Discontinued Kato F3/7 parts

[laconj]

I have a children's under Christmas tree layout powered by several very old Kato F3 and F7 sets. This year an A unit was dropped breaking the front Rapido coupler. If anyone has spare SHORT Rapido coupler (as in the discontinued part 07-0428s set still shown in Kato parts list) I would really like to have one or two. They have a unique mounting on the end with a n irregularly shaped bump with a hole in it, so regular Rapidos don't work- they are apparently a one-off Kato design. I purchased the available long coupler part, but it has too much movement over bumps and uncouples frequently. The Rapidos are much more kid friendly and I would rather not switch to modern couplers. Thanks, John

[Rasputen]

I have some.  Do you need any of the other pieces like the metal strip??  Send me a PM with your address.

[laconj]

Thanks, Rasputin! I think I sent you a PM, but if you didn't receive it please reply here. I am a novice at this. Thanks, John

[nkalanaga]

"The Rapidos are much more kid friendly and I would rather not switch to modern couplers."

For all of their appearance issues, Rapidos are very reliable couplers, aren't they?

[peteski]

"The Rapidos are much more kid friendly and I would rather not switch to modern couplers."

For all of their appearance issues, Rapidos are very reliable couplers, aren't they?

They sure are. That is why the rest of the N scale world still uses them.    Some some members of my NTRAK club also use Rapodos when they run 100+ car hopper train.  Rapidos are much more forgiving of uneven trackwork (as it often is the case on NTRAK modules, especially at the connector tracks).

[nkalanaga]

They also work well on passenger trains, as long as the train doesn't need to be switched.  Put a knuckle coupler on the front of the first car, and maybe on the rear of the rear car, and use Rapidos in between.  Appearance doesn't really matter, as the diaphragms hide the couplers anyway.  The Europeans even have close coupling with Rapidos, which won't work that well with most of our knuckle couplers. 

The problem with that is that most modern American passenger car models don't have a Rapido option.

[peteski]

They also work well on passenger trains, as long as the train doesn't need to be switched.  Put a knuckle coupler on the front of the first car, and maybe on the rear of the rear car, and use Rapidos in between.  Appearance doesn't really matter, as the diaphragms hide the couplers anyway.  The Europeans even have close coupling with Rapidos, which won't work that well with most of our knuckle couplers. 

The problem with that is that most modern American passenger car models don't have a Rapido option.

Yeah, pretty much every recently manufactured (going back several years) piece of N scale rolling stock uses the "kinematic" mount for the Rapido coupler which allows for close coupling, even over sharp curves. The only U.S. prototype passenger train I have seen to utilize the "kinematic" system and MTL knuckle couplers is the FVM Hiawatha.