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BEST COUPLING SYSTEM FOR FARISH TUCKS /COACHES


BROADTRAIN1979

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Hi all, Im not too sure on the best coupling/uncoupling systems out there? as i would be doing quite a bit of loco parting /stock so, a relief loco can take over... but its a pain to have to keep moving round to part them manually :( is there an easier way? apart from the hand of god, as they say and any advice on coupling /uncoupling systems would be great.

Thanks in advance.

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Coupling and uncoupling in N gauge is a regular and well discussed topic. I suggest using the search tool and looking in the Help forum in particular.

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/34838-alternate-n-gauge-couplings/page__p__369874__hl__%2Bprofi+%2Bnem__fromsearch__1#entry369874

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/16380-n-gauge-couplings/page__p__154965__hl__%2Bprofi+%2Bnem__fromsearch__1#entry154965

 

The short answer is that there are lots of options in N gauge but no clear winner. Simple systems tend to rather limited and more sophisticated options often require butchering stock.

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I have been going down the same road.

 

I found that the Sprat and Winkle were a bit of a pain to work out and fit.

 

So after seeing someone else's stock and how easy the couplings were to produce I went for D&G's.

 

There will be a lot of butchering to fit them and once you have done it there is no going back, but take the plunge and go for it. It will be worth while.

 

Alistair

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I agree it is a personal matter. I have settled on MBM, only avaiable from the N Guage society shop. I bought a trial pack of DG and found them far too fiddly to make - OK the fact I suffer from Essential Tremor was a factor in this. I certainly had to carve up wagons. With older style GF coaches you just swivel the bogie 180 degrees and attach the coupling to the other end. New style GF, also Dapol present a challenge. On locos you only need to glue a loop of very thin wire around a suitable part of the anatomy/chassis. Only with one or two have I had to cut the standard coupling away. The end result on my end to end exhibition layout is very little handling - again good when Tremor means I am prone to knock things off. Perhaps try a trial pack of more than one - if avaiable, and form your own preference.

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Hi,

 

Another consideration is the magnets required to operate the couplings, whether they can be retro fitted and how they look too. With the major manufacturers moving to NEM couplings, particularly with the newest close coupling stock it may be better to wait and see how the new microtrains style/NEM coupling works and looks from all aspects before converting your stock and installing magnets. Having said that, I have found the peco system works fine for wagons uncoupling from a loco with a short NEM coupling but the uncoupler may need to be activated for coupling too which will restrict your shunting, you also need to use a peco wagon at the end of the train. The advantage to this though is no surgery on the loco and the peco magnets are easy to retro fit even with ballasted track. For older coaches, surgery is inevitable whether it is to the coach, loco, track or all 3.

 

Peter

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Hmmm... Think i will wait for farish/Dapol to produce the microtrains version to fit nem socket, Does anyone know if there is any further progress?

I believe that the latest iteration of the 08 is scheduled to sport the new coupler design. The last I heard is that Bachmann are trying to take their time and get it right. They need to make sure that the design works reliably whether it is plugged into a Rapido box or an NEM socket.

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Gaugemaster (and peco for that matter) do a magnetic add on system to work on Elsie couplings - might be worth a try whilst Bachmann work out the knuckle solution.

 

No butchering required so you won't have anything to lose:

http://www.gaugemaster.com/item_details.asp?code=EM1&style=&strType=&Mcode=Gaugemaster%20EM1

http://www.gaugemaster.com/item_details.asp?code=EM2&style=&strType=&Mcode=Gaugemaster%20EM2

 

http://www.gaugemaster.com/item_details.asp?code=PEPL-25&style=&strType=&Mcode=Peco%20PL-25

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Hi woodenhead,and thanks for links, As reverting back to microtrains knuckle couplings, my track is laid and the shunting side isnt ballasted as yet.. could the magnet lay on the sleepers centrally or would it need to go under my board?as i dont really want to pull up any track to fit it.thanks in advance.

