Another issue: Breakage and Trip Pins. 1) I seem to recall a thread that pointed out that Accumates tend to "explode" when there is more than about 15 cars in the train. 2) Trip pins from MTs and Accumates might catch at turnouts and crossings under certain conditions. The recomendation was to trim or remove them. 3) There was something about trip pins getting caught up in the locos by the magnets. Could someonen please correct or clarify these?
Steve: The MT trip pins can easily be adjusted without trimming or removing them. I don't give Accumates a chance to unravel. I change Accumates over to MT couplers immediately. Stay cool and run steam......
I had forgotten about converting from rapidos to MTs. It was a big deal at the time as I wanted a lot more rolling stock. I had to stop purchases altogether until I could catch up on the conversions. Since it is done now, I don't consider purchasing a car unless I can convert it. I run both Accumates and MT now and don't prefer either. Both seem okay to me. I do remove trip pins or alter them so they don't catch on the track.
I recently finished converting 300 plus cars to accumates. I was a die hard rapido user for years, but since I've switched, I sure can appreciate the difference. I run 30-40 car accumate equiped trains with no problem. It was a rather EXPENSIVE chore to convert everything over, but I'm sure glad I did.
There was a bit of a rocky road(tm) when Atlas came out with their answer to the MicroTrains coupler. Their coupler, licensed from Accumate, was not a very good value. The plastic used is very brittle, and the coupler trip pin falls out all the time. There have been a few changes in the design, but the early problems have left a bit of a sour taste in experienced modeler's patience. I've heard that recent versions are improved. Mine still get ejected as a matter of course, since I can't tell the various versions apart. As for the Rapidos, dislike is mostly on esthetics grounds, but they do work in their fashion. The lightness of older cars works against the Rapidos, since coupling ability is mixed up with the poor tracking ability of those feather weight cars. Unfortunately, they don't couple with magnematics (note I didn't say scale couplers, since MT versions aren't to scale either, they're about 50% too big) so you have to pretty much convert all at once unless you want to deal with a conversion car. That restriction gets real tired pretty fast. Tony Burzio San Diego, CA
I body-mount MT 1015s. I buy them unassembled and put them together in batches-I built 40 in 1 1/2 hours last Sunday night. Cost is about $1 per car, plus another buck for low-profile wheels. Last winter I went heads-down and converted about 130 cars in 2 months. Bodymounting allows the car to be lowered for better appearance, as seen on the left: The 40 couplers I just built are for some Bowser hoppers I got last summer-I need to get them off of my workbench to make room for the Bowser GLAs I reserved. Cheers, Rod Schaffter [ March 08, 2005, 10:58 AM: Message edited by: rschaffter ]
Another ATSF Admirer Those Website links were extremely helpful and explained alot.. Powersteamguy1790 Thank you for your support in the coupler issue.. I think I will stick with Rapido for my freight., the Rapido are a lot easier to un couple and seem to stay coupled together better on my tight corners.. They do their job... Thank you all for your input as this is a hobby that requires many views to get the whole picture.. So although my trains won't look perfect standing still they still manage to impress and who will tell when they are moving ??
If Rapidos work for you then I can't argue with you but I do not share your experience. I started out with nothing but Rapidos and uncoupling and derailments were a constant problem. I was lucky if I could back up my train a foot without a derailment. This was on a simple loop of Kato Unitrack so trackwork was not the problem. I've converted about 75% of my rolling stock over to MT couplers and I never experience an uncoupling or derailment problem in forward or reverse unless I am running an unconverted rapido car. The only complaint I have with the MT couplers is they have a bit of slack in them so you can get a slinky affect with them, especially when changing directions. I do not have much experience with the Accumate couplers. I think I have two Atlas cars that came with them and have not had any problems.
Magnat1978: You are making the right decision at this point in your modeling career. Perhaps at a later date you'll make the changeover to MT couplers. You could also change one car to MT couplers and one truck on another car just to get the "feel" of the MT couplers. You'll still have the two cars running with your Rapido cars at the back end of the train. That's just a thought for you to "get your feet wet " with MT couplers. All you need are 3 MT couplers and trucks. Stay cool and run steam.....
Magnat1978: "So for the non Prototypical, they are OK ?? It is that they are just so easy to use and don't look too bad and are great for my butter fingers to use.. " PowerSteamGuy: "It's your railroad. So use what makes you feel comfortable." Amen. My feelings exactly. Did I forget to mention that I agree with your comment? I am slowly converting from Rapidos, mostly to Accumates. But I have some MT's, some MDC dummy's, and a couple of Kato knuckle couplers too. Sort of work okay together, maybe I'll get pickier some day. I don't do any automatic uncoupling and I run small trains, so my experience is not necessarily a good recommendation. Regards
Ed: Each modeler's requirements are different and that's what should be respected. There isn't only one solution to any given problem. Stay cool and run steam.....
