The other day I was running one of my Atlas locomotives and the trip pins on the Accumates kept getting hug on switches and track sections on curves. The couplers were ok height wise so it was the trip pins themselves that needed adjusting but when I tried to bend them they became loose and fell out. At first I thought about trying to reinsert them but then I thought why, I use a Rix Pick to uncouple them instead of magnets anyway, infact I don't install the trip pins on my Katos. But I am curious how others adjust their trip pins without damage to the couplers or losing the pins? You never know, if I rebuid my layout one day I may put in uncoupling magnets. Thanks, Ralph
Some people just cut them off. The Accumates can function without them but the MT's can't. So people cut them off leaving only a small portion in the coupler. These are people who do not use the magnetic uncoupling feature. Having them get caught in trackwork can be very frustrating. I have begun to remove my MT couplers replacing them with Unimates on certain cars that don't get uncoupled such as passenger trains and unit trains.
i use the special pliers to adjust if required, i also use supermagnets to uncouple [fixed alongside track]
Thanks everyone. The special pliers, are these the ones made by Kadee? I can understand cutting them off, I did that with Kadee's when I was in HO.
you can buy them from kadee, or go to ebay and get pliers with one concave side and one convex side ... quite a wide choice ..
WRONG !!! I have 93% MT couplers and not a one has one of those silly trip pins in them ! NOT cut off...just not in the coupler at all ! They function just fine !
The pins do keep the couplers from opening wider than needed, but I've never run into any problems running without them. I frequently just bent the pins with my fingers, sqeezing them between my thumb and forefinger. As you noted, accumates don't like this (MTs are more forgiving), but doing anything (adjustment wise) frequently leads to the pins falling out.
I've been updating the wheelsets on all of my rolling stock the past few weeks and noticed something peculiar about my older atlas (>10 years) which was that many of the trip pins had fallen out or fell out as I was handling them. I can't recall if I installed them or they came from the factory that way but re-installing just led to them falling out again.
I recall well when Atlas first introduced these couplers. I had a few trip pins fall out. One time it created a nice big derailment. That ended my using them. I converted those cars to M/T.
I got mine from Micromark. They have a U groove one one side and a round side on the other. Can probably find them other places under another name.
When I assemble MT couplers, I install the pin and clip them off flush with the bottom of the coupler.
I have cut all of my MTL coupler trip pins off below the coupler leaving enough of the pin so that the coupler still works. I have been doing this for years. It is much easier to pick up and move a car/loco without having the coupler getting caught in the coupler or trip pin in the next car/loco. Visually I am not missing anything by not having a trip pin.
Mt couplers will work without any portion of a trip pin in them. I take all mine out and throw them in George's Scrap Yard.
It's great to get everyone's thoughts on this. My layout is ony 3'x6'4" and is a walk around so eveything is within reach so I just use a Rix pick to uncouple everything. I agree that when picking up cars not having the trip pins in the way to snag on is nice. I use Kato unitrack and when planning my layout did purchase some of their track with the uncoupleing magnets in them to use on sidings, but found it was not working out the way I had hoped, so I removed them. If my layout, even as small as it is was up against the wall, I do think thet would come in handy. But who knows, someday my wife may need a really big favor and a bribe to move the layout back downstairs will be in the cards (although I would have a better chance of winning the Powerball and building a new home around my train layout). Again, thanks for all the good info, Ralph
