Sergent Engineering couplers

[Mike C]

  I've been thinking for awhile about replacing the 714 couplers on my Blackstone cars and Locos . So a couple weeks ago I ordered a 6 piece set of their Blackstone compatible Sharon couplers . They arrived last week and I got bust putting them together . Assembly was really quite easy with their assembly fixture . Then came the fitting . Took only a bit of tuning ( I used a pair of needle nose piers to stretch the mounting hole a bit ) and they fit right on the cars . I noticed right away that the coupling distance was much more prototypically close , and no more slinky !







  The Sergent couplers will also couple to the stock 714's



  And now for the "extra" coupler that came with the 6 pack . For some reason I couldn't get the ball to drop now matter how many times I reassembled it . So I just glued it together and used it on the front of one of my K27's . Wont be a problem as only 1 knuckle needs to be open to make a joint . The shank is just a bit too long , but looks much better than the 714 it replaced .



    Mike

[Dave V]

I have two Blackstone cars with Sergeant couplers and I’m not a fan.  I like the appearance and lack of slinky, but contrary to your experience they do not play well in the least with my other cars that have 714s.  They will stay coupled with some cursing, hammering, and bribing but then they don’t uncouple easily at all either.  Are these meant to be operating couplers?  How do you handle switching and set-outs?

Maybe if I understood the reality behind the hype I’d be willing to convert on a larger scale but for now I don’t get what people like about them apart from appearance.

[Mike C]

  I'm mostly a runner so I am switching for appearance . I do a bit of switching , and so far they seem to work OK .  Sometimes they are a bit difficult to couple , but I can work with that . I have no problems with them staying joined to 714's , and have an hour or so runtime that way . Probably by the time I get the rest of my fleet converted I'll be better at assembly and go back and swap out any problem children .....Mike

[Hawghead]

Mike,

How well does the uncoupling wand work?  I'm seriously thinking about doing Sergents for my rolling stock.

Scott

[Mike C]

 The wand works really well ! The only problem I have is coupling them . They are very fussy getting them lined up just right , and as I have very little straight track I usually resort to the 0-5-0 to couple them . IF you go with them , get the assembly tool and use a round toothpick to burnish the "hole" . I also use a pencil to lube the same hole . If you don't do these steps I find that the ball sometimes won't drop ,and you'll be soaking the coupler in acetone to reassemble 

[Hawghead]

Great, thanks for the info.  Never liked the look of Kadees, especially on narrow gauge and N scale, and the slinky syndrome plus the meat skewers uncoupling makes them a non-starter for me.

Scott