Atlas/Kato GP9 couplers

I got this Atlas/Kato GP9 from Ebay. It has knuckle couplers, but also came with Rapido. I would like to install a Rapido on one end, to make it a transition engine. How do I do it? Do they just snap in?

 

Judging from the pictures it originally came with truck mounted rapido couplers. The truck mounted coupler box appears to have been cut off and and a MT pilot assembly was placed in the opening that the coupler swung in. The only solution would be a new truck side frame that has the coupler box that the rapido fits in.

See figure number 2 at the bottom of the linked page from Atlas.

http://download.atlasrr.com/pdf/N EMD GP9DIESEL LOCO.pdf

 

You're right, looking closer you can see that the Rapido couplers were indeed cut off the trucks. But are the knuckle coupler assemblies some sort of conversion kit? You can see that the loose one was originally glued in.

 

Micro Trains produced a number of pilot conversion kits that filled in the open pilot of the models that had truck mounted rapidos converting the locos to a closed pilot with a body mount coupler and that got rid of the huge gap. Because when the pilot conversion was mounted the truck coupler pocket was often in the way so it was simply snipped off. I have never seen a pilot conversion that would allow a rapido but that doesn't mean there is not one out there or that some body has not fabricated one.

 

I would imagine most people want to go from Rapido to knuckle, not the other way around.

 

What a number of folks have done is to make a transition car with one end MTs and the other end a rapido and run it behind the loco when they had a bunch of cars still rapido equipped. Pretty much everything today is a MT or similar manufacturer knuckle type coupler.

 

Yeah, I've made several transition cars. I was going to try to make a transition engine.

 

I would cut the coupler box with a Rapido coupler off of a frieght car truck. Then modify the hole in the Micro Trains pilot to make it fit.