Bachmann Rolling Stock

(remember: links to sub-pages at the bottom of this page)

click to jump to the bottom

Not a lot of notes here, since I model 1:29 and the transition era.

The most famous "G" scale Bachmann product is the "Big Hauler" train set which is in it's 7th version I believe, and about 1:24. The "Big Hauler" sets of battery powered, and later track powered old time ten wheeler and cars, loop of track and tiny transformer are pretty well known.

After this success, Bachmann started making a quality line of basically exact scale 1:20.3 narrow gauge rolling stock. It's definitely not cheap toy like junk, but great detail and fidelity to scale. It's also no longer inexpensive.

On the "Big Hauler" stuff, use Kadee 831's, and cut of the thinner part of the tang. Line up the existing screw hole in the tang with the hole in the 831, and bingo.

On the scale products, most people will body mount Kadee #1 scale couplers, or scale knuckles.

Be aware that the older "Big Hauler" locos and cars are not very well made or sturdy, and this includes the trucks and wheels.

Aristo-Craft Rolling Stock

(remember: links to sub-pages at the bottom of this page)

click to jump to the bottom

Overall:

Aristo-Craft was one of the largest manufacturers of 1:29 rolling stock. Since Aristo is out of business, I assume USA Trains is second, and the newcomer AML is third. Overall, Aristo-Craft hadslightly lower cost in the box, but you need to realize they shiped with plastic wheels except for special runs and a few specific cars.

Their fidelity to scale and the graphics are good quality, on par with their competitors (except for some detail items grossly out of scale). Specifically, the paint schemes and fidelity are almost always very good, but sometimes Aristo often picks an unusual example of a prototype to model. 

Often the cars and locos sit too high. It used to be very gross, but it is improving. See the section below on lowered floors on freight cars.

Overall, the level of detail is lower than USAT and AML. Aristo is a good choice for lowest INITIAL cost (save $$ mostly because of plastic wheels), or you would rather have less detail (or out of scale door latches for example) in exchange for rolling stock that can take rougher handling.

If absolute cost is less of an issue, you like higher and finer detail, or have Kadees, or use metal wheels, I would in general recommend the USAT or AML freight cars. I only run metal wheels, and anyone who runs track power will tell you plastic wheels are junk. Personally I look for the product from USAT and AML first, then if they don't have it, I look to Aristo. 

Another factor in deciding if Aristo is for you is coupler mounting. Aristo is improving in this aspect, but older products are a nightmare for mounting Kadees.

Looks, paint, details

Aristo freight cars are nice looking, good graphics, and nicely priced. They are 1:29 scale and follow the prototype well. (The 4 axle and old "Delton" cars are not 1:29)

Aristo has often minimized or scaled up details, ostensibly so that they sustain less damage in derailments and handling. This could be a good or bad thing. If you crash your cars or have clumsy people handle them, the larger door latches and other details are a good thing. If you are concerned about scale appearance, you will like the AML or USAT cars better. Aristo is lower priced than USAT Ultimate series, although you need to include the cost of adding metal wheels when comparing.

Early cars sit way too too high.

Many cars "wobble" (can be corrected easily)

Quality control: For 18 years, the underfloor was been reversed 180 degrees. Early in 2008, it was fixed, but then in late 2008, it was back reversed. Aristo has apparently re-corrected the problem. How tough can this be to remain correct? This was despite many complaints.

Notice here I am not talking about the older lines of cars in both manufacturers, the old Delton 1:24 stuff from Aristo, and the earlier line freight cars from USAT, only the "Ultimate" series with metal wheels. I'm also ignoring the pre-China manufactured cars, they have other quirks.

Wheel Replacement

One big negative, virtually all Aristo cars came with plastic wheels.

The story from Aristo is that people wanted cheaper cars (So why does USAT sell like hotcakes?) so they outfitted them with plastic, and you buy the metal wheels separately and they are still cheaper than USAT.

