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so goes the refrain. Baloney! https://youtu.be/YMRLiPtyUDg Originally posted by Chops124 - January 01 2019 :  1:10:53 PM

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Someone seem to forget that KD have to be adjusted and changed if not aligning properly. So it is with X-2f style couplers. KD's main advantage is appearance and the fact that companies no longer make X-2f couplers so product availability is gone. Still many modelers use old style ones for a big reason, they have them. Someone just in to the hobby since the demise of the X-2f has a advantage for all new American style cars come with them, that is what they are getting, and they come properly aligned. I with my large collection will not change to KD's. I'd have to find quite a bit of cash to do it so it will never happen for me. In my collection are car of Manufacturer's with different style of couplers. I have made conversion cars to solve this problem. For me and those like me, on goes the hobby. frank Originally posted by toptrain - January 04 2019 :  10:55:00 AM

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if you look at the design of the horn hook with regards to the knuckle type of coupler, you can see where the physics involved under compression (such as when backing a train) will cause problems. Simply put, while both types of couplers will swing under compression as much as the draft gear will allow, the knuckle coupler's forces tend to push more in line with the car centerline, while the horn hook couplers will exert more side pressure. Add in the fact that most of the horn hook cars out there have talgo (truck mounted) couplers and the problem is magnified. Now, in instead of exerting the force through the car's centersill, the force is transmitted to the trucks themselves, which pivot under the strain. This causes the wheels to skew and ride at an angle to the rails, where any imperfection in the trackwork will cause them to deraii. I notice in the video you only have 6 cars and a caboose being pushed and still you had a derailment. Try that with a cut of 20 cars, as is routinely done on my Dad's layout, and you'd have had them everywhere. I guarantee it. The horn hook was simply put a horrible design. Try to back a similar sized train in N scale, equipped with Rapido style couplers and you will have far fewer problems even though the couplers are also truck mounted. Their compression force is transmitted in a similar way to the knuckle couplers. By all means, if you LIKE horn hooks, run them. But i for one am glad that they, and talgo trucks, are no longer the standard. Originally posted by jward - January 05 2019 :  7:16:53 PM