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Rubber diaphragms with aluminum striker plates were formerly sold under the MHP brand in O and HO.  When new they are quite flexible and had tabs on their striker plates that interlock with one another.  They can be spotted by having rounded corners.  In my experience they worked well on curves above 60" radius and had the advantage of staying in close contact with one another.  On sharp curves and through tight crossovers interlocked diaphragms may cause derailments do to the lateral forces on the ends of scale length passenger cars.  I once had HP diaphragms on some older passenger cars but haven't seen them sold for many years.  Precision Scale sold rubber diaphragms  with brass striker plates.  Some of their heavyweight brass Pullmans came with these in the box.  The ones I have can be spotted by their triangular tops.  IMO they are too stiff to be considered "operational".

Folded paper diaphragms (with square corners) have been offered over the years by quite a few companies, including Walthers.  Today Scale City Designs sells and improved version of this style diaphragm with added detail such as damper rods.  The folded paper diaphragms I've seen have black plastic striker plates that do not interlock with one another.  Around curves and through crossovers they slide by one another and do not have the derailment issues that sometimes occur with interlocked rubber ones.  One disadvantage I've experienced is that over time they lose some of their "flex" - and therefore no longer make full contact with each other.

 

Last edited by Keystoned Ed

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OGR Publishing, Inc., 1310 Eastside Centre Ct, Suite 6, Mountain Home, AR 72653
800-980-OGRR (6477)
www.ogaugerr.com

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