I am finding myself in a little quandary on the subject of couplers. You see, looking into my collection of stock, I find I have everything from Kadee #5s, to Kadee 711s, Kadee N-Scale (all built before the scale coupler craze), and Accumates. I tried the Sergents; many people like them and I suggest that everyone should try them, but they were a little too hands-on for me.

So, I was all ready to put Accumates on the new caboose, but on the test fit, I thought, “gee, they look a little big.” Of course, we all know that couplers got bigger (I don’t recall when, do you?), and this is most likely the reason they look oversize. So, then I went through my reference material to see if I could find out how much too big they are. I only found one dimension: 13.5 inches from end beam to coupler face. The Accumates are about 19 scale inches, and even the N scale are 17 scale inches (but a good deal lower in profile). Now, I just don’t know what to do.

Does anyone have any real information on the size of the early MCB couplers that might help me make this decision for once and for all? I’d love to standardize before I find myself with too many more models to change.