OPERATING COUPLER RELEASE LEVERS
BY HERB CHAUDIERE
WHEN YOU MODEL in the larger scales, especially outdoors, it is possible to run trains more the way full size railroads do. That extends to the way you couple and uncouple rolling stock. Real railroads have mounted knuckle couplers on each end of a car for almost a century. So the first things to change are your models' truck-mounted couplers.
Real railroads uncouple by lifting a pin running through the knuckle. The pin usually connects to a chain and the chain connects to a lever. On most freight cars, the lever runs from the center to the left side. The common name for the lever is a "cut (or cutting) lever". On locomotives and tenders, it extends completely across the pilot or the back edge of the tender deck.
A VARIETY OF STYLES
In the large scales, it is possible to build working cutting levers exactly the way full-size railroads do. They come in many styles. On most freight cars and locomotives, the lever raises the coupler pin from above the coupler. On most passenger cars it raises the pin from underneath the coupler. If you model narrow gauge, Slim Gauge Cars from Carstens Publications is an excellent reference.
I mount levers on all commonly available models. I use 3/64-inch diameter brass rod for the levers themselves and brass model ship cotter pins of a matching diameter for the loops-with one exception. I install 1/8-inch diameter rings to connect the lifting chain to the coupler pin. I open the ring, then form it into a triangle with the two ends forming the bottom of the triangle. The two ends go into the holes in the coupler pin.
Some rolling stock, such as Bachmann freight cars, comes with cutting levers. For those models, you need only chain, typically three links, and the pin ring. If you model log cars, you should lift the pin from below. If you want to install levers on an LGB East Broad Top hopper, it will need a special bracket. That makes the hopper one of the more complicated to modify; thank goodness I have only one!
Notice the lever on the brakewheel end of a typical car has a "bulge" to clear the brakestaff. Passenger cars present another challenge. The lever on my LGB passenger cars lifts the pin from below but on the Bachmann passenger cars it lifts from above. White Pass & Yukon coaches had such an arrangement.
COUPLER MODIFICATION
Several operating knuckle couplers are available. Unfortunately, while I have great respect for Kadee®, their couplers work magnetically so they are unsuitable for our purposes. My choice is USA Trains' coupler because it is a little smaller, hence better looking, than most others. Unfortunately, USA Trains couplers need some surgery with an X-acto knife to allow the knuckle open farther. Otherwise they won't uncouple if you lift the pin of only one coupler.
The ridge at the back of a USA Trains knuckle acts as a stop against the coupler head. You must remove the ridge and the additional shaded material from the coupler. You must also remove some plastic from the spot where, upon opening, the knuckle hits the coupler head. The procedure takes a little trial and error to perfect.
If you prefer outdoor railroading to running toy trains, cutting the cars the way the real railroads do brings you one step closer to realistic operation. And isn't that where we "serious" hobbyists want to be?
