Some old photos from my files. Originally made for a page on my website, explaining the various types of couplings in use.



Lima HO Australian ELX wagon of Victorian Railways and an N scale wagon with a smaller version of the HO coupling.






Same ELX wagon with standard Lima coupling (known in Australia as the Dunny-seat coupling - I'll say no more), a Powerline coach with the compact coupling, Lima N scale wagon with an even more compact coupling, and Lima N scale tank wagon with standard Rapido N coupling.

The smaller NEM coupler (for HO scale) were under NEM 360 standards.
The later close coupling mechanisms were under NEM 362 standards.
Does anyone knows if the previous big hook couplers were under any NEM standards?

The "Dunny Seat" term was, as you might guess, a term of derision by those who preferred to upgrade to Kadee couplers. In my experience, the older, larger coupling worked quite well. It's just that it was not the best look, and usually needed a lot of space to work, meaning big gaps between stock. The compact version went some way to answering those two issues, but it never seemed to work properly. Being quite stiff meant you had to couple at speed, and even then still chase a wagon half way around the layout. So it's no surprise many didn't like it. And the way it lifted up did look a bit like a very uncomfortable toilet seat. lol!

Some years ago I was the Australian distributor for Frateschi, a Brazilian maker of model railways. They had (and still have on their non US range) a version of the same coupler that I found works brilliantly. You can couple with the lightest touch, and best of all, it used magnets to uncouple. So no more mechanical ramps that often lifted the wagons off the track rather than opening the coupler.

As for the N scale coupler, I do wonder if there were yet any standards for N scale when Lima first released their N scale range. I have had other 1960s N scale models (Minitrix comes to mind) that did not have the standard N Rapido coupler that they all changed to in a short time.

What about these mechanisms? Any experiences, compatibility with the other brands, is there any mounting guides or gauging set?!

The main limit on these is that you can not regulate in the vertical, so either the body of the car is at at correct height, or carpentry work is needed.

Hello everybody,
one basic question on couplers.
Since Lima hasn't produced all among the basic rolling stocks (in my case, the Italian E626, E 636 or E428 locomotives), I am thinking to chase some Rivarossi items to fill the gap.
I read lots of discussions about couplers' compatibility but most of them are focused on the newer material.
I wonder whether the Lima Vicenza rolling stocks are compatible with Rivarossi Como couplers from the 70s to the 90s.
I know that there could be an issue due to the different height of the couplers, being Limas higher than RR, but i wonder whether they are even dockable together or they cannot cohesist in the same convoy.
Many thanks,
Paolo

Thanks Martin,
if you were me, what would you use to lead a 50's style convoy made by Lima 9102 in Castano Isabella livery?
The Lima E424 would be chronologically correct but even not realistic in terms of real utilisation. The E645 series 2 came out later. The correct choice would be a E428 or E636 or a E646 Series 1.
Thanks for your suggestions

Paolo

I was pleasantly surprised by this LIMA's offer:

https://files.homepagemodules.de/b525845...n3_YlFOSZrM.pdf

Any further details, years of production, are they suitable for other couplings (Fleischmann Profi, Roco, Marklin etc.), whether it is still possible to find them....?

Hi Paolo
I have a mix of old and new material.
The old RR are compatible both with the old and new LIMA couplers.
Of course the functionality is somewhat limited (when coupling / uncoupling or when there is a change in gradient), but I had never had issues I could not solve by changing the lineup of the offending cars.
Then, the older RR are somewhat bigger then the LIMA models and having a mixed fleet i use the following rules:
-never mix the same type of carriages with old and new (for example my UIC X are only older RR)
-have a look at how the locos look (the 428 is the worst in this regard) with the cars, if you can not find matching passenger cars, use that loco for freight and put open cars behind it
- lineup the cars so as the bigger ones are together and at front or rear depending on which loco you use
Hope helps

Having carefully reviewed, I concluded: it doesn't seem to be about short couplings with slot-guide mechanism. First four bogies are equipped with NEM 362 pocket but without slot-guide mechanism for buffer to buffer driving. All others bogies have rigid bound couplings, but with thinly and finer hook, conforming to NEM 360. As one example, please see the pictures below.

Recently, I find this open wagon equipped with "new" replacement couplings with thinly and finer hook and with synthetic part for centering of coupling.