Our website has recently been updated. Some images or features may be unavailable. Please bear with us as we work to improve your experience.
Toggle Nav
Tech Tips Blog
-
- June 10, 2025 226
I attended the 2025 Great Lakes Large Scale Train Expo at the Metroplex Expo Center in Girard, OH, a few weeks ago. It was a great venue and a nice, family-oriented show that got the kids involved in the hobby. I was able to discuss many new large-scale products that we’ve introduced over the last few years, which many customers were previously unaware of, as well as answer numerous questions about coupler conversions. There was a wide variety of new and used merchandise for sale, along with clinics and modeling contests. They even had a live steam train ride set up in the parking lot. If you’re in the area, even if you have to travel a bit, I recommend attending the show; it’s sure to be fun for the entire family.
We will also be attending the 40th National Garden Railway Convention in Sacramento, CA, at the SAFE Credit Union Convention Center, June 18-22. Kadee® will have a booth on Friday and Saturday in the Vendor Hall. Visit our booth and ask us about our new large-scale products;
-
- March 19, 2025 1396Now, this doesn’t matter if you are running HO-Scale, large scale, or some other scale in between. Everyone should be test-rolling their cars by hand through the tightest corners, switches, and S-curves to ensure every car used on the layout can freely roll through the curves your particular layout is equipped with. Please don’t assume that just because the car was advertised as able to navigate a particular track radius, it can navigate any and all configurations of your track freely. You want the car to roll freely through the curves, not just navigate the curves. If the wheels even slightly rub on underframe rigging, gearbox, or underframe, this will cause a compounding problem when you have more cars connected. Truck binding or rubbing causes drag on the car, causing the car to tip, roll, and rock. When multiple cars are connected, the connected cars also rock from the effects traveling through the couplers. This creates additional binding on the couplers, creating a chain reaction
-
- May 07, 2024 1046Now that you have dusted off your large-scale rolling stock and locomotives, it is time to see how your outdoor layout held up over winter. Some track work will inevitably have to be done to get all your cars rolling reliably on it again. Have you noticed the longer modern cars get, the more sensitive they are to run on track? That is because the length of the car magnifies every dip, bump, or transition in the track.
Kadee® has a quick and easy solution for anyone with some of those fussy cars that like to slip apart on your layout. Now you can change out your G-Scale standard or type “E” Kadee® Couplers to one of the NEW “SE” top and bottom or SBE bottom shelf Kadee® couplers, and you will not be leaving your favorite car sitting on the siding anymore. The “SE” top and bottom or SBE bottom shelf Kadee® couplers will allow cars that don’t stay coupled from track imperfections to stay coupled up over those grades, bumps, and dips—no need to struggle with those slight track imperfections -
- April 09, 2024 876Large scale season is here!!!
It may not be the perfect weather where you are located to get out there and start running your outdoor layout yet, but it will be soon. Many of you are starting to dust off your rolling stock & locomotives that have been tucked away for the off-season and are now thinking of all those things projects you wanted to do but didn't get around to. Don't worry; you have plenty of time; you only need a couple of hours of sleep. Those of you who got new equipment in the off-season, may still need to get it equipped with Kadee® couplers so you can get it running with the rest of your layout. (see our conversion list at https://www.kadee.com/lscc)
Now, I know there are some newcomers out there who may be confused about all the proprietary couplers that come on the different brands of equipment and wonder why different brands of rolling stock and locos won't work together. Well, I am telling you they can; however, they can't all work together with the factory's proprietary -
- March 12, 2024 928#1 To keep your locomotives operating to their peak performance, regular maintenance is required. Just like your automobile, you have to check the tires. The Kadee® Speedi Loco Driver Cleaner cleans your locos drive pickup wheels, spinning away dirt and debris so the wheels make good contact. The wheels picking up the current from the tack is essential for your loco to run as smoothly as it can.
#2 Never use grease or any other liquid lubricant other than powdered graphite on couplers and trucks. Dry powdered graphite is the only lubricant Kadee® recommends. Liquid lubricants can react to the materials used in couplers, gearboxes, and wheelsets, and trucks are made from shortening the life expectancy. Liquid lubricants also attract dirt and debris, drying out over time and making for a sticky, messy cleanup. Lubricants are supposed to make parts move freely without a sluggish response. -
- January 16, 2024 835From a modeling stand point, the majority of couplers on the market represent the Type “E” coupler, but in general appearances, the “scale” couplers presently marketed can be used to represent the early Janney couplers. This means modelers in any scale can use knuckle couplers for models back to the 1880s and be, at least functionally and in general appearance, prototypical.
