The Lionel covered hopper and tank car were the first to get the Kadee #148 HO Scale 140-Series Whisker® Metal Couplers with Gearboxes. It was quite a project, it took a long time and used a lot of tools and modelling skills. The Kadee #148 couplers are a much easier to use version of the venerable Kadee #5 couplers. They use metal whiskers on the coupler shank and have snap on gear box covers. These two features make them very simple to assemble, compared to the original #5 couplers. The tools and supplies included;
Getting just the two Lionel HO cars set to the proper height and rolling well turned into a marathon work session from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. with no break for lunch. When I stopped, the two Lionel HO cars had Kadee #148 couplers with the gear boxes installed on the frame and the couplers were set to the proper height, using the NMRA standards of 25/64" from top of rail to center line of coupler, using the Kadee HO height gauge. The roll of the cars was improved using the Micro-Mark Truck Tuner. The axle/wheel width was verified to be correct for each wheel set using the NMRA-98-1 Standards Gauge HO . I had also used the Kadee Manual Uncoupling Tool & Built In Spring Pic, practicing uncoupling and seeing that it was working for these two pieces of rolling stock. All of the other rolling stock couplers were compared to the height gauge and I found a lot of work still needed to be done. The majority of rolling stock, which all had frame mounted couplers, were found to be too low. The frames have to be raised using washers between the top of the trucks and bottom of the frames. The following day, the two Atlas boxcar kits were converted to Kadee #148 couplers. Changing out the provided 2 piece Atlas couplers for Kadee #148 couplers was easy and straight forward. The Micro-Mark Truck Tuner was used to get them to roll better. Even though they were both Atlas kits, as previously noted, they were not identical. This showed up again when using the Kadee #208 Red Insulating Fiber Washers .015in Thick. The Southern Pacific required two shims under each truck while the Union Pacific only required one shim under each truck to reach the correct height between the top of the rails and center line of the couplers. Only the Kadee red washers and two sizes of Phillips screw drivers were required to complete this conversion. The C&O Caboose, from the Walthers' Train set, always had a problem of unexpected uncouplings. This was a super easy conversion requiring only one screwdriver and a Kadee red shim above each truck. The Micro-Mark Truck Tuner was used to get it to roll better. The Atlas C&O-Style Steel Center-Cupola Caboose was next. The Kadee #148 couplers easily replaced the two piece Atlas couplers. The height needed to be raised a little. The Kadee red washer diameter was too small to fit over the bolster pin with the screw hole in it. Several washers were tried. A 0.034" thick #6 metal washer worked and provided the correct height. Two different size Phillips heads and the metal washers were used to complete the conversion. The Micro-Mark Truck Tuner was used to get the caboose to roll better. The Walthers' GT 40' boxcar stock couplers were removed and replaced with the Kadee #148 couplers. The Kadee red washer diameter was too small to fit over the bolster pin with the screw hole in it. I was able to ream out the red washer to fit, as the height needed to be adjusted. At this point I ran out of Kadee washers. The locomotives, with their trailing battery cars, and two 50' Walthers boxcars still needed conversion, but all of the Kadee red washers, provided with the height gauge, had been used and all four of the remaining conversions appeared to need to have the coupler height raised. It appeared that since it is not easy to raise the frame on the locomotives, a set of Kadee #147 Whisker Coupler Med Underset 2 pair (HO Scale) was needed. The shank has an offset that raises the center line of the coupler, which should be enough of a raise for the front end center line of the couplers on the Walthers' GP15-1s. A package of Kadee #147 couplers, along with one set each of Kadee red and gray washers was ordered from Yankee Dabbler on January 22, 2023 as Nankin Hobby did not have them.
The coupler package and washers arrived about 5 p.m. on Friday, January 27, 2023. The following day, #147 couplers were added to the front couplers of the two locomotives. They worked as expected and were at the proper coupler height, although the trip pin on the Conrail had to be raised using the Kadee trip pin pliers. The #148 couplers were added to the train end of the gondola and Soo Line battery cars, which were already at the correct height. While both of the battery cars were Walthers', the gondola used Phillips screws to attach the trucks and the boxcar had plastic "pins" to attach the trucks to the frame. All of the Walthers' couplers removed, except for the Soo Line boxcar, used Walthers' version of Kadee #5 couplers. The boxcar used a Walthers' version of a Kadee #148 coupler with plastic whiskers instead of the metal whiskers used by Kadee. The original Walthers' couplers were left between the locomotives and their respective battery cars. The 50' Conrail boxcar, that came with the train set, had a stripped coupler gearbox screw. The stock couplers were Walthers' version of Kadee #5 couplers. A screw was found, in my RC Airplane supplies, that was just a tad larger in diameter and could be used to replace the screw that was in the stripped hole. While doing that "fix" the body weight fell out. The roof had to be removed and the weight glued back in place. To raise the frame to the proper Kadee #148 coupler height, one gray 0.010 Kadee washer was used under each truck between the truck and the frame. The washers were an extremely tight fit around the bolster shaft, with the hole in if for the screw, to hold the truck to the frame. This conversion to Kadee couplers took a lot longer than it should have!!! The Walthers Mainline / 50' ACF Bxcr C&O/Chessie1 boxcar was a super simple conversion. Replace the Walters #5 like, stock couplers with Kadee #148 couplers and that was it. The couplers were at the correct height with no washer shims added. Huh? After closer inspection, it was found that the 50' Conrail boxcar, that came with the train set, and this C&O/Chessie1 boxcar are not the same. Close inspection shows they are not from the same molds and that the C&O is just a bit longer than the Conrail. The photo perspective is distorting the comparison a bit. The blue, C&O is actually just a bit longer than the brown Conrail.  Some of the differences can be seen in the photo of the undersides, although there were a lot more differences! | ||||||
