# Couplers



## Dave Kitch (Apr 20, 2021)

Most of my old locos and rolling stock have Rapido couplings. What are any recommendations on switching to Kadee couplings? Body or truck mounted?

DMK


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Actually, they are Micro Train couplers now, and most of the n scale cars made nowadays have truck mounted couplers…..

Micro Train Coupler Conversions


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

Kadee makes trucks with couplers, they are excellent replacements, can be gotten in period correct trucks, and have three shank lengths for various car lengths. They also come with adaptor kits for most brands. For older locomotives, there are various conversion kits that fill in the wide gaps in diesel pilots and put Kadees in steam locomotive pilots...








If it weren't for Kadee's efforts at these conversion kits...even one for that rather speedy steam donkey on the left...I doubt N scale would be where it is today.


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## vette-kid (May 2, 2020)

Do not believe Kadee does N scale

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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

shaygetz said:


> Kadee makes trucks with couplers, they are excellent replacements, can be gotten in period correct trucks, and have three shank lengths for various car lengths. They also come with adaptor kits for most brands. For older locomotives, there are various conversion kits that fill in the wide gaps in diesel pilots and put Kadees in steam locomotive pilots...
> View attachment 561838
> 
> If it weren't for Kadee's efforts at these conversion kits...even one for that rather speedy steam donkey on the left...I doubt N scale would be where it is today.


I think you missed that Kadee hasn’t made N scale couplers and trucks under that name for some time now (1990?)….


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## Mixed Freight (Aug 31, 2019)

Dave Kitch said:


> Most of my old locos and rolling stock have Rapido couplings. What are any recommendations on switching to Kadee couplings? Body or truck mounted?
> 
> DMK


*Old* rolling stock? *Rapido* couplers? You'll probably be far better off going with MTL (Micro-Trains Line) truck-mounted couplers. A lot of older equipment wasn't set up for body mounting.

Not saying it can't be done. It can take a fair amount of work to body-mount couplers on cars that aren't set up for them. And if you have a lot of cars you want to convert, well, you'll be doing it for a long time to come.


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Plus, I have found that in N scale, cars track better with truck mounted couplers….a big plus, as you don’t want to constantly be re-railing cars….


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## vette-kid (May 2, 2020)

Old_Hobo said:


> Plus, I have found that in N scale, cars track better with truck mounted couplers….a big plus, as you don’t want to constantly be re-railing cars….


Interesting, it's the other way around in HO. Glad you said that because I had been thinking of how to convert some to car mounted. 

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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

Old_Hobo said:


> I think you missed that Kadee hasn’t made N scale couplers and trucks under that name for some time now (1990?)….


Sorry...still stuck in 1978😉👍


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

vette-kid said:


> Interesting, it's the other way around in HO. Glad you said that because I had been thinking of how to convert some to car mounted.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk


Kadee...er...Micro trains...used to sell N scale car floor replacements with body mounted couplers. They did not sell well and were soon dropped. In the years since, their research has shown that body mounted couplers don't make a significant enough improvement to justify the work, and truck mounted couplers work just fine and do not noticably detract from the appearance of even the finest of detailed cars.


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

From the old timer's files....









The turn towards Micro-Trains started in the late 70s...









Somewhere in the late 80s the N scale line was made stand alone shortly before they introduced their Z scale line. Fun Fact: You used to be able to buy any of their N scale cars with Rapido couplers by adding a "R" suffix to the product number.


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## traction fan (Oct 5, 2014)

Dave Kitch said:


> Most of my old locos and rolling stock have Rapido couplings. What are any recommendations on switching to Kadee couplings? Body or truck mounted?
> 
> DMK


Dave;

Either body-mounted, or truck-mounted couplers will work. The key word in that sentence is "either." as in either one, or the other, but not both. A classic bad example is a body-mount on a locomotive and truck-mounts on the cars. When the loco tries to push the car into a siding, there is a lot of sideways force exerted by the loco's body-mounted coupler against the car's truck-mounted coupler, and the whole truck assembly its mounted to. The wheels of that truck can be pushed hard against, and up & over the outside rail. Tight curves, and reverse curves only exacerbate the problem. It depends on the curves your using. Anything much under 14"-16" radius may cause problems with some longer equipment. The super-sharp 9-3/4" and 11" curves of Atlas sectional track would practically require truck-mounted couplers. However, finding a current production locomotive with truck mounted couplers may be a long & fruitless search. Body-mounted couplers seem to be a standard feature on new locomotives, and some cars as well.
The file below has more info on couplers.

Traction Fan 🙂


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## vette-kid (May 2, 2020)

Good info regarding the MTL/Kadee connection. I did not know that

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## Dave Kitch (Apr 20, 2021)

shaygetz said:


> From the old timer's files....
> View attachment 561854
> 
> 
> ...





vette-kid said:


> Good info regarding the MTL/Kadee connection. I did not know that
> 
> Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk


Guys,

Great reply. New to the forum. Thanks for chiming in. Happy 4th from Pittsburgh, Pa.


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## GNfan (Jun 3, 2016)

*Just my opinion: *Yes, Micro-trains couplers certainly look more realistic (if a little oversized); and if I were building a switching layout like an Inglenook I'd want the no-touch decoupling they provide. But if Rapido's have a virtue it's that they stay coupled; and leaving "strings" of cars coupled with Rapido's and the "strings" coupled to locomotives and each other with Micro-trains isn't evil on a layout where "watching the trains go" is the primary consideration,


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

If you think Micro Train couplers are big, then you’ll have to agree that those old Rapido couplers are HUGE! 

But I agree, the old Rapidos stay coupled, no matter what….


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

B&R Industries put out a solid, reliable electromagnetic Rapido uncoupler that was fairly easy to install and pure genius in its simplicity. I wonder if they are still around...

I have a transition car...Rapido on one end, Kadee...er...Micro-Trains on the other...because I use both. If the car or loco is a vintage model, I tend to leave the Rapidos in place for nostalgia's sake...


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Yeah, I have left all the Rapidos on my Aurora Postage Stamp train set, but anything newer gets the Micro Trains….


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