O Scale Trains Magazine Online

Snap-on Hi-Rail to Scale Coupler Adapter
A One-Hour Project with Near-Zero Cost
Nick Pulskamp
There’s been talk lately about ways to facilitate transitioning
from Hi-Rail to Scale, and specifically about ways to pull tworail
scale equipment with existing three-rail power (on T-section
track, of course.) Here’s one convenient way to use Lionel
steamers.
You’re familiar with Lionel’s post-war freight trucks with
remote couplers that have a plate armature mounted under the
plate that holds the coupler (the truck labeled PT-1 or 479-1 and
the armature that is activated by an electro-magnet in a remote
control track assembly #480-25). The coupler-holding plate is
what we’ll use. Find one that has lost the armature, yet still has
the axle-gripping fingers intact. Next, find a scale coupler that
will work with the scale rolling stock you want to pull. Remove
the Lionel coupler from its mounting plate and attach the scale
coupler using the rivet hole left by the Lionel coupler. A 2-56
bolt/nut works well. Don’t tighten the bolt up all the way; let the
scale coupler swivel, but not droop.
Take the post-war Lionel eight-wheel tender you plan to
use to pull those beautiful scale cars and carefully remove the
coupler assembly. Spread the sideframes enough to remove the
axles, remove the plate assembly from the axles, and put the
wheelsets back on the truck without the coupler mount.
Here’s the important part. Both coupler mounts (the stock
Lionel one you just removed and the scale mount) will be modified
identically to become “snap-on” coupler assemblies. Then,
when you want to go back to pulling some regular Lionel cars,
just snap off the scale coupler plate and snap on the regular
coupler plate. Here’s how to do it.
Note the four “fingers” that are bent over the axle slots. The
fingers at the back (B) end stay as they are. The frame just inside
of these fingers is trimmed away as shown in the photo. This
way the axle can now be slid into the “slot” without bending the
break. If you need to adjust the coupler height, do what you do
for your Lionel couplers – bend the coupler mounting plate.
You’re no doubt way ahead of me at this point. Anyway,
changing the tender from Lionel-pulling to scale-pulling is simply
a matter of snapping off one coupler plate and snapping on
the other. The first time will take maybe five seconds. After that
it’ll get quicker.
One more thing. As long as you have a scale coupler on a
tender, why not put a scale coupler on a pilot? Now you can
couple this engine to another scale coupler-equipped tender,
and double-head two steamers.
Double-heading steam locomotives is a pleasure few Lionel
fans (like I always will be) have experienced. Once you have run
fingers or removing the wheelset from the truck. Do this to both
coupler mountings.
The fingers at the front (A) end are a little tricky. They need to
be bent, as shown in the photo, so as to act as snap fittings when
the coupler plate is slid onto the rear axle and rotated up to snap
the front axle into the front axle channel. Try to bend these fingers
as few times as possible: this metal fatigues easily and can
two steamers pulling together at the head end of a train, you’ll
begin to understand one of the new dimensions of pleasure
scale operation can give. You might even find yourself at least
mentally transitioning to 2-Rail, as I have.
It starts with little steps and leads wherever you want to go.
What a great hobby!
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58 • O Scale Trains - July/Aug ’06