Anyone notice the Atlas coupler announcement?

I picked up a couple of Atlas cars last spring.   I think at the Chicago show, but not sure.

I was totally surprised that one of them had this coupler!   The head is almost identical to a Kadee and it works wonderfully with the Kadee.   They must have snuck some in under the radar before the annoucement.

The Atlas cars have had them from at least previous to this run Trinity run, they have just not been available to purchase separately until now[centering spring is still too strong, otherwise excellent JMO]

I picked some up at the O scale national and they seem to have finally gotten it correct.  Atlas coupler shank with a Kadee head.  Use their somewhat softer than before centering spring or a spare Kadee spring.  Glad to see this, one of Jim Weaver's last projects, I believe.

JJ

Biggest downside I see the price... 4 couplers for 8.95 MSRP, but you get 4 replacement atlas gear box springs? I would have thought the Atlas couplers would be cheaper than Kadee's?   What are you seeing the Atlas coupler packs sell for in hobby shops?  

Besides the ease of install in Atlas cars, what other advantages are there in these new couplers over Kadee's for such a high price?

Today prices are what they are, I suspect this is just a convience item for Atlas to stock and as long as all 2 rail models come in with these couplers they will probably remain as a spare part but not in any great quantity.

There are a lot of 2 rail cars out there since they started.   Might be good for some decent sales for awhile for those who have not converted the cars to Kadees already.

The only advantage I see is that one can replace failing older AtlasO couplers without mis-mounting Kadee pockets forward of the end sill (or tapping new holes). IMO the saved time and effort is well worth $4.50/car.  The downside is that the new coupler  doesn't look as good as the new Kadee.  As has been the case since Atlas went into O scale, their couplers trail the competition. 

On the plus side someone at AtlasO listened to our feedback relative to couplers and trucks - could turnouts be next?

Ed Rappe

Ed, we can only hope that much improved switches from AtlasO are in our future!

IMO, Kadee's are definitely the way to go. In most cases, not a lot of work to convert to Kadee's.  If you don't want to make your own out of styrene, you can buy the shims from Micro-Mark.. A little pricey but they work well, on sale right now a pkg of 60 for 17.25 or about .29 cents a piece

http://www.micromark.com/o-sca...-pkg-of-60,9822.html

Mike.  I agree the new kadee's are the way to go  for non- AtlasO rolling stock.  For AtlasO cars shimms are generally needed to get the Kadee's down to the right height - that is the easy part.  The tough nut has been to mount the Kadee  coupler pocket in a fashion such that the pocket does not  extend beyond the end sill in a non-prototypical fashion.  Generally that required drilling and tapping new mounting holes, or fabricating an adapter plate.  Does anyone know if the new Kadee short shank coupler addresses this issue?

Ed Rappe

My guess is the problem is the Atlas spacing not Kadee.   The new couplers that I have purchased so far use the same boxes as the old Kadees, just different heads.   I have not gotten any "short shank" ones yet.   I have the over, under, and long shank versions.

I can't imagine Kadee would change their hole spacing with the number of couplers they have out there.    And most O scale mfgs tap their products to Kadee spacing.   It might be a big marketing error to change spacing just for Atlas.

K-Line couplers were identical to Kadee, and were going to reduce the price of couplers. Too bad about the bankruptcy.

As near as I can tell, kadee has about the best scale proportioned auto coupler out there.  Their patent is long since lapsed, so it is surprising that they still have no competition.  Why on earth would a manufacturer want to introduce an inferior coupler that will not bolt to the standard pad?

No, wait.  That is a marketing decision.  Most of us are not qualified to make marketing decisions.  I remember walking in to my airline's marketing department to suggest that maybe going in to Palm Springs in May and pilling out in September was a bad idea.  The response - get outta here. Pilots do not understand marketing.  They were right.

Ed, I agree with you on the simplicy of replacing the old Atlas coupler with a new Atlas coupler.  It's definitely an upgrade.  However,  I still have issues with the new Atlas coupler not coupling to another new Atlas coupler.  Doesn't happen everytime, but often enough on my worm train that it's noticable.  Unlike the old Atlas coupler which seems to break just looking at the knuckle, the new Atlas coupler knuckle doesn't always open and couple to another new Atlas coupler, but atleast I haven't had one break yet.  I've never had a problem with Kadee's even at the the slowest of speeds coupling cars.   Like you say getting the Kadee draft gear box mounted and the coupler just right on some Atlas cars is a pain.   As Atlas couplers, especially older ones, break I convert the car to Kadee.

Would love to see a double shelf SE scale coupler for the tank cars!  Come on Kadee!

Mike,

One thing we should all consider is that the Atlas cars are too high to accommodate the problems with their couplers/boxes. One should look to lower the car rather than shim down the replacement box and maintain the problem. I recently bought a nice new Atlas tank car and coupled it up to an Intermountain model of the same car. The couplers matched just fine but the Intermountain was noticeably lower than the Atlas version. So, now I will change the trucks (and get better looking truck width with their bolsters) and couplers on the Atlas car to make a better looking model. My layout climbs to the ceiling so you get to see the cars in profile and the height difference jumps out (along with their abbreviated frames).

Jim Taverna

Yes! 

Jim,

I don't think you'll get a lot of disagreement on some of the compromises Atlas has made in their products to accomodate primarily using the same product for both 3R and 2R.  You highlight one of the bigger areas of compromise. 

In addition, without straying too far off topic for the thread, the size of the Atlas knuckle coupler gearbox is just crazy big.  I think without the coupler attached to the truck for the 3R community the 3RS and 2R guys suffer as Atlas may have been just trying to fill a large space!

Mike,

I agree completely. They do make it hard though, to rectify the problem. Nice cars though, other than that.

Jim

Atlas should get in a deal with Kadee to have Kadee's supply their couplers and put them on the cars/loco's etc... Then there would be no issues.. breaking knuckles, etc.. 

anyone have any issues with the Weaver Couplers?

It is nice to have drop in replacements for more difficult  Atlas refits like locomotives and some cars.  I have experimented with these newest Atlas couplers (the Kadee copies).  They can be made to work for uncoupling and delayed uncoupling BUT you need to replace both the overly strong draft gear and the coupler knuckle springs.

I am happy Atlas made these available but I just can't understand how K-line could get it right their first try and Atlas has now had maybe 5 versions of their coupler and they still can't get it right.  I applaud their efforts but their couplers should have been perfect by now.

J2M

As said many times for what it's worth in modeler headaches and the last rev of the coupler breaking just by looking at it, certainly begs the question why they just don't use the Kadee coupler.  MTH even makes provisions for them! 

Atlas would have to modify every single car and locomotive they have ever made to accept Kadees.  Not going to happen.  Just be happy they have expanded the O scale selection so much with a quality product.  I do think their new couplers are a huge step in the right direction.  Changing to softer Kadee springs is hardly a big issue and then they appear to work extremely well with standard Kadees.

J2M