European rolling stock and coupler options?

Hi!
I am looking at options of avoiding Marklin uncoupler track, and I'm planning on modeling German Era III. My online search revealed 2 possibilities so for:
- System Jorgen metal strips under Marklin couplers
- Converting European rolling stock to Micro-trains US style couplers

This brings me to these questions:
1) Has anyone on this forum used either system?
2) Do Micro-trains couplers work with European rolling stock?
3) Does anyone have pictures of european rolling stock with micro-trains couplers?
4) Does anyone have pictures of european rolling stock with jorgen metal strips?

4) Can I use a magnet on a wand to uncouple cars in either system?

Thanks

Konrad

No experience with either system but if you want to convert more than a few cars this is going to bea serious undertaking.

On Marklin stock the coupler is fixed in the pocket with a piece of the chassis (bogie cars) or the body (2 axle cars) and heatstaked. The plastic itself is melted to make the connection. So undoing that means you'll need to otherwise fix the parts back together. So for the Mico-Trains coupler it means cutting the essential parts of the cars and hoping you can get them back together afterwards.

The Jörger system doesn't require this but I have no idea how effective it is. Not exactly cheapfor what it is either.

I have read through z-friends-europe forum on the matter. They have some nice pictures of closely coupled european rolling stock with Micro-trains couplers. It is visually very appealing, and I like the operational opportunities it provides, so I think it is worth the risk of taking apart cars and locomotives to replace couplers. What I really liked is the fact that the couplers are much smaller than the standard marklin ones.

Konrad

Hello Konrad,

I knew there was some info somewhere...

Otti who is also a member of our group in Hamburg has installed the Jörger decoupler in his container harbor terminal. On his website you can see some detail pictures. You can also click on the pictures to get a better view. Note: I link directly to the site with the information of the couplers, but you should see the complete article about building the terminal. On the first page you an find two pictures of a folding bridge. This bridge is gone now. They replaced it with a tunnel.

About MTL (or AZL for that matter) coupler on European rolling stock: they are as prototypical as the Maerklin coupler is, but just a lot better looking...
...to use a prototypical European coupler would be a real PITA in Z scale...

Hi Ulie,
Thanks for the links. They are great. As for the Micro-trains couplers, I know that they are not prototypical for european railways, but as you said they do look a lot better. I am also excited about the opportunity for delayed uncoupling.

The only prototypical chain and hook system I've seen is for N-scale. It was developed for the finescale N-scale FREMO group. It looked great... but required way too much rebuilding imho...not to mention using a magnet wand for coupling/uncoupling of cars and trains...

Konrad

I'm going to check out those links ULie. Getting rid of those uncoupling rails would be a big step forward.

The only prototypical chain and hook system I've seen is for N-scale. It was developed for the finescale N-scale FREMO group. It looked great... but required way too much rebuilding imho...not to mention using a magnet wand for coupling/uncoupling of cars and trains...

It is very popular in 0 gauge as well and still every bit as fiddly...

Hello Konrad,
kmalkowski wrote:

As for the Micro-trains couplers, I know that they are not prototypical for european railways, but as you said they do look a lot better. I am also excited about the opportunity for delayed uncoupling.

I haven't it tested myself, but as far as I've read in another board the Jörger decoupler should also work with the MTL coupler since both system work with metal and a magnet. But the MTL decoupler magnet under the track probably couldn't decouple a Maerklin coupler fitted for the Jörger system because those couplers are to big.

I've seen some pictures of the O gauge couplers in Marklin catalogs, but I have not had any personal experience with them.

As for the Jorgen system, I like the idea of electro-magnets under the track. I'll see if I can do that in the modular layout they are presenting in Marklin Magazin.

Got a question though... Can you use hand magnets (like a wand) to uncouple micro-train couplers?

Konrad