2 years ago, on a visit to the NW Florida RR Museum, I bought 4 or 5 Accurail boxcars on clearance. They have knuckle couplers that don't open. I was going to replace them but the pins in the boxes are larger than anything I've ever seen. My other knuckle and hook horns won't fit. What can I do?
Strange. I've replaced Accumate couplers on Accurail cars with Kadee couplers without any problems at all.
I agree with Colin. I have replaced all non Kadee couplers on all of my cars and engines with either the 58 or 158 Kadee couplers. Sometimes the 58 return spring is too wide for a particular coupler box, but the 158 will work in that case. If nothing will fit into these coupler boxes, you can cut off the box and use either a Kadee coupler box, or go all the way with realism and get either the cushioned or non cushioned draft gear from Moloco models. Nick's draft gears are very well detailed, and he has several different car manufacturer specific cushioned and two non-cushioned draft gears. Terry Jankowski
Here's a photo of the coupler box, the original "junk" knuckle coupler and a hook horn for comparison. I do not want to replace the junk coupler with a hook horn. I only showed this one for comparison because it was handy. Notice how large the accurail pin is. What do I need to replace it with an economy knuckle coupler that actually opens and couples? - Brandon
Aha, they're not Accumate couplers but dummy couplers. Toss them. Didn't the kit also come with Accumate couplers? They look like this (ignore the draft box): http://www.accurail.com/accurail/ART/Details/1015.jpg Kadee couplers should also fit on that pin, looks about the right size to me.
Yes, they are dummy couplers. I bought 3 cars from a clearance rack at the NW FL RR museum in July 2012. I didn't realize they had dummy couplers. I bought them because they were fallen flags (IC & GM&O) and appeared to be RTR. I had never seen or heard of dummy couplers except maybe above the pilots of steam locos. So accurail knuckle couplers should work?
Good old Kadee #5 couplers will work in those coupler pockets, as will the newer Kadee #148 couplers that have the built-in spring whiskers instead of the phosphor-bronze separate spring.
Yes, Accurail's knuckle couplers (Accumates) will work, but Kadee couplers are much better -- you get what you pay for. Actually, if you really want Accurail couplers I'll send you some for the price of postage, but I live in Sweden so it's not super cheap: as many as I can fit in 50 grams (just under 2 ounces) for $2.50 Cheers, Colin