Goofy logic, obviously if you did not have to buy 2 sets of wheels for every car, the car with metal wheels from the factory would be cheaper. And you can't compare the Aristo to the USAT freight cars, there is more workmanship and finer detail on the USAT stuff.

To top it off, the replacement metal wheels from Aristo are over scale. The USAT are very close to 33" and the AML are EXACTLY 33".

The cheapest metal wheel solution is Bachmann #92421 "31.0 mm Larger Metal Wheel Set". You may get a few ones that wobble, but on the whole good deal for the money. These are somewhat blackened, like a "black chrome".

I would recommend the USAT wheels are replacements. I like the AML wheels, but they are sintered steel and rust easily and have a rough surface with a coating that is often paint.

Note: if you have Aristo roller bearing trucks, the tips of the axles may be knurled to help retain the simulated bearing caps. If you try to remove the wheelsets to replace with metal wheels, this knurling will score and damage the brass bushing the axle rides in. The early roller bearings did not have knurling. Newer ones have knurling. The knurling was added to better secure the plastic caps. It seems that the newer roller bearing trucks with plastic wheels have knurled axle tips.

Couplers

Truck mounting Kadees:

Kadee recommends 909/831 couplers, they bolt right on. The can be a tight fit, the back of the draft gear often rubs on the plastic axles. These are large offset couplers, with the attendant problems of large offsets and long trains. See my coupler page about this.

The screw hole in the tang on the truck does not quite line up with the hole in the Kadee coupler... using the longer silver screw in the 831 kit, it works, but be sure to check with the Kadee coupler height gauge to make things right.

You can fit other Kadees with zero offset, but they are more work.

Body mounting Kadees:

This is a problem with Aristo, and they have been a pain to do for years. There is some light on the horizon, the recen 2 bay hopper cars are almost there.

There are several versions of Aristo underbodies:

• The earliest versions result in cars that sit way too high, don't even bother, but buy the replacement lowered floors from Aristo.
• The first version of lowered floors, where the car sits at pretty much the right height, but there is a weird transverse rib in the middle of the coupler mounting pad (for the standard Kadee 830 G scale coupler), plus some of the center frame rib usually needs to be removed.
• The second lowered version has some of the center frame rib removed, and the tranverse rib has been replaced with 2 curved ribs. This ribs are also at the wrong height, and will have to be trimmed down. You can see this trimming on my page on the covered hopper car, and Ted's page on the DD box cars.

The transverse rib was there to keep the stock truck-mount couplers from riding up.

None of the standard cars have an easy way to body mount Kadee couplers.(one newer production product is better)

Please see Ted Doskaris' article on body mounting in this section.

On the newer cars, there is a mounting pad that was obviously designed for the standard Kadee 830/906 coupler
but:

• the height of the pad is wrong
• the screw holes are in the wrong spot (too close to the end of the car

Apparently Kadee 820 (#1 scale) do not need the pad trimmed, but just the holes re-drilled, but I do not recommend the #1 gauge couplers, most people have too much trouble with them being smaller.  

Here's a site with some Kadee conversions for Aristo cars: http://members.westnet.com.au/susprog/CouplingConversions.htm

All couplers:

Notice that if you are using the stock plastic wheels (ugh) or Bachmann metal wheels, they have a thick plastic axle and it can rub on the back of the Kadee draft gear box. First, since the screw hole is larger than the diameter of the screw, try to tighten the coupler down while pushing the draft gear away from the axle. If that does not give enough clearance, grind away the back of the draft gear box.

Notice that since the truck is sprung, when the springs are compressed the axle gets nearer the draft gear box. When you are working with the car on its back and unloaded, you have more clearance than when it is on the rails, so don't miss this or the extra drag will be noticable!

Finally, the replacement metal wheels from Aristo are slightly different in diameter, so fit your final wheels before mounting  couplers or you will making new shims!

