11" radius, mostly coming off of #5 turnouts. Most of the rolling stock is older shorter cars from the transition era... (40ft I believe?) I think my longest car is 50'. I don't plan on running long, modern stuff and the passenger trains I have with long cars are complete sets and I'll stick with the couplers and trucks they came with since they won't be coupling to the other stuff.

I'm currently (literally, as I type this!) watching my cars running laps on an 11" radius circle and it looks to my untrained eye that close coupling wouldn't be an issue. (What don't I know?)

Anyway, I'm looking at MT couplers but what's the scoop on McHenry couplers? Are they popular? Do they work well? I assume the MT couplers are mostly problem free since they are technically Kadee. Any other brands that I should be looking at?

For trucks, where do I start? Metal wheel sets are a must. What brand or brands are everyone using?

is there any common advice or knowledge I should be aware of? Opinions?

Thanks all, appreciate having this group around!

 

[CSX Robert]

I read this the other day, but since reliable uncoupling is important I held off on answering because I figured someone with more expereince with magnetic uncoupling would answer.  Since no one has I 'll give you my experience.

Most N-scalers consider Micro-Trains couplers pretty much the de facto standard, especially when it comes to magnetic ucoupling.  I'm not a big fan of Micro-Trains couplers because of the "slinky" effect (the tendency of cars with Micro-Trains couplers to bob back and forth, google videos of it and you can see what I mean), but there are ways of dealing with it that are effective for some people, and some people i tdoesn't even bother.  Some options are putting a spring on one wheel of each car, or one wheel of the last car of a train to add just a little drag (Micro-Trins sales springs for that purpose).  Since you only have about 30 cars, the one spring per car solution might work.

My personal favorite coupler right now is the McHenry.  It does not have the slinky effect and in my experience works every bit as good as Micro-Trains.  It is a little more bulky, but to me it actually looks more like a real coupler.

I have just begun to play with magnetic uncoupling, so I don't have enough experience to really give a solid opinion on it.  So far, McHenry seems to be just as reliable as Micro-Trains, with neither one being supper reliable, but with more experience and some tuning of the couplers that may change.

If you are satisfied with the trucks that your freight cars currently have, you don't have to replce them to convert to body mounted couplers, you can just cut the couplers off the current trucks - tha's what many people do.  If you do replace the trucks, Micro-Trains is, again, the de facto standard.  Some other companies do make trucks, but they're generally not a wide assortment and are oftentimes hard to get.  Micro-Trains makes just about any truck you may want, are usually available, and work great.  They do not sale trucks with metal wheels, so you will have to buy the wheels separately.

[BroadwayLion]

I suspect that one of these would work just fine!

 

Actually, as you can see from this photo, you are asking to do a major overhaul job on each of your cars. See, that above, these cars have different pocket arrangements for their couplers, the couplers themselves are different, and there is something strange going on with that coupler on the right since it has no uncoupling pin nor lever.

And so it is with your cars. They are from different manufacturers, some couplers are body mounted and others are truck mounted. And I suspect that many lf your wheelsets have those older (European) wheels with the pizza cutter flanges.

So, I would remove all couplers and trucks, and replace them all with MicroTrains trucks, wheelsetw and body mounted couplers. That is easy to say, but will be much harder to put them back together again.

First I would body mount the couplers. Use a temporary adhesive, maybe rubber cemente to mount the couplers. Next, find a way to mount the trucks. Again just set these under the car and then measure and confirm that the coupler it at the right height. If it is too low you can use some fiber washers to raise the carbody, and therefore the coupler to the correct height.

If the coupler is to high, then you must lower the carbody. Perhasps shave off some of the kingpins or the bosses on the coupler bolster. If these do not work, then remove the coupler frtom the carbody and put some shims between the carbody and the coupler pocket. Repeat these steps until the coupler height is correct. Permanently glue the coupler to the car body.

Next, the trucks... You may have to fuss around with the mounting system. LIONS in their frustration may toss away the mounting pins and etch, and just go for a sheetmetal screw. One truck must rotate freely but with out any side to side wobble. The other truck must rotate freely and it MUST have some side to side wobble.

Once you have these put together, you must discover how well they take your curves. You may need to move the trucks closer to the ends of the car, or you may have to use a greater radius curve until the cars will play nicely with each other.

Just because car A and car B will handle the curves does not follow that car A and car C will be able to negotiate the curve together.

like I said, to do this correctly there will be a lot of adjusting and re-adjusting to make thing PURRfect like a kitten!