> On my layout now there is a 40 car all brass freight train.
> Here is what has happened to me using Kadees.
> I have broken a knuckle.
> I have torn apart a Kadee coupler box - ripped it in half right at the screws.
> A car or 2 at the front of the train regularly have they shank stuck out
> because the coupler box separates open.
> Bill Lane
Gents...
It is interesting to compare situations like this. On the mighty NYC, I once
pulled a 96-car train of mixed brass, zamac, wood, plastic, resin and gosh
knows what else. Mostly KD#5 couplers with a few KD#802. It ran around for
maybe 30 minutes (several laps around the mainline loop) without incident. All
the couplers held tight and functioned as one would expect. The A-B-B lashup
of SHS diesels worked fine except for some minor wheel slippage right at the
steepest part of the uphill 1.6% grade.
I suspect the only reason we could not reach 100 cars was that the diesels were
painted WP orange/silver. I am sure that with genuine NYC lightning stripes,
pulling a 100-car train would have been accomplished. But Larry Hanlon (or was
it Ken Reiter?) wanted to run his WP units that day and the visitors always
have priority.
Personally, I don't think any coupler can match the Kadee brand in operation.
Other S couplers might, some day, excel in the cosmetic department, but that
day has not yet arrived. It will come eventually, I'm sure. Kadee is steadily
improving the appearance factors of their own couplers and so the degree of
improvement might not be as great next year as it is today.
Just musing....Ed L.
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