Cars Wobble from side to side

Many cars "wobble" from side to side. There is a thin washer between the truck and the bolster. Remove the truck, take out the washer, put the truck back on, and then center the washer carefully on the bolster pin, then replace the screw. Be careful, there is just enough of the bolster pin sticking up to get the washer to stay in place. If you let it slide out of place and screw it down, you will interfere with free pivoting of the truck, and score the top of the bolster pin.

How to tell the differences between the 2 generations of lowered floors:

There are 2 generations of lowered floors. The 2nd generation floors have 2 curved ribs in the coupler pad area, the 1st generation floor just has a plain pad, or a pad with a single transverse rib. (This transverse rib was apparently an attempt to limit upward motion of truck mounted couplers)

Another difference is tha the 2nd generation cars have part of the center spine or rib cut away so that if you reverse the trucks 180 degrees, the coupler tang will not hit the center spine (although most people converting to body mount couplers cut the tang off entirely).

For more information, consult Ted's vignette on this site: http://www.elmassian.com/trains/ted-doskaris-vignettes/lowered-floors-for-40-cars

General Tips

The springs in the trucks are identical to the springs in the hook and loop couplers provided. They can rust pretty easily, so spray them with armorall, or drip some plastic-compatible oil on them.

 DO NOT use the Aristo "electralube" which is not plastic compatible, even though it is still advertised as such. It's destruction of truck sideframes is well documented on the Aristo forum. Aristo has since changed the formulation on the 2 axle freight cars to a form of nylon, but apparently not all trucks or the passenger cars.

Sub-Pages

Click the links below to go "deeper" into details on individual rolling stock by Aristo Craft

Couplers, Which to use? How do they perform? What choices are there?

(remember: links to sub-pages at the bottom of this page)

click to jump to the bottom

Overview:

When I first got a loop of track up, I tried to run a train... I had a USA F3 A & B, a Bachman Shay, a USA Trains ribbed streamliner car, an Aristo box car, and some old Bachman cars.

Oops, 3 different kinds of couplers.... nothing hooked up to anything!

Every person new to G scale finds this out right away!

OK take the weird loop things off the F3 and put the supplied knuckles on it... whoops, the Aristo knuckles and the USA ones don't mate... stuff is at different heights, the loops look like toys, and I got a look at VERY large LGB knuckle couplers. What the heck?

The hook and loops were out for me, for many reasons, one is that they are butt-ugly!

So, all knuckles, which to choose. Whoo boy! Everyone has an opinion, this is better, that is better. No simple answer collecting opinions.

But, looking a little closer, this is just like the early days of other scales, only one company makes conversion kits and has magnetic uncoupling. So, I said  the heck with it, no one will ever agree, and Kadees worked in every other scale I was in. 

For me, who wants reliability and wanted to run long trains and have remote uncoupling, there's really no other answer, and I'm glad of my decision, but below is a discussion that may help you if you REALLY want to agonize over the decision ha ha!

Note: 10 years later, most people have standardized on Kadees.

Information on this page:

First, there is a lot of information on this page, please do NOT miss the discussion at the end of the page of body mount vs truck mount couplers, one of the most important things to understand and that REALLY affects the reliability of running longer trains and backing up trains

First, common types of couplers:

Hook & Loop

This was the first (and kind of only) "standard" coupler for "G scale".

USAT, Aristo, LGB, and most other brands in 1:20.3, 1:24, 1:29 scales provide these as standard.

They are big, ugly, look nothing like the prototype, and cheap, since they are almost always provided.

There are remote uncoupling ramps, I only know of the one from LGB. It sort of works, and is iffy outside.

They have a hook on at least one car in addition to the loop. You can have hooks on both cars too. They are pretty darn reliable when "double hooked", but ugh!

When you "double hook" it's almost impossible to get cars back apart, since you have to "depress" BOTH hooks at the same time.

