OK, here it is for those of you who are or want to start using Sergent coupler's. I'm sure who has and hasn't but some have stated thing's about using Sergent's on a modular layout. Well, I ran a full train today with three locomotives on the head and something like 40 cars on our club layout for the first time and I am happy to report that they work much better than you would think. With some major problems in the track in between modules some being to high, to low or just twisted these coupler's did better than my Kadee's ever did. I ran all day sense 7am this morning and didn't have a single break in the train the entire day. I'm also happy to say that backing up is a lot easier too without dumping car's off in curves because of Kadee's side slop. Now I'm saying this because I've never seen a modular layout with worse track than ours. The guy's saw my equipment when I brought it in and was wondering "now what's he up to?" No more Kadee's for me ever. Absolutely flawless. Another thing, I had a couple of car's that were either high or low so the couplers weren't center and I didn't have a single problem there either. This is the first run with them sense I bought them during the summer. Next test I will check is how good the strength is to see how long of a train they can really pull before one breaks. Not sure when this will be though so don't hold your breath.
Hi KCS, May I suggest you only couple to two cars using the Sergent couplers, instead of straining all of the ones you have until one finally fails? No need to damage all of them, see? You will find that depending on how much traction your engines have, and how heavy a drag you try to pull, the tiny little ball will start to embed into the parent material, making the claw a looser fit. It will close up, but will open part way now.) Then it will not hold as well, even if not broken, so in effect you will have lost one coupler. However, we found we had damaged all the ones we had coupled at the time! I arrived later than the others, so missed several tries they made. They had five or six cars with Sergent couplers directly behind 4 heavy Bowser engines equipped with brass dummy couplers. They had made baling wire loops to couple to all the cars we could bring in to act as 'drag'. With some 80+ cars the train was string-lining on the only 48" radius curve at the end of the longest straight track we had. Early on the traction tires prevented a Rivarossi Big Boy from being able to slip or spin its drivers, which caused the motor to over heat and melted the plastic boiler and cab down over the hot motor. One of the guys put his heavy brass Bowser on and they tried again with NO traction tires! They had slipped his drivers when trying to start from a dead stop, so as they added cars, they backed up to 'bunch' the cars as we do on real trains, and added another engine. As they 'gave her the gun' on each try, the 'hammering', ( as each slack came out of the couplers ), evidently started embedding the little balls on all the couplers, and broke several X2F couplers too, so they moved all the Kadee cars up to the Sergent cars, and pulled all the X2F cars on the tail end. The one Sergent that failed, simply allowed the claw to open enough to slip out of the dummy brass coupler on the engine, it did not actually break the metal. The coupler was never the less, destroyed. The results were that the coupler bodies had separated by pulling on the rivets, almost allowing the ball to slip between the halves and almost shearing the pawl off the claw. The one that failed, happened as I was walking up, so I missed the actual moment of failure. It turned out OK for me, though, one of the rich guys offered me $50.00 for my box car, ( since mine was the only good working pair of Sergents there ), and the 'mob rule' was hot and heavy by then. I left. I really like the Sergent, but have never had the money to equip my fleet with them, and still feed kids too. Good Luck!
Just had a browse through their website and they certainly look interesting. I liked the Kadee magnetic uncoupling system, except for the somewhat non-proto bit of uncoupling over a magnetic some way from the spot and then pushing back, but now I use sound locos the whole magnet business has become more difficult. "Er, pardon?" I hear you say. Well, to get a realistic correlation between engine sound and movement (on diesels for sure) you need to add a fair bit of inertia to the decoder 'motion'. And that makes it much trickier to spot accurately - very prototypical of course. In general use it's no problem, but when you need to stop near a magnet, backup a touch to slack the couplers, pull forward a bit to release them (and then they don't so start over), then backup again to push back ... well, you get the picture. I do resort to using a manual uncoupler at times, but I find that quite fiddly and not very reliable, so if these Sergents are as good as they say for operation I'd certainly be tempted to try them.
I've been using the Sergents for about a month and I'm really impressed. I like that I can uncouple and couple on curves without a problem. I also like the prototype look and realistic operation that can be had. So far I've equipped 20 cars and five locomotives. They get my vote!
I ordered a pack of 5 plus a 'wand' ten days ago, to have a play with. I hoped they be here for the Christmas break, but they didn't arrive yet. I'll post up when I have some experience with them.
Yea, Old Frank probably got backed up when Christmas was creeping in. I finally had one break on me yesterday but it was do to either human hands or feline paws. One of the two pins on the top and bottom of the yoke that holds the knuckle in place broke off and the knuckle came righ out. I believe to find this only out of applying much more pressure than they were really meant to take.
