HO Rolling Stock Spacing


T

Toolbelt

Member
I'm in the process of converting an old fleet of freight cars from a variety of manufacturers to Kadees, but some some of the cars seemed spaced together tighter than others. What's a good general rule of thumb for the spacing between any two cars when lashed together?
 
That can vary greatly depending on the car and coupling system. Cars equipped with cushioning couplers are normally spaced further apart. You generally can't go wrong by just replacing with a Kadee #148 whisker coupler.
 
santafewillie said:
That can vary greatly depending on the car and coupling system. Cars equipped with cushioning couplers are normally spaced further apart. You generally can't go wrong by just replacing with a Kadee #148 whisker coupler.
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I went with the 148's but on a couple of cars the coupling boxes are recessed a bit further away from the ends. On some cars I can see the coupling and some of the shafts showing, while on others, even a bit of the knuckle is covered by the car end. I haven't tried them for functionality yet as I'm in the process of upgrading the cars/locos before setting up the old layout I inherited. At worst, 2 of the cars sit 1/2" from each other when lashed.
 
Toolbelt said:
I went with the 148's but on a couple of cars the coupling boxes are recessed a bit further away from the ends. On some cars I can see the coupling and some of the shafts showing, while on others, even a bit of the knuckle is covered by the car end. I haven't tried them for functionality yet as I'm in the process of upgrading the cars/locos before setting up the old layout I inherited. At worst, 2 of the cars sit 1/2" from each other when lashed.
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Not every car will take the same coupler. It will be up to you to select the proper coupler from the available choices.
 
D&J RailRoad said:
You can choose the shaft length too.
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yes but the correct shaft length based on what desired spacing between cars? A 1/2" spacing between cars is only a bit over 3 1/2' between cars in the real world. I haven't measured but there must be at least 4' between cars. I was wondering if there's some kind of industry standard as far as model railroading?
 
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