NEM Coupling Pockets and Kadees, getting very annoyed.

[wollastonblue]

I have solved the problem on the NEM Pocket heights for the Mark 1s, by using the replacement bars from Keen Systems. However, the wagons have the some problem, by all having different heights. I currently have:

 

2 x Bachmann TTA

1 x Bachmann VDA

1 x Bachmann HEA

1 x Bachmann Brake Van

 

I invested in the height gauge from Kadee, and found that all the pockets are different heights. Does anyone have a solution to this?. I have radius 1 and 2 curves on my layout do NEM pockets are ideal, rather than fixing the kadees directly to the stock.

 

Any advice or help is gratefully received.

 

Cheers

 

 

 

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

The only one of those I have is the brake van, and they have been right on the height gauge.

 

Where a Bachmann vehicle comes fitted with a cranked tension lock in the NEM pocket, dropping the height is necessary for an NEM fitting Kadee. What I used to do was invert the pocket (the pocket location within the block is assymetric) and also not push it full home in the locator on the wagon. A little packing in the locator will maintain the correct position.

 

What I do now is file out inside the pocket to match the sides of the 'spade' of a no 5, insert that and secure with a dab of cyano. Easy to set right on the height gauge, and looks better than the NEM fitting version thanks to the thinner shank.

[Paul-H]

Hi

 

Some times the hight of the pocket can be adjusted by turning it over

 

You can also mod the kadee by folloing the advice given in this link

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=23617

 

Also with the wagons that have the couple attached with a screw you might find Kadee Number 5's fit

 

Paul

[cnw6847]

This is very annoying, what should be a 20 second job becomes a 1/2 hr + job.

 

I have glued shims of plasticard to get them to correct heights as mentioned in the link to the old rmweb site.

[DutyDruid]

Hi Guys.

 

Not sure if I'm suffering from the same problem or a different one. A couple of us at Fareham Club are experimenting with Kadees on various wagons. Mine are Bachmann 00, the other guy's are 0n30 Bachmann box cars from the US. We are experimenting with using small cylindrical Rare Earth Magnets to do the uncoupling rather than big slab magnets Kadee supply. His box cars are fitted with Bachmann's own version of the knuckle coupler and they seem to do their job well every time. My Bachmann vans with NEM pockets on the other hand are a nightmare.

 

For reasons I can't adequately explain, every time we push a pair of coupled UK vans over the large Kadee supplied under-track magnet something different happens. The biggest problem is that the coupling on one van in particular always seems to want to go the wrong way when it meets the magnetic field of the uncoupler, pushing the couplings "closed" onto each other rather than springing apart.

 

As for the Rare Earth Magnet experiment, when we offer the box cars to them they uncouple fairly easily and exactly as they should do, when we offer my pair of vans to them they literally rip the magnets out of the board (obvious background explanation - its an experiment, we haven't stuck them into the board, just drilled holes and pushed them in to begin with...)

 

Perhaps I ought to add that we are doing this on code 75 track so the uncoupling pins are just that 1/2mm closer to the magnets.

 

Anyone got any thoughts or ideas that might help here?

 

TIA

 

Elliott

[Gene]

Here are 3 pages that are very informative and helpful about mounting kaydees to UK stock. Oh...and definately buy the Kaydee height gauge...its multi-purpose and extremely useful!

 

Cheers

Gene

 

http://www.modelrailforum.com/forums/index.php?autocom=custom&page=Kadee-Resources

http://www.theplatelayers.org/KadeeBritish.pdf

http://www.ukmodelshops.co.uk/other/mti_article.shtml

[BR60103]

Elliott:

Are the uncoupling pins on your OO vans pointing the right way? They should be a bit to the side that they have to be pulled to. But not too much.

As far as I can tell, the NEM pocket hole top should be at the same height as the top surface of the TriAng style coupling. If there is a crank in the coupling, the pocket is mounted wrong. And it won't work with any of the European made NEM couplings, either.

I have a few of these wagons and I think I will have to rip the entire mounting off and use a different Kadee.

