Strongest couplers?

[Zack L-J]

Who currently makes the absolute strongest knuckles in N? I mangled the stock 1015(clone?) on my BLI T1, and I intend to do some heavy hauling with it, so I want to get to my maximum traction or torque long before I get to the limit of the coupler.

Thanks!

[dem34]

?? I've seen 1015s keep together on a 30ft Train running NTrak. What are you doing specifically that would cause them to break before burning the motor?
I could chock it up to BLI clones not being up to snuff, but its just odd.

[oakcreekco]

MTL.

Clones are clones.

[robert3985]

Long ago, when I was active in NTRAK, I used to run trains that were between 60 and 100 cars long with Micro Trains N-scale and Z-scale couplers...putting the smaller Z-scale coupler'd cars near the rear of the train...and had no problems whatsoever with coupler breakage, or trains coming apart since I was careful to make sure all the magnetic dongles were the right height, as were my couplers.

Since the MTL patent ran out and lots of clone couplers appeared, I haven't been running trains much longer than 40 cars on my layout, so my couplers nowadays aren't getting much of a workout weight-wise.

Speaking from experience and running extra-long trains years ago, I'd stick with MTL N-scale couplers, making sure they're all the right height, and either making sure the magnetic dongles are also the right above-track height, or snipping them off (which I do) since if you're not using the MTL "MagneMatic" uncoupling system, what hangs below the coupler is merely cosmetic...and a potential problem-maker if not maintained at the right height.

Sooo...as has been already stated, what are you doing that breaks couplers??  I've never had a problem that way unless I dropped a car on to a concrete floor.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Whoa, yeah, what did you DO?
I've never had a coupler failure and I, too, have run some monster trains on NTRAK layouts.

[Zack L-J]

Nah unlike the awful sound this one isn’t BLI’s fault. I simply forgot about inertia when running the train back and forth to break it in and rammed at push pin at about 100 scale mph.

As long as y’all say the 1015s I already have are perfectly cromulent, I’m happy.

As for what I want to haul, I want to use the T1 as a helper for the DD40 I use on The Caboose Train, which i think currently stands at around 200 cabeese long.

[Zack L-J]

The coupler failures I’m used to are more like a lot of coupler pitching and height misalignment, so honesty in retrospect I don’t know why I bothered asking, as those are usually due to old worn out or badly made rolling stock.

[peteski]

Strongest N scale couplers are the old rapido couplers.  Just look at how robust they are due to their size and girth!  Those are still the default coupler used outside of USA.

But when it comes to knuckle couplers then as I see it MTL is the best .  They will break if something like you described happens (hey, even the 1:1 couplers made out of steel will, and do, break under extreme forces).

[jagged ben]

Strength is not really the issue.  All the knuckle couplers are about equally as strong, in terms of the material they are made of, which in my experience never breaks due to drawbar pull.

The only coupler design I'm aware of that is literally not strong enough is *truck mounted* Accumates.  These were mostly released a number of years back, and the Accumate coupler parts replaced the Rapido in old truck tooling.  Under enough stress, this design twists out of place, even 'explodes'.   Body mounted Accumates do not have this same issue.  (In fact I find them among the most reliable.)

Some couplers also don't close and grab very reliably, and here I'm thinking in particular of earlier runs of Athearn McHenry couplers, where the knuckles didn't reliably swivel closed and such.  Athearn seems to have improved this over the last few years though.

But in my experience the main reason for uncoupling is because couplers are too slippery and/or have too much vertical play and/or are not vertically aligned.  With a lot of drawbar pull, one knuckle slips over the top of the other.  This happens to all makes, even MT.  The MT 'reverse draft angle' is supposed to stop this but really only slows it down.   We really need a revolution in N scale coupler design and material to address this.   

Finally, the MT 1015/16 is fine for pulling cars.  If you push cars, and or have slack action between locos, it's not so good, because the knuckles open when they're shoved together, and it's luck of the draw whether they grab when pulled part again.  The best design for staying coupled is the original MT 1023/1025/1027 and truck mounted shanks, which generally push each other closed more like the prototype.  These suffer more greatly from the slinky effect for some people.   But they're the best at staying coupled.

[wvgca]

easy answer ... steel couplers ...i don't do N scale, just HO , but i found Kaydee steel couplers [number 5s] were the most reliable

[Zack L-J]

easy answer ... steel couplers ...i don't do N scale, just HO , but i found Kaydee steel couplers [number 5s] were the most reliable

Neat to know that they make steel couplers for HO, but not applicable for N scale, unfortunately.

[JoeD]

There's also our True Scale Couplers...bias opinion of course .  I have a forty tank car train (065) I pull at home from time to time and they hold as well.

Joe

[altohorn25]

I've never had Unimate/Red Caboose/Fox Valley/Scale Trains dummy knuckle coupler fail.  Those things will pull a barn if you hook something to it.

https://shopfvm.com/products/n-static-coupler-short-shank?_pos=1&_sid=02ce16077&_ss=r

Nate

[Pomperaugrr]

There's also our True Scale Couplers...bias opinion of course .  I have a forty tank car train (065) I pull at home from time to time and they hold as well.

Joe

I will vouch for the MT True Scale Couplers!  When Randy Stahl (sd45elect2000) brought his 150 car Milwaukee Road ore train to visit my N scale Housatonic RR layout, I was seriously impressed.  The train measured out at a few inches over 22' long.  All of the cars had resin loads too.  He body mounted the MT True Scale Couplers on all of the ore cars, with only 2 having transitions with regular MT couplers to couple to my locomotives and his caboose.  There were no uncouplings, no slinky action at all, and we were actually able to back that huge train about 12 feet through curved areas as a test.  Some of the curves are as tight as 15" radius, like the wye at the Canaan Union Station.

[robert3985]

There's also our True Scale Couplers...bias opinion of course .  I have a forty tank car train (065) I pull at home from time to time and they hold as well.

Joe

I'm converting all of my couplers to MT True-Scale couplers and I'm very happy with both their appearance and their functionality.  However, I'm not pulling extra long trains...the longest being around 40 cars and a caboose, while most low-priority trains that need to find a siding for the high priority trains to get by are limited to a total train length of 9'5" (One Big Boy, 30 40' cars and a caboose) because that's the length of my shortest center siding.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore