Kato Pennsy Broadway Limited Passenger Car derailing

[peteski]

I suspect Mike was thinking of disconnecting the articulated ends and replacing the trucks on those ends with ones that have standard truck-mounted couplers. Basically removing the articulation. Might not be easy to do since those cars are designed to stay together.

[carmelmodelrr]

These two “articulated” cars have standard couplers on all four ends. I called them articulated because that’s what Kato called them.

Carmelmodelrr

[peteski]

These two “articulated” cars have standard couplers on all four ends. I called them articulated because that’s what Kato called them.

Carmelmodelrr

Oh, ok.  The photos I found of them online shows them coupled very close together.  I don't own that set, but my Kato SP Daylight set has similarly close coupled (articulated) cars where they are permanently coupled, so I thought these had a similar design.

[Sokramiketes]

Interesting.  I don't know why your set would be different unless someone already replaced the trucks as suggested.

The "articulated" Twin Unit Diner as designed by Kato has a permanent drawbar connection.  It is a kinetic design, meant to separate the cars a bit on curves, allowing the tight coupling on straight track for appearance.  The prototype is not articulated, in that it has separate trucks but that drawbar connection. 

I have converted one Twin Unit Diner to separate trucks with truck mounted couplers, matching the rest of the set.  I did this because I was also converting it to a Budd diner set (same window arrangement, new roofs and scribed slab sides).  I wasn't convinced from photos at the time that the Budd sets were draw barred in the same way.  Anyway, the truck bolster location, and design, is the same as the cars without the drawbars, so it's an easy swap.

If the swap was already done, and the cars still derail, then it has to be the full width diaphragm molding causing an issue on the tight curves.  This detail could be shaved off or removed as needed. 

[carmelmodelrr]

Mike,
Based on your response I pulled out the display case in which I stored the Pennsy cars and discovered that when I last ran the set, many months ago, I pulled the "drawbar" out of the articulated cars and taped it to the foam insert in the case.  I can only guess that I had trouble running the cars back then so I gave up.  I'm now recovering from shoulder replacement surgery but I'm back into modeling. 

When I now inserted the drawbar into the slots of the articulated cars the couplers "bump" into the drawbar (or the drawbar interferes with the couplers) however one chooses to describe it.  What am I doing wrong?

Thank you.
carmelmodelrr

[Sokramiketes]

I’m not sure. But here’s a guess. You can use couplers or the drawbar, but not both.

Here’s some photos of the stock drawbar installed and a set converted to truck mounted couplers like the rest of the cars. You can see the gain in space between the diaphragms. Hope this helps.

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[Dwight in Toronto]

Now that I see these, it is obvious that these coaches are nothing like the Morning Daylight artics.   

They don’t have the covered vestibules, so my prescribed fix near the beginning of this thread is a non-contender.

[Sokramiketes]

Sorry, I should have posted photos sooner.  They're worth a thousand words or more, eh?

[peteski]

Now that I see these, it is obvious that these coaches are nothing like the Morning Daylight artics.   

They don’t have the covered vestibules, so my prescribed fix near the beginning of this thread is a non-contender.

Yes, same here.
Now that I see it, the difference is that in the Morning Daylight there is a single truck directly under the articulation, so the cars are permanently coupled and the tightly fitting diaphragm actually works like in the 1:1 car.

[bbussey]

https://www.trains.com/mrr/news-reviews/reviews/staff-reviews/kato-n-scale-1949-broadway-limited-passenger-cars/

The original product review in Model Railroader states the minimum operating radius is 11", but I wouldn't run the consist on less than 16".  I certainly wouldn't run it through S curves without easement.

It's not the rolling stock that's the issue.  It's the track.  The models are extremely well done.

[dualgauge]

I have only run the Broadway Limited set on N-Trak and One-Trak. Only problem I had was with the baggage car derailing when coupled to the nose of E8A. When coupled to rear have no problems. This is from the first run.

[nickelplate759]

I have only run the Broadway Limited set on N-Trak and One-Trak. Only problem I had was with the baggage car derailing when coupled to the nose of E8A. When coupled to rear have no problems. This is from the first run.

That's almost certainly the E8's fault.  The body-mount nose coupler if often pretty stiff and will pull a trailing passenger car with truck-mounted couplers off the track when entering a sharp curve.
There are two elements to fix this:
1. replace the Kato coupler on the nose of the E8 with Micro-trains.  It swings more easily and exerts less sideways force on the trailing car.  This is often enough to make it work, although eventually you may find a curve that's too sharp and it will still happen.
2. If that's not enough, consider body-mounting the coupler on the FRONT of the baggage car (where it couples to the E8), preferably with a long-ish shank coupler that easily swings.