[davknigh]

I suspect the problem here is that NEM standards and Kadees are both for HO. Sometimes they work for 00 and often they do not :icon_frustrated: The link already quoted by Gene; http://www.theplatelayers.org/KadeeBritish.pdf is probably the most helpful in order to ensure that you get full value from your Kadees.

 

HTH

 

David

[cnw6847]

Of course theres also the problem of stock with steel axles which attract on the magnets and makes the wagons bounce over the magnet. Kadee produce non magnetic wheelsets for US stuff but none seem to be produced for UK market.

obtain a quantity of the earlier Bachmann metal wheelsets that have the plastic axle which solves this problem.

Dapol also used to make some.

 

I also find some wagons are a bit light and need a litle extra weight.

[frobisher]

I suspect the problem here is that NEM standards and Kadees are both for HO. Sometimes they work for 00 and often they do not

 

This statement is something of a red herring, given that the the NEM standards with regards coupling pocket height is for the placing of a non-scale/non-prototype item at a consistent height for interoperability and as such is equally consistent regardless of scale and that the Kadee couplings aren't actually scale items either. The NEM Kadees are made for models fitted with coupling sockets set according to the NEM standards. Not all models (regardless of scale) are suitable for sockets adhering to the standard, and some (mostly UK outline OO) have sockets placed at heights not adhering to the standard and hence do not operate correctly with height critical couplings plugged into them (such as the NEM Kadees). This is not a function of the scale of the model, but of the manufacture of the model.

[DutyDruid]

Are the uncoupling pins on your OO vans pointing the right way? They should be a bit to the side that they have to be pulled to.

 

Yes, we tried all that David. We swapped the couplers between the vans, we even removed the pockets and swapped them between vans as well. No matter what we tried and what coupling was on that van at any given time it always pulls the wrong way - even if it worked perfectly on another van :icon_frustrated: We even even removed the blocks that hold the pocket and re-fitted them pushed a little further round :icon_frustrated: :icon_frustrated:

 

And for Paddy:

This is not a function of the scale of the model, but of the manufacture of the model

 

Couldn't agree more Sir! Spent a lot of my working life struggling to resolve interoperability issues

 

Elliott

[Paul-H]

I don't know about the others but Bachmann fit 3 types of NEM coupler to their rolling stock and only one is about the right hight for Kadee's

 

They have Staight, Cranked and long cranked, the only one that is anywere near the NEM standard is the Straight one.

 

Its easy to see what coupling thay have fitted and its easy to only buy the correct rolling stock.

 

Mind you it dosen't help when they fit different hight couplings to the same item though, the 4MT Tank has staight at the front and cranked at the back.

 

With Hornby and Dapol I have only ever seen straight couplings being used so they should all be at about the right hight.

[shortliner]

This won't solve your differing height problem - but take a look at http://www.first4magnets.com/ - they do some very neat 3mm x 3mm x 3mm magnetic cubes - F4316 . These are just the right size to tuck against the rail web and pull the coupler pins across

[Butler Henderson]

Mind you it dosen't help when they fit different hight couplings to the same item though, the 4MT Tank has staight at the front and cranked at the back.

The Standard 4 tank is actually double depth in its cranking at the back and if you follow the construction of cranked Kadee shown at http://www.rmweb.co....hp?f=11&t=23617 then you need a double depth of padding pieces to get it to fit.

[Ron Solly]

This statement is something of a red herring, given that the the NEM standards with regards coupling pocket height is for the placing of a non-scale/non-prototype item at a consistent height for interoperability and as such is equally consistent regardless of scale and that the Kadee couplings aren't actually scale items either. The NEM Kadees are made for models fitted with coupling sockets set according to the NEM standards. Not all models (regardless of scale) are suitable for sockets adhering to the standard, and some (mostly UK outline OO) have sockets placed at heights not adhering to the standard and hence do not operate correctly with height critical couplings plugged into them (such as the NEM Kadees). This is not a function of the scale of the model, but of the manufacture of the model.

 

 

Fortunately in 00, some of those concerns have been taken up & the manufacturers are working towards a standard.

http://www.doubleogauge.com/standards/couplings.htm