Aristo H&L do not work with the LGB uncoupler, due to the narrow design of the end of the hook. You can drill the end and put a pin in it to make it wider (tip from Dan Pierce). The Bachmann, USAT, HLW, Playmobil, and of course LGB all work fine since they have a "T" shaped end.

The advantages are rugged, resistant to uncoupling, handle rough track, and can work on very tight curves.

The disadvantages are pretty much huge, ugly, using double hooks can cause derailing problems, hard to take apart, and not all brands work well together.

There is a compact form of this coupler called Kuplix, where the loop is much narrower. Seems silly, since one big advantage of this coupler is working on sharp curves, and clearly narrowing the loop negates this.

Aristo Knuckles

Aristo-Craft has made several versions of it's knuckle coupler. The latest incarnation has an extra "shelf" under the knuckle which effectively keeps couplers from riding up over each other under tension. (as long as BOTH couplers have them!)

Even within the "shelf" type there seems to be an older one, that says "ARR" on top of most of them, the newest type say "ART-B". There is a difference in the thickness of the knuckle and these two different types do not mate perfectly, you will notice this by being harder to couple.

The shelf is great for long trains, or uneven trackwork though, since the couplers cannot override each other.

Supposedly, you can use the LGB uncoupling ramp, but many people say it does not work. There is a manual one which is ok for outside, and a remote one, which is not weatherproof.

These were an OK coupler to standardize on if you didnt't need remote uncoupling. I would say good, but late in Aristo-Craft history, the coupler quality got spotty, and the couplers pull apart more often. Often you have to really bang cars together to get them to couple. They will age and get less reliable as they get older.

They work ok with Kadees, i.e. they will stay coupled, and will sometimes automatically couple. 

The down side is even with ones in good condition, you have to bang the cars together to couple them. To uncouple, you cannot lift one car out, since the "chin plate" will stop this, you must manually trigger the uncoupler, and make some space between adjacent cars.

Since Aristo is gone, I would not recommend these, change them out.

The Aristo "Kuppler"

This was an abortion. Lewis Polk stated in his forum that this design could possibly become the new standard. Hahahaha. The first ones even had the knuckle opening the wrong way:

(From Dave Winter, 11/25, Aristo forum)
 Re: Your statement that your new coupler "will not" mate with a Kadee product.

Surely this must be a misprint. Any body mounted coupler that looks and works similar to a 1:1 coupler, and is mounted at the right height, should automatically couple with a Kadee product. No problems. Unless the knuckles are facing the other way of course....???

Whatever the outcome of your experiment it's good news of a sort. Uncoupling was never a problem for me. I spent 8 years converting everything I bought to Aristo couplers before I got tired of having to smash the cars together with such force that the paint fell off. A good coupler latches without even causing the second car to move.

Looking forward to pictures.

 

Dear Dave,

Yes, it opens in the opposite direction, but does match our regular coupler. So..neither one matched the other brand anyway. As I said, we were not looking to knock it off, but create a new concept.

All the best,
Lewis Polk

Yeah, seems like a mean jab to a company that went bankrupt, but the arrogance was just plain unbelievable, and the attitude endured by people like me is finally gone but not forgotten. This is what arrogance gets you, bankruptcy and retirement.

USA Knuckles

These are just OK in my opinion. I don't have a lot of experience using them long term. I have about 50 USAT cars, and I converted them all to Kadee right away. Most people who standardize on them have bought mostly USAT cars. Most reports are that they work well enough, you need to operate them manually. They do not work super well with other knuckle couplers. They seem to "age" well. I found the mechanism to be sometimes "sticky" and the big problem is that they are not at the "standard" height that other manufacturers seem to follow (the Kadee gauge). The metal parts seem to stick in the plastic parts. Just not reliable and when they did not couple well with others, I 86'd them.

No reliable remote uncoupling either.

LGB Knuckles

LGB makes knuckle couplers, they are huge and the knuckle "head" swivels. Really not popular with anyone. Most LGB people stay with the 4' diameter toy like curves and need the hook and loops.

