The Kingdom of Philtopia

Remember that Chessie SD40-2 I was restoring back to health a few months ago? Here’s the latest on that project.

After my last restoration post I had got some standard Kadee #5 couplers into the Athearn coupler box but I didn’t like that the metal centering plate stuck out a bit. I also tried putting a Kadee coupler box on instead but it sat too low to be useful on this old Blue box chassis. Eventually I picked up some Kadee #148 whisker variety couplers and used the existing Athearn coupler box to fit them onto the engine.

This appeared to work at first.

After checking with a coupler gauge it was clear however that the couplers sagged down and were not reliable. They weren’t catching on turnouts or anything but on a grade they would let go of their cars.

Finally I picked up a bag of Kadee #209 washers and placed one within each coupler box and the issue was solved! Now this proud old cat is back on the line where it belongs! Thanks Kadee!