Picked up a couple of sets of the new scale Kadees, No.58s, yesterday.
Overall, not bad looking, and more realistic than the old reliable
predecessor.

I put them on a couple of cars and a caboose, and I have a few observations.

First, the size looks pretty good, and I don't mind the look of the knuckle
from the side, as others have complained about. They're steel and will be
reliable. And the 58s couple well with the No.5s.

I once warned that with scale couplers (primarily the Seargants) the good
life in modeling would be over for making a hitch almost every time. In real
life every hitch must be watched as couplers cross or knuckles butt all the
time, and some cars won't couple to other cars on the slightest of curves or
on the curve of a switch, and so on. Even though the 58s center in the No.5
pocket, I found that as often as not, the hitches didn't make -- either the
couplers weren't exactly lined up or they crossed, and they wouldn't make
without adjustment on a No.4 switch, whereas the No.5 couples almost always
would. But this will all add to the realism of the operation and I'll
happily live with it for the better looking coupler. I'm one of those who
cuts off the actuating pins; prefer to make cuts by hand.

The chief beef, though, is that the already oversize coupler pocket is now
even bigger in relation. Byron mentioned this over the phone, but I didn't
realize how bad the pocket looks. It literally dwarfs the coupler and seems
to allow a greater travel. Wonder why a new coupler pocket wasn't designed.
These are, after all, scale couplers for the scale modeler. I would consider
building proper pocket faces on future kits, but who knows how reliable
they'll be after a couple of jacknifes and derailments.

Anyway, was wondering if anyone with a large railroad tried these yet, and
have they shoved a long train around a curve? I noticed on my little
shelf-top yard that the swing is so great that when shoving on a curve the
couplers kick out dangerously far. I'm sure the pockets and couplers will
hold up, but I was curious if it effects the tracking

....Mike

On Sun, 24 Dec 2000 01:47:04 EST MDelvec952@... writes:

Picked up a couple of sets of the new scale Kadees, No.58s,
yesterday.

<snip>

The chief beef, though, is that the already oversize coupler pocket
is now
even bigger in relation. Byron mentioned this over the phone, but I
didn't
realize how bad the pocket looks. It literally dwarfs the coupler
and seems
to allow a greater travel. Wonder why a new coupler pocket wasn't
designed.
These are, after all, scale couplers for the scale modeler.

Mike, the answer is that they can't because they have to sell to modelers
who would never build layouts with scale curves. What does a real world
curve scale out to, 72+" radius? A scale coupler in a scale pocket could
not take even a 30" radius without kicking cars onto the floor.

I noticed on my little
shelf-top yard that the swing is so great that when shoving on a
curve the
couplers kick out dangerously far. I'm sure the pockets and couplers
will
hold up, but I was curious if it effects the tracking

There, you said so yourself. Real world, meet real scale model world.
Try the solution that street railroads used, an auxiliary double ended
coupler to extend the cars from each other and allow more bending.
Imagine 60' boxcars with scale draft gear housings on 24" curves.
Splinter city.

BSR
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