AML Knuckles

AML is a relative newcomer, making beautifully scaled and detailed rolling stock, and supplies a body mount and truck mount knuckle that works ok, but has pretty much the same problems as the USAT ones, the metal drop link sticks and does not function reliably. But they aren't too bad, but you might as well go Kadee if you standardize, more options, more draft gear, and AML parts availability is iffy.

Kadees

Saving the best for last.

If you are going to standardize, or if you want remote uncoupling, this is for you. A very large selection of couplers, custom conversion kits for difficult locomotives, and the famous Kadee delayed uncoupling.

The downsides of Kadees are that you need to get coupler height spot on for best operation. Also, under tension, due to the molding relief on the inside of the knuckle, the couplers can ride over each other and come apart.

These issues can be minimized and/or completely eliminated by:

• Body mounting - truck mounted couplers have that nice long "tang" back to the truck, and you always have some play in the truck, so this lets the couplers move up and down.
• Filing the inside of the knuckle flat with a small round file. This is a pain to do, and you must be careful to hold the file perpendicular and to not file off the ridge on the inside of the knuckle that keeps the couplers from springing open when moving under tension over an uncoupling magnet.

For long trains, or backing trains, truck mounted couplers suck anyway, so go to body mounts. If you have sharp curves (under 8 foot diameter), then truck mounted couplers are something you will have to live with. But most people do not run long trains with sharp curves, so you will probably be ok.

My opinion is to go to body mounts for 8 foot or greater curves if you have 40 or 50 foot cars. Longer cars will want larger curves. The standard body mount coupler is the 906/830.

Body mounting on locomotives is very helpful also, no sweat on a steam tender, but on long diesels it can be a problem with sharp curves. You can make the car right after the diesel have a coupler with more swing, see the Kadee kits.

There are 2 different sizes, "G" scale and #1 scale. Virtually all cars that have the Kadee body mount already are at the right height for the G scale. You will have to shim the coupler for the #1 scale.

Many people have reported and complained about the coupler trip pin. The standard height for this pin is 1/8" above the rails. I will tell this to anyone's face, if your trip pin hits the rails, you did a lousy job of mounting the coupler or your trackwork is terrible. I submit that fixing your installation and/or trackwork will improve many other things besides coupler problems. 

Get the Kadee height gauge, it's cheap, and will make your trains a lot more fun to run. 

In late 2009 Kadee announced and shipped a new style coupler, which looks more realistic, better hides the knuckle return spring. The knuckle now pivots at a different point. I have done preliminary testing with a 50 car freight, all locos on the front, up my 3.4% grade with not problems. I'm impressed so far, in the process of retrofitting all my rolling stock (just because they look better)

Kadee has also come out with a servo operated coupler, basically a small R/C servo with a small chain between the servo arm and the coupler knuckle. Works well, too expensive especially with their goofy remote.

But you can mount a servo yourself and if you are DCC like me, many DCC decoders have a servo output. So all it costs you is a $5 servo and time to mount.

Final word, go body mounts if possible, and also read Ted's excellent vignette, referenced below.

Be sure to check out Camarillo Pacific, who make 3d printed mounts for locos and cars that make the mounting SOOO much easier: https://www.camarillopacific.com/

Truck vs body mounting of couplers:

This is an important subject, and the method of mounting couplers RADICALLY affects appearance and operational reliability.

Truck mount

For years, the "common wisdom" was truck mount couplers. This is where the coupler is mounted to a "tang" on the truck assembly. The idea is that sharp curves make a coupler mounted to the body of a loco or car go way off the track centerline.

With truck mount couplers, the coupler pretty much stays centered between the rails, thus coupling on a sharp curve became more possible.

Unfortunately, while it might look better on sharp turns, truck mount couplers cause other problems:

The first issue is that the tension of pulling the train is transmitted through the coupler to the truck, and turns the trucks the against the curve. This causes a lot of friction. This is the biggest reason to not use truck mounted couplers.

