Page 3 - Blog

COUPLERS, and The People Who Make Them….

Kadee Quality Products Company has been the "De-facto Standard" for Model Railroad couplers since the early '70s. It has expanded its line of fully functioning Knuckle couplers over the last 40 years. From HOn3 to G scale for Reliability and Functionality.

The prevalent Whisker® version in “Scale” and Standard head HO gauge has overtaken the standard shank centering system for their "ease of use," and the same dependability and reliability modelers have come to expect from Kadee®. Our #148 Centerset Whisker® coupler now outsells "Ole Reliable” NO.5® and #158 “Scale” Head Whisker® coupler outsells its predecessor #58.

Please Note that ALL these couplers will work together provided you have them at the proper height, which you can check with a coupler height gauge, either a #206 or #205.

To dispel any rumors, Kadee is not discontinuing our #148 coupler or any other couplers.

Bulk packs of the #148's can be found on our website as #148-25 (25 pairs)

I realize it has been only a couple of weeks since our August release, but we need to get back on schedule. So don’t forget about our August 2022 Patriotic Car release.

We have been getting a lot of positive feedback on this design, with the Statue of Liberty and the Constitution of the United States on the side of the car.

I feel the artwork represents the strong American spirit that we all share in one way or another that everyone should be able to relate to, if you leave politics aside.

I was at the 2022 National Garden Railway Conference in Denver last month assisting the attendees with the Large Scale Kadee® product questions. I had a lot of inquiries about our large scale metal wheels and trucks and some I didn’t know the answer to. I can admit this, so when I got back, I looked up the technical info I was ask about and updated our large scale wheel product information on our website. Please check out the large scale wheel product pages #950, #951, #960, & #961 as we have new technical info on the pages.

I keep getting e-mail questions on how may large scale wheels are in the factory packaging even though we have a clear product description on our webpage. We discovered what has been causing the confusion with the 950, #951, #960, & #961 quantities. There had been some resellers opening the Kadee® factory packaging and removing our protective packaging thus changing the quantity & reselling the #950, #951, #960, & #961 as 4 Axle sets instead of the factory 2 Axles sets.

I am thinking this month we are going to go over drilling and tapping holes. This may be a subject that intimidates some of you out there. Others it may seem like second nature and wonder why I would go over such a subject. Everyone has to to start somewhere in the hobby and people have all different skill levels. For those who are new to the hobby and may not have grown up around tools, working on cars or what not, you may not even know what drilling and tapping holes is referring too it is OK.

I keep getting people asking questions about what glue to use; wanting to glue gearboxes on to cars instead of drilling and taping screw holes to attach the coupler gearbox or replacing trucks. I even have people asking questions about using and were to get self taping screws for mounting couplers and trucks because they don’t want to tap a screw hole. Lets first just say gluing gearboxes is not recommended and should be avoided. A glued on gearbox is permanent and if your coupler height is even

I have gotten many questions at shows & by e-mail regarding what is the difference between our two styles of Large scale couplers; the AAR Type “E” coupler and our original style of coupler that are available in (O-scale 1:48, #1-scale 1:32 & G-Scale 1:22.5). Yes, both designed are based on the common Type E coupler. Our original coupler style has an exposed knuckle spring with minimal details; our AAR Type “E” coupler has a much more prototypal appearance & hidden knuckle spring. Know that it is large scale season it is time to go over the subject and the features that make the couplers different.

Let's just start out with the obvious the AAR Type “E” coupler has a much more prototypal appearance then our original style of coupler. The AAR Type “E” coupler contour with visible Kadee® casting marks to better replicate the prototype coupler. One other big feature if it hasn’t jumped out at you yet is where is the Knuckle spring? Yes, that is right the AAR Type “E” couplers have a hidden

I am going to go over coupler mounting height again and again, until I stop seeing or hearing about peoples conversion video’s posted on the internet that show people mounting couplers at the incorrect coupler mounting height on “how to videos”. Couplers barely hooked together and then bending the trip pin is not acceptable; even if the coupler is off 20 to 30 thousands checked with a coupler height gauge is not “good enough” for trouble free operation. If you don’t want your cars coming apart when you are running them then you need to take care you have the coupler mounting height correct. “Scale” couplers make this even more critical because the coupler pulling face is smaller.

Example: When you go over that transition on your layout pulling your favorite cars the couplers knuckles will raise and lower keeping the cars connected if you have set the mounting height of the couplers at the centerline, this gives the most available coupler movement without the couplers slipping apart. If

Wholesale customers: We’ve made some big changes that will affect the way you place orders with Kadee going forward.

Firstly, ALL wholesale orders for Retail Products must be placed directly through the Kadee.com website to receive your discount. We are no longer able to accept faxed or e-mailed orders. Kadee.com features a live inventory and only the inventory available is purchasable. We cannot accept back-orders at this time.

Secondly, we have added a convenient website feature for our wholesale customers called FAST ORDER. FAST ORDER allows you to conveniently add products to your cart. This can be found under the MY ACCOUNT drop down next to the shopping cart icon on the top-right of our website. You can either upload a .csv with SKU/Qty or enter SKUs and quantities manually. You must be logged in to use this feature.

FAST ORDER allows you to add products to your cart by uploading a .csv file (sample .csv file available on FAST ORDER page). You must use the Kadee® SKU number (which

The Coupler Height Gauge for the scale you are modeling is your best friend when is comes to trouble shooting, installing couplers and uncouples when used correctly. If you are trying to install couplers or trouble shoot couplers without a coupler height gauge you are just spinning your wheels. Trying to use an existing car to set your coupler heights is a bad idea and will not end well. If you think you need to bend the trip pin then your coupler is probably at the incorrect height. Trip pins are factory set and should not need to be bent if coupler is mounted correctly. When the coupler height gauge is used correctly whether for mounting uncouplers or mounting and fine-tuning couplers; your couplers should operate trouble free*.

*Coupler height gauge or coupler design can’t fix bad track or incorrectly setup equipment.

Whether you treated yourself to some of those Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals (I know I did, don’t tell my wife) or you get some new locomotives or rolling stock as Christmas gifts, if you have cars from one of the manufactures who install Kadee® Magne-Matic® couplers from the factory: you’re golden! You can start enjoying your new cars on your layout immediately.

But, if you didn’t... Now you have a very important decision to make. It may even be life changing... (cue dramatic music)

The Question: Do I replace the “clone knuckle couplers”* that came on that my cars with Kadee® Magne-Matic® couplers? Or do I just leave the clone knuckle couplers installed that came with the car?

This decision is not one to be taken lightly. The fate of your layout, and possibly your sanity, may be affected by this life-altering decision... (cue dramatic music)

If you choose to leave the clone knuckle couplers on your cars, you will experience a very basic and limited coupler function that will be filled

Here are some hints that applies to all model railroading scales that use Kadee® Magne-Matic® Knuckle Couplers. Many problems with couplers can be avoided if enough time is spent making sure the couplers are at the proper height, securely mounted, and fine tuned where needed. “Close enough” is not a good practice if you want reliable coupler performance.

All of your couplers need to be mounted at the same height using a coupler height gauge and be as level as possible with no droop or slant. Even if the coupler pocket (draft gear box) is level, the coupler itself may not fit into the box properly and droop or at least have some vertical play. Check all of your couplers with one of our coupler height gauges for the particular scale you are working with. Our Coupler Height Gauges will help you with proper coupler heights, trip pin heights, and other helpful features that are built in to the Coupler Height Gauges depending on the style of height gauge you chose to use. Some modelers have problems