Hello everyone,
Some time ago Walthers released some 85' Budd Large Window Coach cars to my very pleasant surprise. So picked up three for a short VIA train. Last week I decided to check the axles and couplers and adjust the screws holding the trucks in place. To my surprise the couplers were not mounted on the body but on the trucks. Is this on all their new passenger equipment, including the name trains they produce?
Personally I prefer the couplers to be body mounted like they did on the older equipment in the Proto days. What is your opinion and experience?
Thank you
Frank
"If you need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm."
Hi Frank,
Sounds like you picked up a Walthers Mainline car. They're made to be "more affordable". To keep costs down, Talgo trucks are suppliled and the underbody detailing is identical on a number of different models. The "stainless steel" units are factory painted in silver. The Walthers "Proto" cars still feature more prototype detailing and sell for considerably more.
Many of the older run Walthers streamlined cars still pop up on ebay and at swap meets for good prices. I've purchased quite a few of them.
"I like my Pullman Standards & Budds in Stainless Steel flavors, thank you!"
Frank,
I have ten of the Walthers Mainlines and added metal power pick-up trucks and SMD light bars with the kits from Walthers. The cars are the same as the proto ones without all the detail. If You want body mounted couplers, they had a kit that You could purchase the swing arm couplers for those cars. No need to do any drilling or cutting to install. You could keep the trucks that came with it and cut off the draft gear.
The swing arm draft gear looks like the photo.....just have to screw on:
The couplers are Protomax that came with Your models.....no need to change, just about the best Kadee clone around.
Take Care!
I recently bought one of these cars along with the lighting kit. The kit includes the light bar, and power pickup trucks. The replacement trucks do not have couplers, so the kit includes the body mounted coupler conversion as well.
Edit: This is link to the lighting kit. The body mounted couplers are not shown in the photo, but are mentioned in the descriptionhttps://www.walthers.com/passenger-car-led-interior-lighting-kit?ref=1
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
I suspect another factor is that Walthers has gotten a bit tired of complaints from people who buy the cars but say they can't run them on their [fill in the blank] radius curves. Given all the possibilities of what any one car might be coupled to in the way of locomotives or other passenger cars, someone is bound to have what they call the "minimum" radius yet still can't run the cars in practical operation.
Plus the market for the lower cost cars is also a market for lower minimum radius cars.
Dave Nelson
dknelson....Given all the possibilities of what any one car might be coupled to in the way of locomotives or other passenger cars, someone is bound to have what they call the "minimum" radius yet still can't run the cars in practical operation. Plus the market for the lower cost cars is also a market for lower minimum radius cars.
Good points, Dave.
While my layout has a minimum 30" radius, most curves, if not all where passenger trains would run, are 32" or greater. I don't have too many "high-end" passenger cars and have converted most of my Rivarossi, Athearn, and MDC cars to body-mounted couplers, but I'm not all that impressed with the performance of the 80' full-length cars, since most are also equipped American Limited diaphragms. Shorter cars, mostly baggage and express cars between 60'-72', along with some Athearn "shorties", perform much better with body-mounted couplers, and all are equipped with the same diaphragms.
It was fun to modify the Rivarossi cars, but not so much fun to run the longer ones (many have been converted to shorter wooden baggage and express cars, and they perform very well)...
Here are two cars with truck-mounted couplers on a curve, probably 32" or 34" radius...
...and one with body-mounted and one truck-mounted couplers on the same curve...
...and both with body-mounted couplers, also on the same curve...
The diaphragm matings aren't too much of a visual problem, since there's only one visible outside curve on the layout where gaps would be noticeable, but too much interference between diaphragms can result in derailments.
Wayne
doctorwaynehave converted most of my Rivarossi, Athearn, and MDC cars to body-mounted couplers, but I'm not all that impressed with the performance of the 80' full-length cars, since most are also equipped American Limited diaphragms.
I have stayed with truck mounted couplers on my Rivarossi and IHC passenger cars using the Kadee 505 and 508 conversion bolsters. I figure they will not be doing a lot of backing up, and an easier install than trying to fit body mounts.
#505 for 6 wheel truckshttps://kadee.com/htmbord/page505.htm
#508 for 4 wheel truckshttps://kadee.com/htmbord/page508.htm
thank you for all the great information. Never would I have thought that they make kits to retrofit body mounted couplers that can be bought with the lighting kits. Also agree that this kind of mounting method will allow the cars to navigate a tighter curve. Hope that my next layout has a 36 inch radius curves, but that is still up in the air.
These truck mounted couplers will probably be of no issue in short three or four car VIA trains. Maybe with a bit of weight added to them but still the in train stresses should be minimal. Also glad to hear that these couplers on the cars are quite good. Have no experience with them.
Again Thank you to all of you that responded
One other feature (or lack of) that should be mentioned:
The Mainline Budds do not have "flush mounted" windows. Instead, transparent plastic plates, that are the length of the interior, are attached to the roof and form the glazing. Sort of a throwback to the full length Con Cor passenger cars of the 70's-80s.
Unfortunately, the Walthers Proto window strips do not fit in the Mainline cars' window openings.