Nice update - thanks. I'm not looking to shunt my suburban coaches individually, so I've gone for Bachmann Coach Pipe Couplings to create fixed coach sets, then added Kadees at the ends of each rake. I find these Pipe couplings are a good balance between looking pretty realistic and being very reliable (regardless of NEM pocket heights).
bartoncessna1 that’s a point! I’d forgotten about those, although I’m not sure if they would work for me. I’m wondering if fixed formation sets are the way to go, as I doubt I’m going to end up shunting and changing the sets round. I may try the Hunt couplings though, as they will let me take coaches out of the trains by hand if I need to, and also will be fairly forgiving of differing NEM pocket heights. Wagons are obviously a different story....
Kadee 18's. Once you try them you'll never go back. Pop a neodimium magnet under each rail in the cork before you ballast and you can uncouple - works every time. Mark the end of a sleeper or some such so you have a visual reference where they are. If you stop over the magnet you can shove the van/wagon/ coach without recoupling. Bit of practice and off you go. I love them.
Alan Hudson to be honest I was just going to use their magnets and place them in the track. Not really sure about using the neodymium magnets as I don’t want to disrupt the track too much if I can help it!
Interesting stuff mate. Have experimented myself in the past with coupling spacing between stock. It's a bit of a minefield. Layout is looking great, really like the coal drops.
Tell me about it! I'm still debating whether to keep my coaching stock in fixed formations or have the facility to split them at will. Coal drops I think are going to be rebuilt and extended, as I've had more information on what they actually looked like at Richmond
Scott Malcolm think I’m going to buy a pack of the Hunt couplings and see how I get on with them. I might as well try some of the other couplings too that fit in the NEM pockets just for a proper comparison
Hi There, the problem I have with changing to KD couplings is that I have 30 locos, 25 coaches and 136 wagons so would have to take out a second mortgage to use them.
Peter Watson yeah that wouldn’t be cheap! I currently have more coaches than wagons, and only a handful of locos, but I’m changing over as and when I can afford it. Two or three packs of couplings a month won’t break the bank and each pack has two pairs.
For me I will probably go with kadee's for stock that I want to shunt. However I will look at trying Dinghams as there auto uncoupling system looks interesting
Michael Henfrey the Dingham system looks interesting, and is relatively cheap to buy, but it still requires assembly and setting up, and the vehicles need modification IE removal of the existing dummy coupling hook to be fitted, whereas Kadees, while they’re expensive, don’t require modification of the vehicle if they have NEM pockets
I find with different types of couplings it all depends if you have set curves or not if you got K-des on or screw couplings for Ho-Oo my layout I have Filex track to make my own curves which is easier Bill
I’m sorry, I’m not entirely sure I understand. I used flexi track for Richmond, and Kadee couplings are designed to work with any curves, whether they’re setrack or flexible. So no, it doesn’t depend at all.
Nice update - thanks. I'm not looking to shunt my suburban coaches individually, so I've gone for Bachmann Coach Pipe Couplings to create fixed coach sets, then added Kadees at the ends of each rake. I find these Pipe couplings are a good balance between looking pretty realistic and being very reliable (regardless of NEM pocket heights).
bartoncessna1 that’s a point! I’d forgotten about those, although I’m not sure if they would work for me. I’m wondering if fixed formation sets are the way to go, as I doubt I’m going to end up shunting and changing the sets round. I may try the Hunt couplings though, as they will let me take coaches out of the trains by hand if I need to, and also will be fairly forgiving of differing NEM pocket heights. Wagons are obviously a different story....
Kadee 18's. Once you try them you'll never go back. Pop a neodimium magnet under each rail in the cork before you ballast and you can uncouple - works every time. Mark the end of a sleeper or some such so you have a visual reference where they are. If you stop over the magnet you can shove the van/wagon/ coach without recoupling. Bit of practice and off you go. I love them.
Alan Hudson to be honest I was just going to use their magnets and place them in the track. Not really sure about using the neodymium magnets as I don’t want to disrupt the track too much if I can help it!
Interesting stuff mate.
Have experimented myself in the past with coupling spacing between stock.
It's a bit of a minefield.
Layout is looking great, really like the coal drops.
Tell me about it! I'm still debating whether to keep my coaching stock in fixed formations or have the facility to split them at will. Coal drops I think are going to be rebuilt and extended, as I've had more information on what they actually looked like at Richmond
I use kadees on my stock. I will be using the Hunt couplings though on my HST sets.
Scott Malcolm think I’m going to buy a pack of the Hunt couplings and see how I get on with them. I might as well try some of the other couplings too that fit in the NEM pockets just for a proper comparison
Hi There, the problem I have with changing to KD couplings is that I have 30 locos, 25 coaches and 136 wagons so would have to take out a second mortgage to use them.
Peter Watson yeah that wouldn’t be cheap! I currently have more coaches than wagons, and only a handful of locos, but I’m changing over as and when I can afford it. Two or three packs of couplings a month won’t break the bank and each pack has two pairs.
All you need to do is make some conversion wagons with a kadee on one end and a tension lock on the other end.
For me I will probably go with kadee's for stock that I want to shunt. However I will look at trying Dinghams as there auto uncoupling system looks interesting
Michael Henfrey the Dingham system looks interesting, and is relatively cheap to buy, but it still requires assembly and setting up, and the vehicles need modification IE removal of the existing dummy coupling hook to be fitted, whereas Kadees, while they’re expensive, don’t require modification of the vehicle if they have NEM pockets
Very nice mate, not sure about that bloke at the start of the video 🤣
Waterloo with Mat thanks dude
I find with different types of couplings it all depends if you have set curves or not if you got K-des on or screw couplings for Ho-Oo my layout I have Filex track to make my own curves which is easier Bill
I’m sorry, I’m not entirely sure I understand.
I used flexi track for Richmond, and Kadee couplings are designed to work with any curves, whether they’re setrack or flexible. So no, it doesn’t depend at all.
Great progress. Would be very happy to talk tomorrow over decoder systems - it should be simple. PM me.
JohnPW22 I will do, thank you