RCH
Been Nothin' Since Frisco
No, I don't see a problem with that at all, just a matter of preference. I like the freedom to have 1/3 of the cars "free" and able to operate in normal "interchange" service, does that make sense? In other words, on my N&W/NS unit coal train, the cars won't represent a specific unit train all the time, only when they are operated in the early NS years, so at least some of them can be switched as single cars. If they had a dummy coupler on one end, it would prevent them from operating as a single. Of course, pairs would be an option, but they were often found alone in later years.
My BN coal train is equipped in the same way, but since it will only ever operate as a unit train, the Kadees are simply to facilitate breaking it into short cuts to put on the club layout (when I was a member of a club) and park in the yard.
And finally, this is based upon experience from years ago, I hate what my grandpa and I would refer to as transition cars. That is, cars with a Kadee on one end and a horn-hook on the other end. I had nothing but bad experiences before I converted everything to Kadees (which is probably more a product of horn-hooks than anything else). And it seemed something would always break on the transition car which prevented me from operating it. We'd usually just end up operating horn-hook only trains and Kadee only trains because there was always some kind of hassle, but the trouble was many cars appropriate for a given train and time period were a mix of each coupler type. We just lived with what worked since there were so many to convert.
So anyway, based on my own predjudices I avoid cars with one type of each coupler on each end. Your experience may well be better than mine. You'll know better about that than me!
P.S. I just figured that I save $20 in couplers alone on a typical 24 car train using my hybrid coupler method! Two trains equals one Athearn locomotive... not bad.
My BN coal train is equipped in the same way, but since it will only ever operate as a unit train, the Kadees are simply to facilitate breaking it into short cuts to put on the club layout (when I was a member of a club) and park in the yard.
And finally, this is based upon experience from years ago, I hate what my grandpa and I would refer to as transition cars. That is, cars with a Kadee on one end and a horn-hook on the other end. I had nothing but bad experiences before I converted everything to Kadees (which is probably more a product of horn-hooks than anything else). And it seemed something would always break on the transition car which prevented me from operating it. We'd usually just end up operating horn-hook only trains and Kadee only trains because there was always some kind of hassle, but the trouble was many cars appropriate for a given train and time period were a mix of each coupler type. We just lived with what worked since there were so many to convert.
So anyway, based on my own predjudices I avoid cars with one type of each coupler on each end. Your experience may well be better than mine. You'll know better about that than me!
P.S. I just figured that I save $20 in couplers alone on a typical 24 car train using my hybrid coupler method! Two trains equals one Athearn locomotive... not bad.
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