Sergent Coupler Test Run
Patrick (3yo), Lorenzo (5yo) and I spent a couple of days testing Sergent Couplers. We used a variety of couplers on a variety of cars. While I love the way the Sergents look, I found it impractical for our layout. It’s just too hard to teach a three year old and a five year old how to properly use the Sergent couplers.
We had a lot of trouble lining up the couplers and even when we lined them up, we still had trouble actually getting the couplers to lock. Uncoupling was a little easier, but not as smooth as I would have liked.
I fitted a Sergent couplers on to my longer BLMA and ExactRail 64′ Trinity Reefers. I need to be able to run them around a 24″ radius curve. That was too tight for the Sergents, perhaps if they had a longer shank coupler it would help.
The final strike against using the Sergent couplers was the lack of availability of the couplers I need. For example compatible shank double shelf couplers have been unavailable for at least a year. Type F couplers have been unavailable for at least a year.
I’m still optomistic about Sergent couplers, but at this time Idon’t think they are going to work for The Industrial Lead.
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The Kadee 119 couplers look good with double shelves, but not so good when you cut the upper shelf off to have a lower shelf coupler. So, I purchased some McHenry Lower Shelf Couplers for my lower shelf coupling needs.
I’ve replaced about a dozen Sergent couplers today. There are still a few cars left in storage that I’ll need to convert. I’m switching to Kadee “scale” head couplers. Primarily the 119’s and 158’s.
I used my Dremel to shave the top shelf off of a few of the 119 couplers. They look alright. I think I’ll try to find some McHenry lower shelf couplers to compare.