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What is command control and how does it work?
You really ought to check out the proposed NMRA standard for Digital Command Control. For a PC and about 30-50 dollars you have the guts of a CMRI. Some freeware is on the way for the PC, you can program it yourself or you can purchase one of the excellent programs for $100-$300.
The idea is that the PC can be programmed to send digital command packets out it's serial port. It's then sent through a simple amplifier, since most serial ports don't put out the amperage to power a layout. A freeware program already exists for the Mac; a PC program is forthcoming.
Obviously, the above scenario only allows keyboard control. If you want control panels, walkaround throttles and all the other stuff most modelers use, you'll need to do something more. But, if you're only interested in having a computer control your trains, the above will be more than sufficent.
While most of us look at Digital Command Control as requiring a decoder in every locomotive (expensive) it is not necessary for some operating styles. For instance a progressive block approach can be implemented using a decoder in front of a throttle. The command station then controls the DC throtles and they control the trains. Unlike the origional Chubb approach that required N (number of cabs) throttles per block, this technique only regueire one decoder-cab combination per block.
Switches can be controlled digitally which provides a method to enter digital computer controlled operations gradually as you budget allows.
Model Railroader recently publiched an article on using a parallel port to control switch machines. I suspect that it would a cheaper way than having each switch machine equipped with it's own digitial controller, but it will require more wiring.
Decoders are available for all scales (I have installed one in a Microtrain F7 complete with directional lighting)
You can get digitial controllers for about $45. Hopefully, this will drop. You presumably have the computer sitting around, being used for other things, so it's practically "free". The only other thing you need is the program, which will hopefully soon be freeware, and the amplifier, which is about $30. When the price of the controllers drops some, hopefully to ~$20 [I can always hope], you'll be able to have computer control of 10 independent locomotives for under $250. Used to be the interface to the track from the computer cost more than that.
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For the PC end, I might recommend an older Atari 520 or 1040ST. They can be purchased new in Europe or used in the US for around $150. You can connect a tv to it or use a monochrome monitor (maybe better or this useage.
The advantage of the Atari computer is:
For the small space these things take up, I think it would be great. Plus they are dirt cheap. A hard disk wouldn't be required for command control since your application could easily be kept under 700K. Or a boot disk could be used. This is a great alternative to people who CAN program in BASIC, or C or Pascal and don't own a PC (perhaps a costly alternative to an Atari.
What is this black crud on the top of the rails? What causes it, and how can it be eliminated?
Probably an oily dirt residue that cakes up. In the club I belonged to years ago, there was mandatory twice a week maintenance which consisted of manually cleaning all track by rubbing/burnishing it with with a piece of cork roadbed. Took about 3-4 members about 15 minutes to do it. Worked like a charm and had none of the deliterious effects that abrasive rubberized type of rail cleaners will eventually cause. Plain old cork would remove the oil, dirt excellently.
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Another way to clean it is to load a little product called Rail-Zip on a rag and rub the rails. It doesn't take long and is perfectly safe and enhances electrical contact.
To keep from having to clean the rails as often, clean the wheels of the rolling stock. Chances are you will find a big clump of that black crud on them. A light scraping with an Xacto knife gets it right off.
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If you want to get rid of the black crud, NOT using rail zip helps. The film of oil lift on the track is what the other stuff, mostly dust, sticks to. The idea about the cork roadbed sounds good. The old trick with the Masonite (R) under the boxcar helps too.
The best thing you can do is get rid of the plastic wheels. Black Crud sticks to these much better than metal wheels. This will get most of my fellow N-scalers mad at me because I'm telling them to throw away their Microtrains wheels. Try NWSL, small flanges and they weigh twice as much as the MT wheels.
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I posted this info a couple of years ago. It concerns a "magic potion" that almost eliminates track cleaning. I use a variant of the CTC-16 Command Control System (PMP-112) and it is very sensitive to dirty wheels and track. With the "magic potion", the system works perfectly, all the time. I haven't cleaned track in two years execpt to wipe off dust before an operating session. We operate twice a month, so this is qute a testimonial.
