Best solution to O gauge couplings?

[swiftbeam]

Hi,

 

I expect this has been done to death, has a great solution to O gauge couplings been found yet?

Would anybody be able to give me link to a good thread on this topic.

 

Thanks.

[roythebus1]

Kadee is the answer.

[brossard]

I used a pair of Kadees between my Heljan Gresley coaches.  These look prototypical since they had drop down knuckle couplings in life.

 

I can't see fitting Kadee to other stock, but maybe that's me.

 

IMO, the best solution is 3 link/instanter/screw link.  When I switched to O gauge from OO I was not going to submit myself to the same faff that I had to put up with the smaller scale for 30 years.  Proto couplings can be a PITA but, with practice and a simple homemade tool, are quite practical.

 

I recognize that people have all sorts of reasons that they can't use proto couplings, my point is that they can't be beat.

 

John

[F-UnitMad]

On 17/09/2022 at 21:06, swiftbeam said:

Hi,

 

I expect this has been done to death, has a great solution to O gauge couplings been found yet?

Would anybody be able to give me link to a good thread on this topic.

 

Thanks.

It probably has been, but in the 7mm Section rather that the Kit- & Scratch-building section. 👍

Depends what you mean by "a great solution", since that implies there is a problem to begin with. 

On my American O stuff the solution is naturally Kadees; looks and operates much like the real thing, end of story.

On my UK stuff I stick with 3-links, but the 'problems' there are that curve radius is limited before buffer-locking occurs - and that varies depending on length of locos and stock, and secondly not everyone likes the 'hand of god' effect when coupling  or uncoupling. So after-market auto-couplers have been developed which look and operate nothing like the real thing, but often still don't take into account tight radius curves - 'tight' being generally regarded as anything less than 6ft radius. There are ways to get short stock around curves as tight as 3ft radius or less even just with 3-links, but there is no O Scale equivalent of the 'universal' 4mm Tension Lock. Then again, it seems many people got into UK O Scale for precisely that reason  - I know I did!!

[Phill Dyson (onslaught832)]

I use Kadee’s  for coaching stock & 3 links for freight. More  recently I have been experimenting with homemade magnetic couplings for freight with good results, these do require the “hand of god“ to uncouple but couple automatically.

Phill

[Gilbert]

I use Sprat and Winkles on my 7mm Bakewell Street.

They give good "hands off" operation for a shunting puzzle layout and are relatively easy to set up compared with - say - Alex Jacksons. Also not as visible as Kadees - IMHO. I do use Kadees in 4mm but am also trying S&Ws on a new 4mm project.

Chris H

[Hibelroad]

The funny thing is that whenever I am at an exhibition looking at a layout of any scale I never notice the couplings. If you consciously look for them then you become aware of them but otherwise I don't think they are the problem some people would have you believe. Clearly 3 link are going to be the most realistic and are best for models which are shown as display items but on a layout I think it is far more sensible to take a pragmatic approach and use an alternative which allows for automatic coupling and avoids buffer lock. I find Kadees to be well engineered but there are cheaper alternatives such as S&W, its just a matter of what suits you best.

[F-UnitMad]

5 hours ago, Gilbert said:

Also not as visible as Kadees - IMHO

What got me into UK O was that I'd had a dabble in British HO (another story!!) and fitted everything with the 'scale size' Kadee #58. Not only did I not like the look of Kadees on UK '60s 4-wheel freight stock, I actually got a bit bored with auto coupling - which was strange as I don't get bored of it with my American stuff!! Maybe because it's prototypical in the USA, but wasn't in the UK.

For my UK stuff I found I wanted to use prototype couplings, but having tried 3-links in 4mm years ago, & being somewhat older, wasn't going down that route in HO!! So O scale it was. Yes sometimes they can be a faff, but I don't exhibit anyway.

 

As for 'hand of god', I'm not bothered by it even at shows. Even auto-couplers are un-realistic, in that there is no visible human interaction at all. Because like it or not, every form of real train coupling system involves human interaction at some point, either when coupling, uncoupling, or both!!

Edited September 19, 2022 by F-UnitMad

[brossard]

My feeling on the "hand of God" thing is that it is not all that unrealistic.  The real railway needed human intervention to couple and uncouple.  There is a disparity of scale between the stock and the human on the model but it doesn't jar with me.

 

I have exhibited my layout twice now and there are three of us.  Everyone seems happy to couple/uncouple the three links, although from time to time there are recalcitrant wagons that prove difficult - never impossible.  A lot of it is down to having a decent tool, patience and practice.

 

John

 

Edit:  one other thing.  When doing OO, I standardized on Kadee and they do work very well.  I always argued that all the other couplings were compromised (apart from proto and even these were usually overscale) in some way so Kadee are no better or worse than the others.

 

I never liked magnets so my solution was to use a pointed skewer to uncouple.  Hand of God again.

Edited September 19, 2022 by brossard

[Hal Nail]

Not quite the point of the question but related, if using 3 link, for stock where access to the hook is restricted (eg Lionheart mk1s, rear of Hattons LNER tender etc), Ive been thinking a simple solutìon is to just have a variety of "one link" loops that can be slipped on the hard to access hook (easier to do if only one loop, as rigid and thus self-supporting as you aim)! Wouldnt look any less prototypical than resorting to alternative types of coupling or more drastic modifications to allow access and can just be taken off again once not needed.