New Railway Modellers Forums

I am new to railway modelling, and now having mastered the terminology relating to DCC (locos describe as "DCC ready" are NOT fitted with DCC & NOT ready to run ) I am now trying to deal with couplings.
I have bought a new Graham Farish loco, and the coupling does not match the ebay purchased motley assembly of wagons I have.
Attached below is a photo of the two types.
I have found out that the couplings slot in, but in order to purchase the right ones (to adapt the loco only) I need to know the trade name of the types of couplings I have.

I can't tell you for sure, but the one on the left looks a bit like a Kadee type of coupling. Are they made for N gauge? The one on the right is the standard type of coupling used for N gauge.

The wagon coupler is the 'Rapido' type long used in N gauge, and as poor now as when first introduced. scroll down the accessories page and you can see the versions Bachmann sell as spares.
https://www.bachmann.co.uk/category/mod ... ccessories

The loco is probably fitted with a Micro Trains coupler, a much superior option. (These are a similar design to the the well known HO Kadee and were originally developed by that company, but now produced by an independent business. There may by now be competing suppliers, but that's unknown to me.)
https://www.micro-trains.com/n-scale/ma ... c-couplers

Unless things have changed , I don't believe Bachmann supply their locos with the Micro Trains coupler fitted. So that loco was not purchased in new condition.

pebble wrote:I am new to railway modelling, and now having mastered the terminology relating to DCC (locos describe as "DCC ready" are NOT fitted with DCC & NOT ready to run ) ...

Yes, this dopey rush of blood to the head piece of marketese was much criticised when first introduced, on the grounds that it was obviously confusing. A more honest alternative was something on the lines of 'DCC socket onboard', but of course that's far too straightforward.

However, it should still be 'ready to run' in that put on a track with a controlled 12V DC supply it will run. (Of course it won't run if the DCC decoder socket blanking plug has been removed, and that's a not unknown occurrence in s/h sales. Happened twice to me with s/h OO purchases.)

In america Bachmann have their own version of the Microtrains (MT) coupler called E-z mate. They make an e-z mate coupler that will directly replace a US bachmann rapido coupler but I don't know if they fit Graham farish.
You can hook an e-z mate to an MT but it's better to try to keep to all the same type.
The knuckle coupler shown in the first photo looks more like a McHenry coupler, another variation of the MT.

Thanks for these replies.

Sorry but I am still unsure wat my plan should be.
Is there a brand name of a coupler that I can fit to every wagon, every loco, every coach I have got which is easily obtainable, say, from Amazon. This so that if I buy rolling stock in the future on ebay, it will be a simple modification ?

The link above opened up page of magnetic couplers, which I suspect lies in the future for me.

The easiest solution is undoubtedly the 'Rapido' coupler, as that comes fitted to most UK N gauge product. It's probably manufactured by a number of businesses, such as Bachmann, but there my knowledge runs out.

Here's an article on what's available in N couplers to supply some background.
https://www.nscaledivision.com/informat ... uplers.htm

In case it helps, couplers are a somewhat fraught subject in all small scale railway modelling: make them true scale representations of the prototype and you are moving toward watchmaker territory, make them robust and functional, and they don't look so good...

Ironduke wrote:In america Bachmann have their own version of the Microtrains (MT) coupler called E-z mate. They make an e-z mate coupler that will directly replace a US bachmann rapido coupler but I don't know if they fit Graham farish.
You can hook an e-z mate to an MT but it's better to try to keep to all the same type.
The knuckle coupler shown in the first photo looks more like a McHenry coupler, another variation of the MT.

Well that's informative, I suspected this would be the case, but no longer know anyone active in N gauge.

I imagine the next step is to google the service sheet for your new GF locomotive and see if you can find the part number for the original coupler.
Do you have a part number or more details or photos of the locomotive?