It seems that progress only gets made very infrequently - and usually after I've had a visitor explain to me how to do something. This month Tony Ellary has visited me, and among other things instructed me in the arts of installing Micro-trains couplings. Tony models in "Z" gauge and is known for installing decoders in his entire fleet of Z gauge models before the days of "plug & play". Adding couplings into such large models as "N" gauge must seem simple by comparison!
Why was this a problem? Well so far I've put in the "mail line" on the railway. Nothing will ever couple or uncouple there. All the remaining areas could have coupling and uncoupling, so I needed to know what the technology would be. I've liked the magnetically operated Micro-trains couplings after seeing the Kadee "OO" gauge version, but I didn't know where to start.
After a day we had a loco successfully pulling a rake of coaches with Micro-Trains couples installed at the end of the rake and on one bogie of the loco. It isn't trivial, but isn't fiendishly difficult either. I had prepared in advance, by purchasing a number of different coupling kits and the starter set. That meant I had all the tools and a useful range of couplings to begin with. There is a conversion set designed for "Rapido" coupler pockets, and that seems to have worked well with a simple modification: I need to make the couplings lower than the "standard" height settings, and I needed to mount it slightly lower in the pocket.
From this point it isn't now as daunting as I'd convinced myself to convert the entire railway. The plan is to leave the "standard" couplings in place within fixed rakes, and only add Micro-Trains couplings at the ends. Goods trains that need to be broken up will need then for each wagon.