I guess it's about time I added my useless comments.
Somehow, a 10 percent overage in the proportions of a coupler doesn't seem that
significant to me when we routinely:
a.. employ curvatures that are 500% or more too sharp to be prototypical. In
flatland, a sharp curve is 6 degrees -- about 180 inch radius in S. Without
superelevation, the maximum comfortable speed around a six-degree curve is 28
mph, according to Canadian National Rys. engineering documents. Maximum safe
speed is 37 mph, and overturning speed is 68 mph. In mountain territory, where
sharper curves are used, a 12-degree curve (the maximum used by Canadian
Pacific) still works out to about 90-inch radius. Without superelevation, the
maximum safe speed around such a curve is 26 mph. Overturning speed is 48 mph.
A 36-inch radius curve in S is about 30 degrees. Note that even the narrow
gauge Silverton branch uses a maximum of 24 degrees (45-inches in S).
b.. hand lay track without a semblance of tieplates, with 3-4 spikes per.
Tieplates are essentially mandatory on any line that would be used as often and
carry loads as heavy as we typically use ours.
c.. omit fishplates. If you want to talk about scale appearance, how many of
us have six-bolt fishplates connecting our rails? Real railroads differ in
their practices as to how the bolts are to be positioned (facing in, facing out
or a combination). How many of us cut our track into 39-foot rails (I'm
talking steam era here) and stagger the joints as per North American practice?
d.. employ oversize rails. Prototype-size rail, scaled down, has previously
been reported as being too weak in the web to support S scale equipment.
Regardless of height, commercial rail is too fat. (A friend recently remarked,
"John, you hair is thinning." Well," I replied, "who wants fat hair?")
How many of us limit our turnouts to a #8 frog minimum? #8-10 is a yard size.
Most Class 1 railroads were replacing their #8s with #10s in yards as long ago
as the 1930s because of longer equipment. Main line turnouts are a lot longer.
(Prototype rule of thumb: Maximum speed through a turnout is twice the frog
size.)
Some of the above things are fixable, some are not, unless you own a warehouse
to build your layout in and have a bevy of serfs to maintain it.
Do you use Proto:64 wheelsets? These, although still out of scale, are closer
to the ideal.
In my experience, track, and not couplers, is an instant give-away in photos of
our model layouts. Of course, photos that include any kind of scenery
instantly tell us it's a model. Scenery is the biggest visual compromise on
our systems. (By the way, here on the west coast, the shortest local mountain
peak arising straight up from the sea is 4,150 feet high -- almost 65 feet in S
scale. How high are your mountains?)
I venture to say the most carefully constructed car, structure or scenic object
on any of our layouts, prize-winners included, will have something not
prototypical about it, whether in dimension or omission.
To reply to a previous comment, it is my understanding those wide draft gear
boxes were intended to allow our semi-automatic couplers to get around our
sharp curves without derailing the equipment. The fix is simple -- replace the
offending box with some scratch-building at the end sill. Attach the coupler
shank itself directly to the bottom of the car, just like with a dummy coupler.
You will still have the operating knuckle and won't have to worry about an
accordion effect. You will need to scratchbuild a centering device if that is
important to you.
It is laudable to want to make things better, to right wrongs of any kind.
Although there is no such thing as perfection, the pursuit of it is admirable.
But that pursuit does not involve endless debates on a chat group.
regards ... pqr
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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