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Hi woodenhead,and thanks for links, As reverting back to microtrains knuckle couplings, my track is laid and the shunting side isnt ballasted as yet.. could the magnet lay on the sleepers centrally or would it need to go under my board?as i dont really want to pull up any track to fit it.thanks in advance.

Microtrains couplers need 2 magnets on either side of the track to pull the couplers in opposite directions. One magnet mounted centrally will not work for MT couplers as they need to be pulled sideways rather than down.

 

Try using circular neodynium (rare earth) magnets. There are some that are 2mm diameter and 3mm thickness. These are perfect for wedging between the sleepers of peco track and can then be disguised by ballast and weathering. They do not need to sit on top of the sleepers.

 

In theory it should be possible to arrange these magnets in 2 rows, wedged between the sleepers, just outside the rails. I remember seeing someone doing this with Kaydees in 00 a few years back. In practice you would need to build a strip of test track with MT fitted stock to test the required number and spacing of the magnets.

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Rapido is the design of the actual coupler, as supplied as standard on all Farish models. They come in versions to fit the old coupler pockets (with springs) and to fit the NEM pockets (without springs), but they will couple to each other (sort of). Microtrains can be made to fit the old pockets but not the NEM pockets. We're hoping that the new coupling from Bachmann will fit both types.

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Hi woodenhead,and thanks for links, As reverting back to microtrains knuckle couplings, my track is laid and the shunting side isnt ballasted as yet.. could the magnet lay on the sleepers centrally or would it need to go under my board?as i dont really want to pull up any track to fit it.thanks in advance.

 

 

Hi BROADTRAIN1979. - No probs if your track is already laid. Use the MicroTrains 1310 uncoupling magnets which have the correct polarity arrangement for centrally mounting between the rails.

 

The 1310 magnet is supplied as a twin pack with each magnet being 50mm, (2inches), long. In my view these are rather too long to look ok when fixed between 'n' gauge rails. Snapping the magnets in half, (instructions for doing this are included within the pack), produces much better looking 25mm long magnets which are easily long enough to operate MicroTrains couplings successfully. You also have the advantage of producing 4 magnets per pack!

 

You may need to shave a thin sliver off the top of 5 or 6 track sleepers where the magnets are to be fitted so that the magnets sit just below rail height and don't foul any rolling stock.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Regards HC

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hi all

 

uncoupling / recoupling is a big must for me!

 

i've just built my first n gauge layout, and want to run trains into a terminus, uncouple and run out with a new loco. should be pretty standard. But the biggest problem i've found is how to uncouple!

 

i looked at the peco manual ones, which are not great.

 

i found these at an exhibition recently:-

they seem to work pretty well on wagons, trying coaches tonightany thoughts?

steve

post-12135-0-69351500-1309442262_thumb.jpg

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hi all

 

uncoupling / recoupling is a big must for me!

 

i've just built my first n gauge layout, and want to run trains into a terminus, uncouple and run out with a new loco. should be pretty standard. But the biggest problem i've found is how to uncouple!

 

i looked at the peco manual ones, which are not great.

 

i found these at an exhibition recently:-

they seem to work pretty well on wagons, trying coaches tonightany thoughts?

steve

 

 

Hi stevej,

 

Your (excellent) photo looks like the Fleischmann 22212 uncoupler available from Gaugemaster.

 

I don't have any personal experience of this item but if you have access to the 'N' Gauge Society journal there was an article in the May/June 2009 copy (3/09), entitled 'Coupling Critique' which covers various issues around the use of a very similar-looking Fleischmann 9112 uncoupler. It seems that either not lifting the couplings high enough to actually uncouple or, alternatively, lifting the whole vehicle off the track are the main concerns. Solutions to these problems are provided in the article.

 

Wanting to achieve what you describe above should be so straightforward but alas, as all we 'N' gauge folk know only too well, it is anything but!

 

Best Regards, HC

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