Geof says:

Wayne,

When you say ‘magnet type couplers’, I assume your are referring to knuckle couplers. If so, conversion of your freight and passenger equipment is fairly simple. You essentially have to replace the whole truck which has a coupler mounted on it (these are called ‘Talgo’ type trucks, BTW) with trucks that have the knuckle type mounted on them. The most popular brand is Micro-Train although Accumate will work as well. Only Micro-Train couplers use magnets mounted beneath or between the rails to uncouple their cars. Other types require a special tool that fits between them to uncouple.

Converting locomotives to knuckle type couplers can be a bit more complicated. Fortunately, a number of locomotives come already equipped with knuckle couplers so that part is easy. For those that need to be converted, go to this page on the internet:

http://www.micro-trains.com/ConversionsN.php

There you’ll find a list of various manufacturers and the Micro-Train coupler you’ll need to purchase for the specific coupler conversion ‘kit’. If you’re locomotive or equipment isn’t on the list, email Micro-Train with your information and they’ll respond fairly quickly with a ‘fix’.

Be warned that some installations can be fairly difficult and may result in you having to alter your equipment is some way.

Hope this helps,

Geof

Larry says:

You can go one of two ways, either body mount the couplers or use talgo couplers (mounted to the trucks). Either way the coupler length is going to be dependent on your minimum radius, if you have nice large turns use the short couplers and if not use the medium length ones. The short couplers will put your cars closer together, which looks a lot better IMO.
If you are using MicroTrains couplers there is a page on their website that says which couplers work best on different manufacturer’s cars.