AMS J&S coaches

[Phil Stump]

Has anyone changed to Kaydee couplers yet? I just wonder what coupler works?   They sure are nice cars. Can not wait to try them out. I am thinking they may be too heavy to run all 4 on much of a grade. Might have to sell 2 of them. My 4 ft. radius curves probably wont help either. Long time to spring. Too long!

[Kevin Strong]

The Accucraft coupler uses an identical coupler box to the Kadee #835 coupler, so it should be a drop-in replacement. Unfortunately, that particular coupler pocket doesn't give you a whole lot of swing, and these are long cars. I'd be tempted to fit the #830 coupler pocket to it instead. You'd have to do a bit of filling in under the platform to build a solid mount, but I don't think that would be difficult at all--a block of wood pinned in between the plastic should work fine. Having said that, the Accucraft coupler mates rather nicely with the Kadee couplers, so I'd be tempted to keep them on.

I am thinking they may be too heavy to run all 4 on much of a grade.

I agree--they are heavy buggers--a good chunk heavier than either of my two scratchbuilt cars. I think most of the weight is in the trucks, though, so at least it's down low. If you remove the electrical contacts for the lights, they roll much better. Roller bearings will help also, but that's up to you. I'd try all 4 on the grade and see what happens. Mine seem to roll fairly smoothly once I removed those horrid electrical contacts. I haven't run it on the railroad yet, just pulled it on a test track with my hand. 

Later,

K

[Phil Stump]

I ran mine today on the club layout. The K-27 pulls them just fine on level track. Still not sure about my out door track. I am just about as happy as a pig in  you know what. four of these cars behind the K is about as neet a train as I can stand. Now I need to start the search for passengers. we need to turn some revenue to pay for this new equip.

[Kevin Strong]

If you find some, let us know. The Tuscarora RR doesn't make a ton of money on passengers, but we need enough to justify having the coach on the line. I really need to hit the hobby shops that specialize in military figures and the like to see if they have anything that can be adapted. I keep thinking the Preiser figures are going to be too small, and it's not like they can sit on phone books.

Later,

K

[Great Western]

The 1:1 Great Western Railway (UK) always relied on its busy lines to offset the losses on the rural and un-remunerative lines.  The bus company which ran in this County (a  large County in England) also had the same ethos.  It was considered that they were a service to the population and were obliged to provide it.

That was in what is often referred to "as the good old days" and sadly was not found desirable when many organizations from railroads through hospitals and many other services were controlled by accountants rather than those who were skilled in their field of  work.