Coupling question

[Irish Padre]

I've just acquired my first Kato trains - mostly multiple units such as this

 

Do I really uncouple them by simply pulling them apart as the instructions seem to suggest? I'm scared of breaking them! Thanks - sorry for another daft question. Still in my first 24 hours of running Japanese trains!!

[gr-ex]

The simple answer is yes.  :)

 

The couplers in question are called Shafenberg Couplers and they're pretty resilient. They simply snap on and snap off.

 

I tend to uncouple them whilst they are still on the track, I personally find it easier that way.

 

Gently hold down one of the coaches ( thus not allowing any movement on the track ) with one hand and gently pull away the other coach with the other hand.

 

Grant.

Edited September 15, 2014 by gr-ex

[Irish Padre]

Thanks Grant - that's good to know! I've only ever used Rapidos or Fleischmann Profi in recent years so it's a new technique to learn!

[gr-ex]

No problem, glad to have helped!

 

It's a strange concept at first, but you'll get used to it  :)

[railsquid]

The variety of couplings had me confused at first too... Unfortunately I wasn't really aware of this when buying some individual cars 2nd hand, and as in some cases you need to buy a whole new bogie to replace the coupling, the bargain wasn't so great. Still, good learning experience...

 

the Scharfenberg type are presumably better for fixed rakes which aren't taken apart too often? They strike me as a bit fragile.

[HantuBlauLOL]

just dont plug and unplug it way too often.. reallistic couplers tends to be more easily damaged than rapido (the big, fat, black one) couplers, be careful.

 

that's my reason i want to convert all my trains to rapidos, except shinkansen..

[kvp]

The rapidos do have the benefit of being simple, robust, easy to use as bogie mounted and easy to couple and uncouple both by hand and by remote control. But they are not prototypical. Most Japanese trains don't use schafenberg, they use shibata couplers. They look similar, but the pins are not round but square. The upside is that you can close couple with them to 0 distance (with cars actually touching), but it's much harder to couple/uncouple them and there is no remote uncoupling for them, so you can't split or join a train between two cab cars by remote control. (with analog control, the solution is to add isolation at the uncoupler track and remove power from the trailing section during the uncoupling)

 

ps: In the early days, clear acrylic rapidos were used by many manufacturers, so you couldn't see the couplers that much. Somehow this practice was discontinued.