Next, because the force of pulling the train is pulling on the tang of the truck, this will pull the tang up or down, and this will make the coupler height vary according to load. This will cause couplers to "override" each other and disconnect. Many couplers have been re-engineered to combat this, but it still causes problems, especially with Kadee couplers or any coupler that is a reasonable rendition of a knuckle (prototype) coupler. In the case of Kadees, the uncoupling arm can be pulled below the railhead and catch on switches, big problem!

Also, because the coupler swings from side to side, you have to make a large, unsightly notch in the end of the car that looks terrible, not like the real thing at all.

Body mount:

This is the way the real railroads do it. It transmits the tension of pulling the train from the couplers through the body, and does not put any twisting forces on the wheels and trucks, so the trains track better and have less rolling resistance.

Body mount also gives a more secure mount for the coupler, so the alignment of the coupler is rock solid and does not vary under tension.

What are the downsides:

Overly sharp curves (under 8 foot diameter) will cause the couplers to hang out over the rails (with the end of the car) and can cause issues. Long cars will have this issue on tight curves, as well as very long diesels.

Long cars and locos will also need smooth VERTICAL transitions since a long car over a short "bump" will change from level. Of course all of this is no issue with smooth trackwork transitions both vertically and horizontally.

Which do I want?

Unless you have all 4 foot curves, and/or only short trains, body mount is the way to go. Period.

A note on "center set" couplers

This subject is important mostly to people who use Kadee couplers. In it's quest to make simple replacement couplers for almost all rolling stock, Kadee has made couplers where the knuckle is "offset" from the shank of the coupler.

Aside from the terrible appearance, this becomes a really big problem when pulling significant loads, as the coupler forces tend to flex the coupler head down. This is particularly heinous with Kadees since it not only causes coupler overriding and disconnections, but the metal coupler arm that is supposed to ride 1/8" above the rail head, will also be pulled down below the rail head, and catch in a switch or crossing with usually disastrous results.

Sub-Pages

Click the links below to go "deeper" into details on coupler topics

Rolling Stock Mods & Tips

(remember: links to sub-pages at the bottom of this page)

click to jump to the bottom

Overview

In this section, there are all kinds of modifications and tips, organized by the manufacturer of the rolling stock, just click on the menu subcategories on the left.

Be sure to check out the Misc. Rolling Stock section, there is some fun stuff there, like a "track sweeper" car and a  wireless "speedometer" car.

Improving the reliability of your rolling stock, in general

There are a number of factors that affect this. It's wise to check over each piece of rolling stock for the following items. It's surprising what you will find if you check these things at least once. Over time, remember that things break, and go out of whack.

Car Weight

I'm still compiling what I will use as a standard, but many cars seem to be a bit light.

What I do know now is light cars "stringline" in long trains on curves, and derail easily when backing. Weight costs money in materials, so many inexpensive cars are very light.

When I first started, I had a lot of derailing, and I started investigating. While I found many other things to adjust / repair / improve, I also found that car weight was very important.

The USAT (ultimate) cars had proven more reliable for me out of the box than Aristo and others. So I started comparing.

The USAT trucks are heavier and have the weight closer to the rails because of the SS axles and the weight of the wheels themselves.

The weight on USAT 40 foot box cars is 3lbs 1oz, the 40 foot reefer is 2lbs 14 oz.

The weight on Aristo 40 box cars is 2lbs 6oz, the 40 foot stock car is 2lbs 5oz. (they came with plastic wheels) With Aristo metal wheels, the box is 2lbs 12 oz)

That was enlightening. Subsequently, I realized that everyone changes out the plastic wheels on Aristo rolling stock.

So, I like to make the target weight of a 40' car about 3 pounds.

Scale weight is calculated by using the cube of 29 (in my scale)... either multiply or divide by it.  The number is 24389, so 3 pounds is 73167 pounds, or 36.5 tons.

