Model Railroading > Cutting a notch in Micro Trains couplers

After many years, I am going to try and get my N scale layout going again.  I remember on long trains(30-40 cars) the would sometimes de-couple.  I for got where I heard it but I was told if you cut a slight notch on Micro Trains couplers.  I did this and I would do it to the locomotoves and the first 5-6 cars and that ended all my problems.  Do any of you do this?  It is kind of hard to do, but with a good sharp xacto knife I was able to do it.

Would like to hear if any of you do this or what you do whenyou are running real long tains and they separate.

Thanks for any replies.

RC Lundgren
Elgin, TX

          Cutting 'notch' for what purpose?

Yes, I have done this for older MT couplers. If this is done it prevents couplers from riding up and uncoupling from each other. I am able to run 100 car trains because of this modification. Newer couplers (since late 1990’s) have the notch.

cvrrr

Posted from iPhone

Anyone have a photo or drawing of where to cut the notch?
Sounds interesting.

I would think instead of cutting a notch, just using a xacto knife to score the inside face of the knuckle a few times would give enough"grip" to keep the couplers from sliding apart.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

What you are referring to is "draft angle" and I believe MT resolved the draft angle issue on later runs of couplers, calling them "reverse draft angle" couplers. I believe the reverse draft angle couplers have become the standard over the past several years. There is a way to reverse the draft angle on earlier runs that tend to sip off on another and it's not by cutting a notch per se, but rather a gentle taper. There's a diagam somewhere online that explains how to do this, or it at least compares the old and new draft angles, but I haven't found this yet (see below), so I'll see if I can explain it. If you look at the coupler as if it's a (gripping) hand, the surface in question would be the very tips of the fingers. If the middle finger(s) are a little longer than the outer fingers and come to a slight point in the middle, that's the old draft angle. A reverse draft angle is when the gentle point is reversed and the outer fingers are slightly longer than the middle fingers (hope this makes sense). I've done the mods to a few of mine that were troublesome and, while pretty tedious, the procedure does help. But, before taking and Xacto to your couplers, I would make sure they aren't already reverse draft angle couplers and that I understood the procedure completely. Also, you may want to try searching the web for info on rewverse draft angle couplers and you may find some more info on this. I saw one MT reverse draft angle add/poster show up in my search results as a thumbnail that appeared to be in an dead or unclickable link, but I was able to barely see a comparison of the old and new draft angles in the thumbnail photo. Hope this helps.