(if you have'nt guessed it yet...)
To free the masses from cheap plastic knockoffs of the original Kadee knuckle coupler using a variety of information including, but not limited to:
* Printed material on the subject. MR, by the way, put together an excellent article on couplers not long ago.
* Trial and (at times costly) error by many modelers worldwide, myself included.
How it Began:
A while back, a few companies looking to make a few extra bucks decided that Kadee's stronghold on the coupler market was to great. So, in true "butt brained" fashion, good companies like Mechenry, Intermountain, Life Like, Accurail and others all decided to use some excess plastic and create "their" vision on what a coupler should be. Then put some advertising together - "Tired of messing with little knuckle springs??" - for example, and then proceed to clutter otherwise fine models with garbage for modelers to deal with.
The glaring problem that these companies seem to ignore is the fact that theirs are PLASTIC. Whether they choose to call it "engineering", "acetal", "slippery", etc. - no matter - it's all just PLASTIC, not METAL. Coming soon, I'll have some scanned photos of plastic couplers that managed to fail due to a number of reasons - from molded-in springs failing or breaking altogether, Accumate's trip pins falling out anywhere they please all the way to coupler pulling faces shearing completely off of P2K's.
And no, we're not talking about extreme coupler abuse, either. The above incidents took place during normal usage, 15 - 20 car trains, occasional switching. Although I did make the mistake once of placing a plastic equipped hopper in the middle of a 40 car grain train with predictable results. Needless to say, the Livingston club is gifted with some excellent catchers, damage was minimal.
Solutions:
Ask any D.A.R.E. graduate - just say no.
After which, try these:
* Equip your models with Kadee couplers. For around 20 bucks you can convert 40 cars with good old #5 couplers. Some people will spend that kind of money on a boxcar this year. Yes, yes - but what about all the different heights, etc?? Hey, you'll do the same thing with plastic ones, right?? That's why Kadee makes a wide variety of metal couplers. Will they fail?? If you drop a model on end from 5+ feet onto the concrete floor chances are 50/50. The coupler might break or the coupler box itself might shear off the model. At that point, the rest of the model is trashed anyway, right?? I've had one such occurence thus far when MRL #351 took a nose dive from the bench. Bent the coupler shank at a perfect 90 degree angle. It also trashed evrything between the DB bulge to the pilot, including a bent frame. Other than that, all the other Kadees I own (some are almost 20 years old) work fine.
* Toss out your plastic couplers. Don't be a backside and pass them off to someone else. Send them back to the manufacturer and tell them why. I do still have a pile of them that I'm saving for a photo for this very page. After I scan it in, I'll either toss them or melt them into something useable.
* Warn your friends. Friends don't let friends use plastic knuckle couplers - drunk or sober.
Back home you go.....