Darstaed,Hornby,ETS hook type couplers

Hi Chris,

Not sure if this is exactly what you are looking for, but ETS has a great selection of couplers and spares. They are great to order from.

https://www.ets-trains.com/en/spare-parts/2/

All the best,

Miketg

Have you checked with the US distributor, Edward Cognazzo?  He is still listed on the Darstaed website, and had a booth at York last time.

Look at MTH p/n DD-7100002;  these are in stock at $4.00 Each.

However, a better solution would be to ask your friends who have bought LMS and other MTH European passenger cars or passenger car sets [ OCEM, Orient, LMS/BR  etc ] IN THE HI-RAIL VERSION and who just use the knuckle coupler to send you those couplers which are shipped "loose" [ plastic bagged, I think ]  with those cars.  They are not furnished w/ the scale wheel sets;  hence, as a 2R person, I can't send you any.

SZ

I did check the ETS site and was going to order but the shipping was north of ridiculous! I’ll look up the US Darstaed distributor. I bought some of my Add van cars from him at York a while back.  Thanks for the suggestions guys. 

I get my Hornby parts from https://www.oldtintoytrainparts.co.uk/

@tcox009 posted:

I get my Hornby parts from https://www.oldtintoytrainparts.co.uk/

I'll give them a try.   Thank you.

So what's the final story?  Did you find a source with reasonable shipping?

Inquiring minds want to know...

I also needed a supply of hook type couplers as replacements and for some projects in the pipeline. The cost of the hooks and shipping was a bit pricey for me here in Australia so I decided to have a go at making them myself. Thought I'd share my result.

Hornby style top left, Darstaed bottom left and my slightly overcooked creations on the right.

They were made from easy to find materials from the hardware store and at home; "make a bracket" zinc plate perforated steel sheet, curtain hooks, small diameter pop rivet shafts and used cooking oil.

Some of the tools I used are shown below:

Not shown is my bench vise and gas torch (used to heat the coupler cherry red and blacken it in the cooking oil).

Once I figured out the process to make one, the rest were quite quick and easy to produce.

Hope this is of interest.