BLI cyro cars are in at MBK.

[Mark5]

Swapping in BLMA 100-ton trucks and body-mounting standard MTL 1015 couplers works. Drill and tap the hole for the couplers directly in the center of the punch out dimple on the bottom of the end walkway. Use 3/16” flat head screws. The outer axle clears the coupler box and the car rolls freely. I’m still working on an easy way to mount the trucks, but that won’t be difficult. So fortunately, it takes little effort to get these ready for service.

Thanks Bryan! I thought I was F*cked here, but I found a pair of BLMA 100 ton trucks in my stash - so all will be well.

[Cajonpassfan]

EDIT: I wasn't going to name names, but I will call out BLI and ScaleTrains.com for their ongoing coupler debacles. For the R&D money they sunk into engineering and producing their own N scale couplers not to mention the cost, both money and PR, dealing with customer support/dissatisfaction, they could have bought MTL in 55-gallon drums....etc.

Not to argue your point as I generally agree with you, but the reference to the “ongoing coupler debacle” needs a qualification: the recent BLI Mikado couplers seem to be a promising exception. They look great, they are just slightly larger than the 905 (and look more proto imho) and they seem to work well, at least with MT equipped cars. Of course, I can’t test them in a train account they are not available separately,  but I could get behind a good looking, smaller, non-slinky coupler available in bulk packs for body mounting. It’s too early to tell to see whether that idea is viable (and BLI is likely to put yet another coupler on their next release)
Otto K.

[peteski]

Not to argue your point as I generally agree with you, but the reference to the “ongoing coupler debacle” needs a qualification: the recent BLI Mikado couplers seem to be a promising exception. They look great, they are just slightly larger than the 905 (and look more proto imho) and they seem to work well, at least with MT equipped cars. Of course, I can’t test them in a train account they are not available separately,  but I could get behind a good looking, smaller, non-slinky coupler available in bulk packs for body mounting. It’s too early to tell to see whether that idea is viable (and BLI is likely to put yet another coupler on their next release)
Otto K.

And we also have the Arnold knuckle, only available on their North American models. IIRC, it is loosely based in the Vlk coupler design.  It looks good, not too big, but in my experience needs to be modified slightly to smoothly couple with MTL N-scale couplers (works great with the Z-scale ones).

[C855B]

Not to argue your point as I generally agree with you, but the reference to the “ongoing coupler debacle” needs a qualification: the recent BLI Mikado couplers seem to be a promising exception. ...

Let's hope for the best long-term, but the cryo cars' couplers are bloomin' awful. Maybe the rolling stock group didn't get the memo. 

[bbussey]

Got the truck mounting worked out. You have to “clean” the bolster hole first with a #51 drill and then a #48 drill. It will then take an MTL bolster pin. Drill until you hit the bottom of the tank, which is deeper than the length of the MTL pin. Clean away the remnants of the BLI pivot restriction pins with an X-Acto.  I also beveled the back edge of the MTL coupler boxes to insure the outer axles would clear them, as I was getting some rubbing on the second truck.

The modified car won’t traverse curves under 12” radius, so don’t body-mount the couplers if your curves are tighter.

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Also, these things are delicate. All of the piping and railings are plastic. I managed to convert this one without breaking it, but it’s going to take extreme care to convert the Liquid Air car without damaging it.

One last note — the coupler hole ends up directly behind the end walkway, so it’s actually easy to hide the screw tip and the walkway remains intact.

[Atlas Paul]

Bought a new N scale Cryogenic Tank Car and the truck has such a V shape to it one axle fell right out when taking it out of the blister.   

[C855B]

Inspired by Bryan's work:



In this case the TSC is secured with CA using my über-secret, patented, trademarked and copyrighted technique , roughing-up the top of the box with fine sandpaper. IOW, I'm too chicken at the moment to risk drilling the end platform. Someday. Maybe. After the first pull-apart. Probably.

Wheels are FVM 36" in the original BLI trucks. Not enamored with their truck frames nor the goofy pivot-limiting bosses on the bolsters. I think I will try a set of the new MTL 100-ton RB trucks once I find a shop or show vendor who has them in stock.

EDIT: This is a TSC short shank. I wanted to use the long shank for its better coupling properties, but carving out the fillet in the way would appear to weaken the platform support too much. I'll try other ideas on this later.