First, some background on my dirt problem. I used to clean the track with a Bright Boy before operating and things would work OK for about 1/2 hour, then engines would start acting up. I tried cleaning the engine wheels halfway through an operating session by placing a thin cloth on the rails, wetting it with denatured alcohol and holding the engine on the wet spot with the power on. This worked for about 10 more minutes. Another cleaning would reveal more crud. What I figured out was that after 10 years of use, my car wheels had a lot of crud built up and were transferring the crud back to the track.
Before I heard about LPS-1, I decided to bite the bullet and clean ALL my car wheels (that's 1200 axles worth!). Since this was SOOO much fun, it took 9 months of tedious on and off work sessions with friends. Just before we finished, Mark Paris of TinyTronics told me about LPS-1, so I decided to try it.
I went through a few steps before using it, the first being to test it on a test loop before I screwed up 1200' feet of track on my layout. Also, I wanted to do an experiment to verify my hypothesis about wheels transferring dirt to the track.
I set up an oval with new Atlas FlexTrack to run a train on and cleaned the new track with alcohol (I didn't use a Bright Boy, because I now suspect that the binder used in them is what causes the wheel crud and because they cause scratches on the railhead that can collect dirt). I cleaned the wheels on my best running engine and ran it continuously for 1/2 hour with no problems. After cleaning the track and engine wheels again, I got six cars with dirty wheels and pulled them around. Within ten minutes, the engine was stalling and bucking! Just to double check, I again cleaned the track and engine wheels (getting lots of black crud) and pulled some cars with clean wheels around for 1/2 hour with no problems.
Next I applied LPS-1 to the track. I used a 2" long piece of 1/2" square balsa wood to apply it to the track. I just sprayed a little on the wood (which soaked it up) and wiped it on the track. While the track was wet, I ran the engine over it to get some on the engine wheels, then took the engine off so the track and wheels could dry. After a half hour, I tried the test again with the dirty wheels. I pulled them around for an hour with no problems! What surprised me was I could actually see black gunk on the track (I guess it was coming off the wheels somehow) and the engine still ran great!. It seemed impervious to dirt!
Convinced, I applied it to my layout. First I thoroughly cleaned the track with electrical contact cleaner, again spraying the cleaner on a piece of balsa and wiping the track with it. The balsa works great, since it absorbs the cleaner and stays wet and it doesn't get caught on switch points and track joints like cloth does. I'm not sure if this cleaning step was necessary, but after spending so much time cleaning wheels, I didn't want to skimp. I used a track cleaning car (a piece of Masonite suspended below a box car) to clean tunnels and hard to reach areas by pushing it with an engine. Needless to say, I used a lot of pieces of wood (the track was filthy!). After cleaning it, I applied the LPS-1 using balsa and the track cleaning car. I also cleaned and coated all my engine wheels.
The next operating session (August, 1989) went beautifully. Every engine ran like clockwork. I have been operating twice a month since then and have reapplied LPS-1 once (for no special reason). Before a session I will push the track cleaning car over the layout to remove any dust that has settled. I use a clean piece of balsa to wipe dust off sidings (dust still settles on the track, LPS-1 doesn't *repel* dust). If I don't wipe the dust off, the engines will cough a little until the dust gets pushed out of the way.
LPS-1 Greaseless Lubricant is a product made by Holt Lloyd Corp. (Tucker, GA and Los Angeles, CA) and is designed for use on electrical contacts. They also make LPS-2 General Purpose Lubricant and LPS-3 Heavy Duty Rust Inhibitor, neither of which are suitable for our purposes. LPS-1 has a bizarre characteristic: it is normally non-conductive but in the presence of an electric field or with metal to metal contact, it becomes highly conductive. Sounds sort of like what happens with locomotive wheels and the track, eh? It's been described as "a long polymer kind of thing" (don't ask me what that means, ask a chemist). It goes on wet and drys in about 30 minutes. It won't attract dust. It smells a lot like WD-40. It reduces traction a tad (I would guess-timate about 10%). A friend who does N-scale, Bill Kepner, was having terrible contact problems after ballasting, tried LPS-1 and is now a true believer.
If you read Model Railroader, there has been a product advertised recently (~ last 6 months) called Stabilant-22. It sounds exactly like LPS-1, except they charge $30 for a few grams (or something like that). LPS-1 comes in an 11 oz. spray can for $4.19. Such a deal. One can will last 3 or 4 lifetimes.
