I totally agree with you Richard. If you have a layout with track more than 24" from the aisle then you can't use Sergents. Heck at my club they even use 48" long tongs to reach out and pick up

Larry, I appreciate that prototype couplers do close from jostling and vibration etc. But gravity acts on the mass of the coupler and the friction of scale model knuckle scales as the inverse square

Not really One more thing: I have never known a switchman/brakeman to walk by a closed knuckle and not open. On the prototype the knuckle on the engine will ALWAYS be OPEN when there is a crew

While I understand the appeal of the Sergent coupler for many list subscribers, it lacks one feature that is absolutely essential for many of us, given the nature of our layouts: it can't be remotely

A diaphragm was an internal bulkhead, which looked exactly like a tank end because that's what it was. They were fitted in pairs with air space in between (and drain holes at the bottom of the air

I have NEVER seen one close this way in all my time on the RRs. The lock block is not heavy enough to pull a knuckle closed. The force of gravity can not pull the lock down until the knuckle is

Pat, in that circumstance, you wave your magic wand and open each knuckle with that same device (which doubles as a pick), as I said before. Is this practical? Only if the layout is designed so that

Maybe the one down in the track was not the one that was opened when the other car was cut off. So it remained closed. Maybe the same case for the car you now want to couple to it. We had a lot of

Richard: Please help me and possibly others understand how a single compartment tank car can be converted to multiple compartments. You refer to a diaphragm, the wall between the compartments, which

Pat et al, Just received your latest issue in the mail, and based on a quick glance-through it's another winner! I now have no excuse not to superdetail my track scale operations among other treats

Never!!! You reach across and lift the one on the other drawbar. Then when that car is gone you stop and reach in side the one that would not open and lift the lock block with your fingers and pull

Thanks Dave, I've never had a truck derail due to lack of equalization. I've spent lots of time perfecting my track alignment (on a layout now existing in my fading memory). Most HO "sprung" trucks

Tim, I can ask the same question. How did they get open? Will one or the other be open 100% of the time? Maybe not. I have a car in a siding - it just happens to have a closed coupler. Like the

Bruce, I have that photo, along with numerous others that were taken in 1942 to document the railroads' efforts to transport petroleum products for the war effort after the Germans effectively cut off

Hi Dave, Watch that overhead! It's high voltage isn't it? Pat Wider

A short comment from the Netherlands, Kadee #12/58/78/2100 are the best working, and the best looking couplers for U.S. models. For instance: I've replaced the MäTrix U.P. cabooses standaard

I will be attending the SRHA 1-day "Gathering" in Greenville SC on October 22. My O scale SR flat and composite gon pilot models and some HO stuff will be displayed. Kits can be purchased/ordered

Hi Pat, Coming back to your earlier point about sprung and equalized trucks I'll agree that at our scale sizes there's negligible compression of the springs and I would also like to see a different

Tim and list, On the prototype, the knuckle will tend to close if the car is moved. The force of gravity pulls on the pin and the vibration of movement will cause it to drop, closing the knuckle. The

Hi Pat, That's certainly a valid concern and makes more sense. It's still a bit easier as the wand and pick are one unit. A small stiff wire is fastened to the magnetic end so the magnet would be