I try to push my CMX cleaning car around my layout and sometimes the couplers act up and cause derailments. Would using the European style couplers with their buffers help this problem?
When we used to run our CMX cleaner at Boothbay Railway Village, we found it better to pull it. The locomotives liked it better on dry track. Our current attendant prefers other methods of track cleaning, so it has not been in use lately.
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
How come trains in Europe and the UK use chains and turn buckles instead of knuckle couplers?
The European couplers are screw-type couplers with a turnbuckle and buffers. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Fotothek_df_n-10_0000396.jpg
The coupler is shortend with the turnbuckle until the buffers a lightly compressed.https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/Eisenbahn_Schraubenkupplung_1.jpeg
There is almost no free slack in the connection as the action is always buffered. As each railcar has such a coupler on each side and only one is used there is redundancy.
DMUs and EMUs use automatic Scharfenber couplers which connect air and electric line automatically to.
The change to knuckle couplers was considered and new railcars are prepared for their use but a change is deemed cost prohibitive.
When the Janey coupler was introduced there were more than 30 state railway executives in Germany alone not just one country like the USA. At that time a change was politically impossible now it is to expensive.Regards, Volker
SouthPenn I try to push my CMX cleaning car around my layout and sometimes the couplers act up and cause derailments. Would using the European style couplers with their buffers help this problem?
You might try a Sergent F or H-type coupler (tightlock). This coupler severly limits travel from side to side and up and down at the point of contact between the couplers. They are a bit more complicated to assemble than the Sergent E type coupler. Directions are available at the sergent engineering website.
What do You mean by ''act up''? They should have come with Kadee couplers. I push mine all the time since about 1990 and have not had any problems with them. I do bend up the trip pins so there is a lot of clearance so they won't catch on anything....no need for automatic uncoupling. They also come with free rolling metal wheelsets. I have never had a problem with the two I have.......new one on Me.......
I also push them with two DC P2K GP7's with Kadee #5's for couplers or two Athearn BB SD40-2's, also with Kadee #5's......use lacquer thinner in tank.
Take Care!
Frank
BMMECNYCYou might try a Sergent F or H-type coupler (tightlock).
There is a similar coupler by Kadee:
https://kadee.com/htmbord/page118.htm
This would limit the locomotives you would use for your cleaning chores. Of course, you could put one coupler at one end of the CMX and one on your dedicated "power" for pushing it.
Still, the 118s are compatible with any of the regular Kadees in HO.
AC&F made cars for export to Brazil with "convertable" couplers!
lot 314 003 by John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library, on Flickr
lot 310-002 by John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library, on Flickr
Like frank, I've never had problems with my 20-year old CMX either pushing or pulling it. Sometimes I have a Centerline car with Talgo trucks following.
Maybe your pads are worn out or the drip rate isn't high enough causing too much drag on the pad?
Good Luck, Ed
I tried an experiment. I had been pushing the CMX with the front of an EMD F unit. I turned it around and pushed it with the rear of the F unit. Worked fine in the limited time I had. Now I am thinking the front coupler is binding. I'll install a coupler with a longer shank and see how it works.
SouthPenn I had been pushing the CMX with the front of an EMD F unit.
I have cut all of the trip pins off my Kadee couplers. I'll never use them.
When I did have trip pins there were several instances where the very tip of the pin would interfere with the bottom edge of the E/F type pilot assembly.
Maybe you simply need to trim a bit off the end of the trip pins (or remove them completely) from the couplers on your CMX?
gmpullman SouthPenn I had been pushing the CMX with the front of an EMD F unit. I have cut all of the trip pins off my Kadee couplers. I'll never use them. When I did have trip pins there were several instances where the very tip of the pin would interfere with the bottom edge of the E/F type pilot assembly. Maybe you simply need to trim a bit off the end of the trip pins (or remove them completely) from the couplers on your CMX? Good Luck, Ed
Thanks! I'll give that a try.
Same reason none of the British steamers had headlights. Whatever that is....
Mike C.
If you model any of the British stuff, as I do, the original "Tension-lock" couplings would be good for PUSHING a cleaning car around. They're not worth a toot for anything else!
Keep in mind, you'd have to add buffers to both the car and the engine pulling it for it to have any effect. I don't know that most European models actually use the buffers, I think they're more decorative. The European NEM couplers stick out far enough from the body that I doubt the buffers touch each other while in a train.
wobblinwheel Same reason none of the British steamers had headlights. Whatever that is....
Everyone will can not believe the following comment.
Basically, the knuckle coupler which swings the shank left and right is dangerous for propulsive driving with a large force. Please be aware that the almost actual couplers do not move left and right, and only radial couplers for interurban was used in short fleets.If you want to push the CMX car, there are two ways. One is to use a draw bar. It is used with steam locomotive models to link the loco and tender. Another is to use Baker couplers. They were loved by John Allen on G&D Line.
I really don't understand the big deal about this thread......I have two CMX cars bought within a yr. apiece since the early 90's and have pushed them all over My layout, with either double P2K GP7's or double Athearn BB SD40-2's and have never had any problem's doing that. My minimun radius is 32'' double track mainline 12/12 X 40'. The couplers are just plain ole' #5's......even have one S-curve. If anyone is having any problems with that car, the first thing I would suspect would be the trackwork or what you are pushing it with.....not the car.
I had forgotten that I installed couplings with short shanks on the engines. When pushed in just a few thousands of an inch, they would rub the front of the F units. Changing to a standard coupler seems to have fixed the problem.
Thanks for all the replies.
SouthPennWhen pushed in just a few thousands of an inch, they would rub the front of the F units.
Glad that got you "Up - N - Runnin' " SouthPenn!
Regards, Ed