Standard box cars were about 24 tons unladen, with a capacity of  up to 70 tons, so a total prototype loaded around 95 tons, which would be 190,000 pounds, which is 7.79 pounds, just for reference.

Wheel Gauge

By all means, check the gauge on your wheels! They are almost always out of gauge. I use the Aristo gauge, since it has 2 measurements, the min and max back to back. I make the wheels such that they are a bit loose on the min part, and will not go to the max part.

I'm pretty stringent on getting this just right. Since this spec is back to back on the wheels, it ignores the thickness of the flange. Why is this? Because the gauge is less important than the back to back in switches. The control of the wheels through a switch is by the guardrails, specifically the guardrail flangeway width (on the outer or stock rails). If the back to back gauge is right, and the flange width is right, then there is no possibility for wheels to "pick the frog" or mistrack through a switch.

Be sure you check over your switches to have the proper clearances and especially the correct guardrail flange width. (visit the section on switches)

Trucks

Well, at first you might think sprung trucks would follow the track better. But my initial experience was that USAT cars (no springs and very little equalization) stayed on the tracks much better than Aristo (nicely sprung trucks). Read the section on wheels and trucks.

There is such a thing as too much flexibility. (Also the Aristo truck springs rust).

Make sure the trucks swivel easily, and they swivel without obstruction, this can cause derailing on curves.

Wheels

The quality of your wheels will make quite a difference in the running quality of your rolling stock. Basically, the better quality, the less gunk picked up and the smoother the trains run. Read the section on wheels and trucks.

Rolling Resistance

Try rolling the car by hand. I have found some cases where poor lubrication melted the axles to the journals. Sometimes the wheels hit the body or sideframes or coupler gear. On AML cars, the coupler tang rubs on the axle.

Make sure you have lubricated the wheels. I like dry graphite/moly lubricant in plastic journals, it seems to plate itself into the plastic.

Dry lubricant also does not attract and hold dirt, grit and moisture.

On metal journals, I have had better luck with a light oil.

Also, consider replacing power pickups that use carbon brushes rubbing on the wheels. Aristo, AML and a few other make ball bearing wheelsets with electrical pickups. The carbon brushes tend to squeak and wear out if not lubricated, and gum up, collect crud, and bind in the brush holders if lubricated.

Clearances, misc.

Sometimes mysterious derailments are caused by the car actually hitting something. Be sure you have clearance for all your rolling stock. Sometimes cars can hit switch machines, switch stands, and other things. Some people have modified cars for close coupling, and not checked that a tight curve allows the car bodies to hit each other, or cars on another track.

Track

Most of the time it is your track at fault. Get rid of vertical and horizontal kinks, bumps, dips, and twists. Get down to track level and sight along the track, eliminate any visual kinks in the track.

Many people using sectional track have a roller coaster ride for their trains. I watch the tops of my F units or the boiler on a long steam loco for rocking back and forth, which shows up track that goes up and down sharply.

Not only can this lift wheels off track (especially pilots on long wheelbase steamers) but will make your couplers go up and down which can lead to unwanted uncoupling.

Couplers

Here's another place where you should strive for perfection.

Get your couplers set at exactly the correct height. If you are using Kadees, get their gauge, and set them exactly.

With less than perfect trackwork, truck mounts that move up and down under tension, and couplers that have molding lines and manufacturing tolerances, you need to set the coupler height as well as you can when the car is standing still!

Get some sheet styrene in various thicknesses if you are body mounting.

If you have truck mounts, consider making the couplers as close to the body as you can handle (constrained by your minimum track radius).

This minimizes the up/down movement of the coupler "tang", and thus less coupler misalignment. If you are using Kadees, this also allows you to set the uncoupling pin height to a more optimum level.

Sub-Pages

Click the links below to go "deeper" into details on individual rolling stock by manufacturer