| There have been some questions about the couplers I used
on the Plymouth diesel and how I installed them. First, credit for
the idea goes to Peter Bartlett, who suggested it when I visited him in
Ireland. These pictures
are an attempt, done after the fact, to show a "before and
after" for this. The couplers are MicroTrains, but are
actually removed from a pair of MT 1017 adjustable passenger
trucks. The couplers on these trucks have a long tab that attaches
them to the trucks. By cutting off this tab, the remaining draft
gear box is extremely shallow and fits very nicely into the pilot of the
Plymouth. Admittedly this is an expensive route to go; but with
the solid casting of the AHM mechanism fitting flush against the inside
of the pilot, it seems to be the best solution.
Here are some pictures; I hope they help. |
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In this picture, you can see the slot that I cut from the bottom of the pilot almost all the way to the top. I saved the coupler draft gear detail that was part way up on the pilot and glued it in the top of the slot, then fitted the MT coupler box in below it. This picture shows the frame inverted. |
| Here you can see the draft gear detail on the outside of the AHM pilot as it was originally located. |  |
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This view shows the coupler draft gear box as seen from the bottom. You can see how shallow this box is and how nicely it fits into the pilot. |