Well, I've been having a play with these on and off, and I'm not sure if they will do for me. They do look good but operating them isn't as easy as I'd hoped. Uncoupling is fairly easy, though it does mean holding the wand over the couplers with one hand while working the throttle with the other. With Kadees you only need two hands if not over a magnet. Coupling is fine mechanically, but getting the couplers aligned before they mate is not so easy. In the prototype the operator is on the ground next to them so can fairly easily judge whether they are lined. We are a lot further away in scale terms and often looking at them more from the side than above which makes it quite tricky to judge. The self-centreing of the Kadees means 95% of coupling needs no intervention. This means that with Sergents all uncoupling and most coupling will require the hand-of-god to appear which is a bit of a downer. Some time back I saw some uncomplimentary things said about the Rix Uncoupling Tool (http://www.rixproducts.com/6280014.htm), or something like that. I 'discovered' I had a couple of small rectangular magnets lying around, so I've knocked up a device like the Rix to try out with my Kadees. This seems to work quite well and is no harder (sometimes easier) to use than the Sergent wand. It's certainly easier than the various pointed / screwdriver type objects I've tried using on Kadees, the main problem with which is seeing where to stick the darn things (again the side visibility is part of the problem). So I may stay with Kadee #58s with a combination of under track magnets and Rix type wands. On the other hand, having seen how good they look I'm still tempted by the Sergents. Aaargh! :embarassed:
You can also make a 'Goose neck' gadget that can be placed where you want to uncouple, or hinge it to swing up over the Sergent couplers when desired. If hinged, it is the same thing as having a K-Dee magnet mounted there for a K-Dee coupler. You push the choke rod, uncouple, let go and the goose neck swings back down out of sight. (You can rig it to either pull or push into position when the cars are aligned.) If you don't like the Rix, and want a K-Dee remote that way, try using two cylindrical pencil magnets to raze up out of holes along side the track to operate K-Dee's like the RIX. It is hidden when not in use, and is remotely operated, but not portable. Unlike the K-Dee magnet under the track, it has no effect when retracted out of sight.
Thank God my track is dirty and my locomotives are jerking the train and stopping every so often and I set cars off along the way with the locals Thanks for the good news!
I have had them on 8 cars and 1 loco now and find them to work flawlessly. The uncouling wand I just tap the couplers and it's worked for me each time without fail. I want to install a under track uncoupler and see how that works. But I think they look much better operate quite well and no slop at all. With my fleet being small and sergents offering those dummy couplers that also work with them @ $5 for 12 I think we can work this out until almost all are changed out. I will however keep ten cars with KD's so if I run into a HO club there would be a problem either way. Thanks for the Thread I think it's gong to be neeeded with all the converts here in a bit:thumbs_up::tb-wink:
I don't think it will, so try it on something temporary before gouging a hole in the trackbed. The couplers are very prototypical. On the real thing a big lump of steel drops by gravity in the closed coupler to lock it closed - this lump is lifted to unlock. In the Sergents a ball bearing does the same job and the magnet in the wand lifts it up to unlock. So a magnet under the coupler will just 'lock it more' No, you can't buy 'repelling' magnets - that would involve more than a plain ball bearing in the coupler.
Sorry, I felt the urge to resurrect this OLD post!! :startled: Are any of you STILL using Sergent couplers??? Ya know, the biggest beef with them seem to be the lack of self centering..... A small issue of difficulty when coupling. ...... I think too much!!!! WHAT IF, we drill a small hole (#77-#80), and then insert two small pieces of piano wire, or similar, a-la K-Dee #148?? I may actually try that! Am I the ONLY one who's ever thought of it? Let me know. I'm in a McGuyver mood!!
Self centering is only a MR thing. The real ones DON"T do that. So like a real a railroader YOU have to center them. LOL.
I've seen this done time and again by the Rails. Even if you wanted when you come off an S curve to couple up you will have to align the couplers to each other. Besides we don't need any other stinking couplers we have Micro-Trains for N Scale and Kadee for HO scale.
I still use Sergent couplers. I converted a few cars and engines about five years ago, when I first discovered them. I liked them and finally took the plunge and did the whole fleet. Now anything I acquire gets new couplers before it is put "in service." As I have used them, I have found I actually like the lack of centering better. I find that I do most of my switching on straight track, so the couplers are usually lined up as long as I don't touch them while equipment is standing. One of the things I like about them is that I find it easier to couple on a curve because I can move the couplers in question to the proper alignment and then make the hook without trying to get a finger or toothpick in there to hold against a centering spring. (Maybe this is a byproduct of working on the railroad...I don't really like sticking my limbs between cars while coupling!) I like them, and I switch with them all the time. I find most of the problems I have with them are induced by carelessness when I assemble them. If I just take some time to do it right and carefully, they operate just fine.
Actually, what we need is a coupler that is more prototypical than something with a sliding jaw. The only thing MORE unprototypical than Kadees is hook and loop. Roundhouse and DeVore were very good prototypically operating pin drop knuckles. If the nmra hadn't promoted them in an attempt to divert attention from the X2F coupler, where would we be today? Dave
I thought I was the river counter here. LOL Well Dave, I don't know I think we have our history askew. Here's how I remember it. Lionel got knuckle couplers and that raised the voices of everyone from S scale HO and later N scale. We wanted knuckle couplers. Kadee, came to the rescue along with some other interesting but poor performing knuckle couplers. Kadee's out performed all others. This started a discussion in the NMRA ranks. Some were yelling for NMRA to set the standard. I know little of the history of the discussions that went on between NMRA and Kadee. Rumor mill had it they couldn't reach an agreement. NMRA then adopted the Horn Hook style coupler. That'l teach those two twins at Kadee, I said sarcastically. I believe the X2F a horn hook coupler, the one you referred to. http://www.athearn.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=ATH90601 Is nothing close to a working knuckle coupler. Worst I've ever worked with or frustrated over. Where would we be today? Sorry my crystal ball doesn't work so well. I have no idea but I suspect the fight over knuckle couplers would still continue but with different brand names. Personally, I'm thank full Kadee and Micro-Trains happened along when they did. A great working knuckle coupler that does the job by far better then any of it's counterparts. It set the standard for all kunckle couplers that followed. Just a thought. To many working functions on a coupler, the more there is that can go wrong, as in break requiring one to fix or replace. I'm tired of playing Mr. Fix It. I'd rather keep it simple....... and not stupid. My two cents worth and I take change.