I have found LPS-1 at Ace Hardware Stores. Most stores don't stock it, but can order it for you. A nice store will order a case and sell you a can. A nasty store will order a case Just-For-You (sell the rest to your friends).
... I saw this post [on LPS-1] several years ago and tried it. I am a true believer. It works. It is also sold by a number of manufacturers in small quantities for $10 or more (it is exactly the same thing as LPS-1 only repackaged).
The only problem I have had was when I overapplied it to the rails. I thought that if a little would work fine a lot would work better. WRONG. What happened is that it instantly cleaned the crud off all my wheels and when the LPS-1 dried out it reapplied it in large quantities to the locomotive.
I now use it to clean wheels and a small amount on the rails with excellent results. I have found LPS-1 applied to a Q tip the best for cleaning wheels and spraying LPS-1 to the bottom of a masanite block on a track cleaning car the best method for applying it quickly to the entire layout.
What is card order operation, and how is it used? The usefulness of card order operation is that it allows you to give each freight car movement a sense of purpose, just like in the real world, in a way that does not take a lot of work. Put simply, you have a card for each freight car, which always accompanies it and lots of cards, each representing a load. It takes a certain amount of work to prepare all the cards needed, but when you have done that, you will not be needing any other papers nor a pen during operations.
The car cards must have a pocket for the load cards. Some make the pocket from clear plastic, but you can also make the cards from a single piece of paper you fold and either tape or staple shut like this:
_______________
| |
| \
| \
| \
|_______________ |
|_____|
_______________
| |
| /|
| / |
| / |
|_________|_____|
On the left side of the card, you write down all relevant car data,
type of car, reporting marks, how much and what kind of loads it
takes, distinguishing marks and other notes. For example:
Ni 12.5 tons Ommk(u) 20 tons
Coal
Wurttemberg 22 235 K.Sachs.Sts.E.B 59 066
Brown, two platforms Light grey
May go in passenger trains
On the right side of the card, hidden when there is a load card there,
you write down what is to happen to the car when it has become empty:
"Return to nearest yard" or "Return to the coal mine".You should then make a number of load cards, common wisdom is to make at least three per car to avoid too repetitive movements. On the cards you write down destination, source, type and amount of load, what type of car it requires and any special remarks. Examples:
To: Harbour To: Coal mine To: Freight station
Fm: Coal mine Fm: Harbour Fm: Brewery
20 tons coal 5 tons dynamite 10 tons beer
Ommk(u) G, N Private beer car
May not go in
passenger trains
It is generally a good idea to let the cards reflect each other, a load
of timber from the harbour to the sawmill can become a load of lumber
to the furniture factory and from there a load of furniture.All sources and destinations need not be on the layout, if you have a hidden return loop or fiddle yard, that can be represented on the cards simply as "East" or something. This is very convenient, as there are practically no limits to the traffic to such a place, whereas the cards in general should reflect the track capacity at different locations.
An operating round begins with you drawing a number of load cards from a stack. Then locate suitable empty cars and get them to where they are needed, and at the same move the empty cars since last round to where their cars say. When the empty cars are spotted where the loads are, insert the load cards into the car cards, assemble the trains and move them to their destination. When spotted, remove the load cards and return them to the stack; Whereupon the cycle can begin again.
I've had experience with waybill/card systems, computer generated switch lists and tab-on-car systems. Since I am not fond of paperwork and my tired old eyes have trouble reading the reporting marks on HO cars, I much prefer the tab-on-car system. The one I use is a variant of the system pioneered by John Allen (I think) and used on the Model Railroader employees layout (described in MR some years ago). My system works much like the classic card system but is much easier to use.
I have been operating with this system for 10 years and have found it to be very adaptable, flexible and easy to use by all but the most stupid of operators. The main drawback is the obvious unprototypical tab or marker sitting on top of the car. I feel that the benefits far outweigh this.
The basic idea is to have a marker of some kind on the car that indicates to the operator where the car goes. I use 3/4" "fender" washers for the tabs. A fender washer has a smaller hole than a normal washer so there is more room to put information on the tab. I use colored 3/4" round Avery labels (available at office supply stores) to color code the tabs for each town. Each tab has two sides, one representing the shipper, the other representing the consignee.
