dapol buckeye coupler

[locoworks]

NOT LONG NOW!!, i do hope it works as intended and is reliable. does anyone know if it is compatible with microtrains couplers??? as in will they work together well. or have dapol in their wisdom used different heights as standard so anyone with microtrains fitted stuff ( me ) will need to re-jig stuff to create a happy family.

and what happened to the farish version rumoured a while ago?? gone the way of their 9F?. or will it arrive eventually only to be not compatible with either dapol or microtrains??

[red death]

I would be surprised if the Dapol (and poss Farish) buckeye are compatible with MT - MT tend to be suited best for body mounted whereas UK stock is better suited to bogie mounted couplers.

The Farish/Bachmann version is still being developed - the US version has been released, but not the UK version yet.

[Karhedron]

I think that Dapol couplers will be set at different heights from MT ones to take the buffers into account.

I recall a discussion somewhere that Dapol had looked into making them compatible with MTs but decided against it. Since MTs are not fitted as standard in this country, only a small number of people use them. Trying to make their own couplers work with MTs would have compromised their performance so they decided to make their couplers work as well as they could on their own.

Tha farish ones are an unknown quantity at this point but Dapol certainly have a lead in being first to market. The only way I could see Farish getting ahead is if their coupler is much better (unlikely since they both seem to be based on the basic MT design) or if they produce versions for both NEM pockets and Rapido boxes.

[poliss]

Are the Dapol knuckle couplers magnetically operated or are they dummy's?

[locoworks]

Are the Dapol knuckle couplers magnetically operated or are they dummy's?

magnetically operated. hopefully the microtrains magnets will do the job. there is a piccy in the december ( out already!! ) model rail, along with their A4, drool drool. i have done a fair bit of dapol bashing in the past based on their 14xx effort and the other poor efforts early on. but i may just have to turn to the darkside and get some dapol items ( i only have 'stepney' from them ) out of around 30 loco's. it will be interesting to see how the dapol coupler fits the farish 08, 14 and 04/03 allegedly NEM fitting???

[Deltic1981]

Oh great will this mean i have to convert all my stock from rapidos?

[locoworks]

Oh great will this mean i have to convert all my stock from rapidos?

i got a few to swap too. i am interested to see if the conversion kit they are going to do is for fitting their buckeye into rapido pockets, or whether it is just nem pockets the require removal of the rapido pocket and the fitting of a dapol nem pocket.

[Karhedron]

Oh great will this mean i have to convert all my stock from rapidos?

Not necessarily. If you want to lighten the hit to your wallet, just change the couplings on the locos and at the end of each train. You can keep the Rapidos within the rakes if you do not need to uncouple there.

i got a few to swap too. i am interested to see if the conversion kit they are going to do is for fitting their buckeye into rapido pockets, or whether it is just nem pockets the require removal of the rapido pocket and the fitting of a dapol nem pocket.

I believe it is an NEM pocket that requires the removal of the existing coupler. Although I would have preffered a version that fits in the old Rapido box, a separate NEM pocket is actually very useful in itself. As far as I am aware, this is the first time NEM pockets have been sold separately and will be a great help to modellers looking to fit couplers on kits.

[Grahame]

Oh great will this mean i have to convert all my stock from rapidos?

There's no 'have' to about it - it's a choice thing. You could choose to stay with your rapidos.

G.

[b308]

Now this could be useful for us NG modellers... Has anyone any links or photos of them? Also size-wise are they smaller than the current N gauge coupler?

The one thing that always spoils N gauge stock for me is that massive coupler... It took Triang years to get their OO one reduced in size (even though they had the answer in their TT one in the early 60s), its about time the N scale manufacturers did something about theirs...

[locoworks]

Oh great will this mean i have to convert all my stock from rapidos?

There's no 'have' to about it - it's a choice thing. You could choose to stay with your rapidos.

G.

this could spell the end for rapidos (with the silent C ) as i think i read that dapols future releases will have the new coupler. ( but the pics of the A4 and A3 yet to be released are shown with rapidos )

[red death]

this could spell the end for rapidos (with the silent C ) as i think i read that dapols future releases will have the new coupler. ( but the pics of the A4 and A3 yet to be released are shown with rapidos )

Only if you want it to be the end - Dapol will be continuing to fit NEM coupler pockets (and supply NEM rapidos) so you can plug in/out either the new buckeyes or rapidos.

[locoworks]

this could spell the end for rapidos (with the silent C ) as i think i read that dapols future releases will have the new coupler. ( but the pics of the A4 and A3 yet to be released are shown with rapidos )

Only if you want it to be the end - Dapol will be continuing to fit NEM coupler pockets (and supply NEM rapidos) so you can plug in/out either the new buckeyes or rapidos.

i will have to wait a few more weeks to see if it does an intended, but i have it filed under 'answer to a maidens prayer' at the moment.

[THE CHIEF]

Theres a pic in the latest modeller. Looks smaller than a rapido but bigger than a dapol knuckle. I'd buy them thats for sure. It will be interesting to see if steam era layouts begin to become more popular if reliable hands free uncoupling is now a reality.

[journolud]

Would anyone know if these new couplings mean carriages will be less likely to become unattached in transit at randon places on the track. here are a couple of places on my layout where certain carriages sometimes but not always do this.