Upgrading passenger car couplers - 1
S
ometimes a model manufacturing company has a hard
time evolving. In particular, their products might not lend
themselves to prototypical operation. Being locked in the
70s can be a company’s worst nightmare. I found such a com-
pany when purchasing the only great-looking Southern Pacific
Daylight passenger cars on the market. Okay, they don’t have
interiors, but who runs along their layout looking inside their
A one evening project eliminating truck
mounted couplers ...
Upgrading
Passenger car
couplers
– by Dirk Reynolds
Model Photos by the author
1. New Kadee couplers for
my SP GS-4 tender and
REA baggage car.
passenger fleet? 85’ passenger cars in the “Daylight” scheme
are almost non-existent. You can find “shorty” versions for the
beginner and their 18” radius curves, but prototypical cars look
better. I looked high and low, and even asked Walthers why
they did not make them.
Well, I was told something about BLI coming out with some,
but that was NOT what I was talking about. I needed some for
an excursion train behind engine 4449.
I discovered that Con-Cor made the 85’ cars in the “Daylight
scheme. So I ordered the cars that I wanted.
I got my shipment and looked at them in the box. They looked
good! Good paint, good glass, and correct length. But then I
noticed the couplers. I turned them over to find a 1970 cou-
pling system! Not only old Rivarossi style stretch version but on
the truck also! Oh my gosh! Derailments...couplers pulled out
of their sockets….plastic couplers that stretch and come apart.
What a mess! How do I fix this?
Well, here is how I did it.
MRH-May 2014