Not necessarily. Lets go way back to the beginning of N scale history for a little review. Before it was called N scale, Lone Star was producing die cast trains that ran on Nine mm track. The couplers were typical of the hook and loop type found on many larger scales. A few other companies started producing their own trains to run on Nine mm and their own coupler system. Arnold Rapido developed their coupler at that time. There was a gentleman serving in the United States military named Ted Brandon who was stationed in Germany at the time. He took on a consulting job with Arnold to help them alter some of their products to North American prototypes. He saw all the confusion going on at that time in larger scales like HO with the proliferation of different and incompatible coupler systems. It was then that he had the idea to persuade his employer to release their design to the public domain and allow other manufactures to use it free of charge. This came at an important time in the development of N scale and allowed the scale to be more popular due to its interchangeability between brands. Soon more and more manufacturers jumped into N using this coupler and the scale took of. This was kind of the jump start it needed. A few years down the road, many folks found the potential of N scale to be more than a toy train setup and started building grand layouts in the same space that a larger scale would yield only a simple one. Kadee decided the time was ripe to introduce their Microtrains line of couplers using many of the principles found on their HO line. It took a while but eventually MT became the standard because it looked more realistic. To sum it all up, it is quite possible that the Rapido coupler was the best thing that could happen to N scale at that time. The scale has matured and the Rapido is being phased out. However it still has supporters because of its inexpensive nature. It allows entry level modelers to get started in the hobby. Once they are hooked and desire a better looking coupler, they will change. It has become a kind of right of passage to convert a fleet of cars and engines. And some day I will find a use for this 55 gallon drum full of them that I have.
Russel, Thanks for the history. I tip my hat to Brandon, Yes! I always wondered how that came to pass. As for photographs of models with Rapido couplers if you take it from the right angle or crop it _just right_:
I agree with Russ on the Rapido coupler. Back in the early 70s, I was building an N scale layout while my neighbor was building an HO one. I remember having no problems with Rapidos while he had horrible problems with the HO couplers. Today I look at Rapidos as the MS-DOS of the hobby. For some of us they are outdated; for others they are still serviceable--cheap, reliable, and ultimately replaceable.
Grey One: Trip pins can be problematic; if they're adjusted correctly they will clear points and frogs; but if they're a little loose, they can slip down until they snag, or even fall out. Low trip pins hitting the track = derail. Loose trip pins on the layout can also cause derailments. Or, being metal, they are attracted to the magnets in the engines, where if you're unlucky they might bridge motor to chassis and blow the decoder (or cause some pretty fireworks). Several times on here people have suggested trimming and/or gluing trip-pins to stop this happening. You could remove them if you don't need the automatic uncouple functionaility (but even if you don't today, who's to say you won't in 10 years?), and I've heard some couplers don't work without the trip pin in place? I'm not up on exploding accumates, there was an Orang-utan on the Atlas forum who knew more. I believe the simple answer was to "tap" the coupler box with a soldering iron / hot poker to melt the edges a little and form a solid explosion-resistant box. Or a few dabs of glue being careful not to glue the bits that are supposed to move together
Most of the Microtrain couplers do need the pin to work. However, you can just trim the lower end, that loops around, off just leaving a nub sticking out the bottom to hold the lower part of the coupler aligned.
I think Bob hit it on the head, as usual. Stick with what you feel comfortable at whatever stage in your railroad career you are. After a year back at the hobby, I looked at my various engines and cars and did not like the appearance of the Rapidos. They were way oversized to me. I also wanted the ability to uncouple without using my hand or a kebob skewer. I took, which was to me at the time, a big step, and attempted a change of couplers on a few cars. I did this with both Atlas Accumates and MT couplers. As to the MT's, if you are planning on using couplers alread mounted on trucks, it will boost the cost of the car radically. If you body mount, it is cheaper and body mount with unassembled MT's, cheaper by far. I have changed all Rapidos off cars (except for a few "transition" cars) but will not change off Accumates to MT's unless the Accumate breaks. As to the aforesaid level of comfort, I am afraid to open up another engine, having made three inoperable so far. But, that is WHERE I AM at this stage of my N scale career.
Mark: You can prevent the accumate from falling apart by applying some heat from a soldering pencil to the seams of the coupler box. For coupling you can also put an accumate coupler in a MT coupler box. This will eliminate the "slinky effect" of the MT coupler and the accumate won't fall apart either. What loco's have you rendered inoperable? Stay cool and run steam...... [ March 11, 2005, 10:14 PM: Message edited by: Powersteamguy1790 ]
FotheringGill: Three? That is tragic. Are you sure they are goners? Maybe they can be salvaged somehow? Maybe some help here on TB?
I still cant understand why micro trains trip pins are sometimes in that copper colored metal! Surely blackened metal would look better? Others use blackened metal pins, does anyone know why? whoppit
