WOT 70' baggage cars - anyone body mounted ?

[Puddington]

The WOT cars are very nice however they still have truck mounted couplers and for a long passenger consist that "just won't cut it'....

Has anyone body mounted couplers on one of these yet ? The space between the end of the truck and the car end is "mucho small" and I'm having trouble visualizing how to body mount without major truck surgery or installing an offset MT truck.

Inquiring minds want to know............... ???

[BN1970]

I used a Micro Trains 1025. --Brian

[bbussey]

And you can probably turn the truck around so that the coupler arm does not interfere.  I don't have one in front of me, but I vaguely remember that the coupler arm on the truckframe is easily removed.  I would think a 1015 or 1016 also would work if the coupler arm is out of the way.

[BN1970]

I cut the Delrin arm back a bit for more clearance, it was easy to do.  The reason I used the 1025 was to move the coupler shank out a bit further as I wanted a working diaphragm instead of the molded on one that came with the car. --Brian

[Puddington]

Thanks very much for the words of wisdom !!!!!!!!!!

[BN1970]

I have more time at the moment so I can type more about body mounting couplers.  A few months ago I completed converting all of my rolling stock thats on the layout to body mounted couplers.  I have done about 500 cars in the past year.

One of the issues for me at least was the cost per car.  I found that with 20 inch radius curves I could chop off the truck mounted MT couplers and use Walthers Goo to glue the formally truck mounted coupler back onto the car.  I did about 200 cars that way and not one coupler has ever fallen off.  So this was cheap / fast all I needed was a tube of Goo.

Besides cost my other strategy was to always do the easiest cars first, putting off harder conversions to last.  So my starting point was my forty foot freight cars.  When I went to fifty foot cars I noted that the longer the wheel base the more the truck pivoted on a given curve.  Given, the give and take between different cars / trucks I decided not to use the truck mounted couplers on cars above forty foot as the coupler boxes are much wider than with the various MT body mount couplers and its possible for the wheels to rub on the glued on coupler boxes as the car length increases.

Micro Trains has a variety of couplers and depending on the cars height above the rail or car length or coupler box design, I’d use an MT 10xx coupler.  As I lopped off truck mounted couplers I had an ever expanding pile of truck mounted couplers.  The shanks in a MT truck mounted coupler is the same as what you’ll find in a MT 1025, but longer than in the MT 1027.  So I asked my LHS if they could just order 50 pairs of the 1025 & 1027 coupler boxes from Micro Trains.  They could and at a much lower cost than buying the complete coupler at two pairs per package.  So this allowed me to reuse the shank and spring from the truck mounted couplers into a 1025 which for example works on Intermountain cars or the 1027 coupler box.

But I found out that (as I mentioned above) the shank from a truck mounted coupler was longer than the MT 1027........  The truck mounted shank will fit into the 1027, its just that its longer.  But then the light went on....

On longer wheel based cars or possibly as your curvature become smaller you need a longer shank.  You also will need a longer shank when using working diaphragms on passenger cars.  So combining the shanks from the truck mounted couplers with a MT 1027 box works quite well on passenger cars.  Especially when you can buy just the 1027 boxes in bulk as its much cheaper.

On the Wheels of Time 70 foot baggage car I did not use the MT 1027 as the trucks are quite close to the end.  But MT 1025s are thinner than the 1027s and will fit under the 1st wheel set.  Plus unlike the 1015 the 1025 has its screw further back allowing you to mount it a bit further out to bridge the gap.  Anyways sorry for the long winded post.  But I can say that having gotten everything body mounted it does run much better than with truck mounted couplers and was worth the effort. --Brian

[BCR 570]

Interesting thread - I have been body-mounting cars as I complete or purchase them.

Brian:  May I ask which couplers you used for body-mounting on the 89 foot twin trailer flats? Mike used a swinging body-mount on his which works very well on tight radii.  I am scratchbuilding a pair of 85 foot ones and would really like to be able to body mount if possible in order to have a prototypical end sill.  Presumably a very long shank is required for the extra swing that is needed.

Thanks,

Tim

[BN1970]

Micro Trains 89 foot TOFC flat cars.  If you look at the trucks couplers from the side notice that the knuckle actually goes UP.  If you were to trying using MT1015s you’d find the coupler to be to low by quite a bit.  The coupler that MT uses on their 89 foot TOFC flat car (MT1019) has a fairly long shank or as Micro Trains calls it on their PDF coupler drawings “Pulling Face”.
MT1019 pulling face = 0.373 inches
MT1025 pulling face = 0.286 inches

Plus the MT1019 coupler box is quite open on the sides at the cars end to allow for a wider swings on curves.

Next if you look at a Micro Trains 89 foot TOFC flat car, above the coupler its basically just a very thin plastic shell.  There’s not a lot of material for a screw to bite into and the car bottom is already low so adding a shim will only make the required height worse.  So I cut back a bit of the delrin tab that connects the MT 1019 to the cars truck and used Walthers Goo, glue'd the MT 1019 coupler in place.  I also Goo’d the Delrin stirrup steps in place at the same time.

I always let the Goo dry for about 18 hours before using the car and it will be several days before the Goo really firms up.  The MT 1019 coupler will work on other cars where the body is lower than normal and you need to knuckle to go up.  Micro Trains actually has quite a range of couplers for a reason as not all N-Scale rolling stock are the same the same goes for the required body mounted coupler solution. --Brian

[BCR 570]

Thank you Brian - I will check out the 1019s which fortunately appear to be available separately as I do not have the MT flat cars.

Is the Walthers Goo stronger than regular CA?

Tim

[bbussey]

Thank you Brian - I will check out the 1019s which fortunately appear to be available separately as I do not have the MT flat cars.

MTL 1019s are extended-arm truck-mounted 2004s.  If you use a 2004, or put the 2004 knuckles in the 1015 box, you will achieve the same result as buying 1019s for less expense.

[BN1970]

Tim I have no idea if ACC is stronger or weaker than Walthers Goo.  But ACC does not work well on Delrin it will makes a brittle bond and give way, sooner than later.  So far (more than 1 and a half years ) the Goo has held up remarkably well for me with nothing ever failing.  The Goo forms a rubbery bond, but does not seem to harm Delrin or other kinds of plastic and is easy to remove should you choose to at a later date.  I also use a dab of Goo under the cars bottom even on the screw mounted couplers to prevent the couplers from rotating, its cheap, fast and works well. --Brian

[BCR 570]

Thanks Bryan - I think I have some 2004s here so will try those out as well.

Thanks Brian - Yes AC does have an issue with Delrin.  I'll get some Goo to try.


Tim

[bbussey]

Tim, also use 2004s for all auto racks of MTL and RC manufacture.