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HO Couplers

Started by azharpels, September 05, 2018, 08:27:08 PM

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azharpels

Is there an up date for the 2021 Horn Hook Old( HO Universal ) coupler

rich1998

Not that I am aware of.
I have not used that coupler in many years. Trashed all of them maybe thirty years ago or more.

I updated to the Kadee a long time ago.

Rich

RAM

What do you want to know about the horn hook?

Trainman203

#3
Here's what to know about the horn hook / X2F  / NMRA / whatever you call it couplers.

1.  Their appearance is terrible.
2.  As remote operating couplers they are a failure.
3.  The uncoupling "ramps" are huge and obtrusive.
4.  Their only advantage was low cost to toy train manufacturers.
5.  As soon as Kadee 's patents on operating knuckle couplers expired, the world rushed to copy them (although not all copies are equal and few work as well as the Kadees.)

As a teenage modeler, I could not afford to convert all 20 of my cars to Kadees at one time.  I found that if you pruned the horn hooks down to just the coupler itself (removing the wing and the ramp pin below) and removed whatever spring device held it to one side, with careful shaping you could get it to manually mate with a Kadee. That make-do got me through a year of cut-over pain.

bbmiroku

I've done the same thing, Trainman.  Then it even looks more like a regular coupler, too.

PhillipL

Quote from: bbmiroku on September 08, 2018, 10:14:32 AM
I've done the same thing, Trainman.  Then it even looks more like a regular coupler, too.
I have done the same thing too.  I love the way they look as well.