Specialty couplers began to appear experimentally in the late 1930s and in 1947 the Type “H” was standardized. The Type “H” sometimes known as the “Triple Lock” or “Tightlock” and, because of it’s safety features, was used on the newly developed high speed passenger trains.
The first interlocking coupler use for freight cars was the Type “F” coupler introduced in the 1940s was made Alternate Standard in 1954. The Type “F” coupler is basically a Type “H” coupler with an additional bottom shelf. Then in the late 1960s the top and bottom shelf Type “SF” coupler was developed and standardized in 1970 for hazardous material -
- November 08, 2023 1464Buyer Beware! Some individuals are selling "Clone Knuckle Couplers" as Kadee® Couplers!
We just recently discovered this with our NEM Couplers, and I am sure it has also been going on with our Standard Knuckle Couplers. Someone was selling on eBay Kadee® #19 NEM Couplers using Kadee® product descriptions & Kadee® photos. The product listing claims the products were Kadee® #19 Couplers, but in fact was a poorly made NEM Clone Knuckle Couplers made in China. This is something that people shopping on 3rd party venues, such as Amazon, eBay, or any other 3rd party site that allows anyone to sell on, will have to police and report any violations to the third-party venue yourself. Don't be conned by shady business practices.
Kadee® Couplers are Made 100% in the USA.
Kadee® HO Couplers all have Metal Knuckles, with the exception of our 3/4 size old-time Plastic Couplers.
Clone Knuckle Couplers only "uncouple"; they don't allow the coupler to go into the "delay" position where the coupler head pulls -
- August 09, 2023 3410The difference between Code 88 & Code 110 wheels
This is one of those questions we get from time to time. Many new modelers think that wheel code refers to the track code that the wheels are made to run on. This is incorrect. The term Code 110 and Code 88 relates to the width of the wheels and has no relationship to track code (see photos). Code 110 wheels are ”standard” width wheels and will run on Code 100, Code 88, & Code 70 track. Code 88 wheels are “semi-scale” width wheels and will run on Code 100, Code 88, & Code 70 track. Code 88 “semi-scale” wheels are used when the modeler wants a more prototypical-looking wheel width. Actual HO-Scale prototypical wheel width would be around .067” wide, and although they will run OK on the average track, they will not go through common turnouts and crossings. Code 88 (.088”) is just about the minimum width of wheel that will run on most standard or common track if gauged correctly. It is really a matter of appearances because there’s very little -
- July 12, 2023 1227Let's review the specifics on some technical support questions I keep answering month after month.
Ever since we invented the Kadee® Magne-Matic® knuckle coupler system over 60 years ago, we have taken great care to provide accurate instructions for every one of our products. Our product instructions describe the best way to install and use Kadee® products to ensure a trouble-free experience. Please follow the instructions provided in your packaging. Other sources of installation guidance (such as YouTube videos or online forums) may omit important steps from our instructions that could result in damage to your models or unsatisfactory performance. If you are wondering why something is not working correctly, it is probably because one or more of the most basic critical steps were skipped in the instructions and/or the coupler fine tuning process.
Let's go over the important basics:
Remove any flash/burrs/rough spots from parts and burnish the parts before assembling the components! This -
- June 14, 2023 970Original Style and AAR Type E Couplers
Our large-scale couplers represent the common Type E coupler and come in two types and two scale sizes "G" scale 1:22.5 and #1 scale 1:32 scale ratio. Our original coupler style has an exposed knuckle spring with minimal details. Our newer style AAR Type E (New Generation), has a much more prototypically detailed coupler head, and the knuckle spring is hidden inside the head and cannot be seen. Both styles are completely compatible with each other and use the same draft gear boxes, so the conversion information is the same for both. It is just personal preference on what coupler style you prefer to put in your equipment.
Our online handouts page has a product number cross reference chart handout for the AAR Type E New Generation and Original Style Couplers. Large Scale Coupler Chart We also have a web page with this info and product links on it also https://www.kadee.com/large-scale-coupler-reference-charts This chart is a quick and easy reference