To make the tab, I affix an appropriate color label on one side and write the town code (two letters) at the top and the industry code (3 letters) at the bottom. Even though the color shows the town, some operators may be color blind or stupid and the two letters help out. I use a sharp Xacto blade to cut the label out of the hole area. The other side gets a different color tab for the second industry or location.
(Note: deciding on the traffic flow is another topic. You need to figure out who is shipping what in which kind of car to whom when).
The tabs allow a car to continuously shuttle between two layout locations. If you have a larger layout, operators never notice that the same car is coming and going. On my layout, each of 300 cars will be moved by various trains to and from the tab locations. Different cars take different routes based on the particular duties of the trains servicing the locations. Cars may take from 2 to 7 operating sessions to complete one round trip. This has two beneficial results:
Each car has a 1/4" piece of piano wire sticking up in a convenient place to act as a tab holder. Box cars and such have the wire in the middle of the roof; tank cards have it on the dome; etc. If the wire is painted the color of the car it is barely noticeable when the tab is off.
The simplest usage to to have operators move the car to the destination shown on the tab and then turn the tab over. The next operator will note the tab does not match the car's location and will put that car in his train to be moved to the next location. If certain trains have specific responsibilities, instructions need to generated for that train so that the proper cars are moved.
A refinement is to have the concept of a longer loading/unloading time, like the "work" box in the classic card system. I will have operators place a plain tab marked "work" on the car after it is spotted and the tab is turned over. The next operator will then remove the work tab but leave the car alone and the operator after that will pick up the car. This mimics moving cards from the "setout" box to the "work" box then to the "pickup" box.
If you have work tabs marked with the code for each industry, the car can easily be respotted properly if it needs to be moved in the course of switching other cars. This is a problem with other systems because you are not sure where an existing car belongs if it needs to be moved out of the way temporarily.
Another refinement is to indicate on the tab if the car is loaded or empty. When an "empty" car is spotted, it is obviously being loaded and the tab will be turned over. When a "loaded" car is spotted, it is being unloaded and the tab can be removed entirely, indicating a newly emptied car that needs to be moved to a yard or off-line staging area. When a car is required for a newly generated load, the car assignment person finds an empty car and places the tab on it.
In this case, extra markings are required on the tab: "turn" or "remove" (or "mt" and "ld") and the car type required for the load ("bx", ho", etc).
I did this some time ago but found it didn't serve much purpose other than keeping another person busy. It also made for more rules about what to do with empty cars, etc. I also found that, when there were not enough empty cars in the yards, the assignment person would need to locate tabless cars at industries not yet moved to a yard and would reassign them. So it ended up that there were never any "empty" cars going to the yards anyway.
Another trick is to mark some cars as "through" cars which would circulate between staging yards, kind of like a work tab. Half of the cars on a through freight would have the tabs covered with a black tab indicated they stayed on that train for one cycle. When it got back to the staging yard, the black tabs were moved to the other half of the cars, allowing the older "through" cars to be switched during the next cycle. This allows longer trains without the confusion of arbitrarily not working some cars.
For cars going between on-line industries and off-line locations I have tabs marked CS SOUTH and CS NORTH (Colorado & Southern southern and northern locations). Northbound trains pick up CS NORTH and vice versa. CS N/S tabs are white to indicate the special handling. These tabs are turned in the staging yards since that is their final location.
My layout actually has two railroads, the C&S and the Great Western. The C&S has 5 towns with the following color codes: Denver (red), Longmont (orange), Berthoud (yellow), Loveland (blue), Ft. Collins (green), C&S N/S (white), through (black), work (silver). The GWR uses the same colors for its 4 towns but has a white segment at the top of the tab with GW in it to distinguish them from the C&S: Loveland Yard (orange), Windsor (yellow), Johnstown (blue), Milliken (green).
Once people get past the appearance of the colorful tabs on the cars, they enjoy the "ease of use" features of the tab system:
What are fast clocks? How do I use them?
Fast clocks, as their name implies, are clocks that run faster than the standard 12-hour clock. Typically, they run 6 or 12 times faster which translates into a "fast day" every 2 (6:1) or 1 (12:1) hours.
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The purpose of a fast clock is to permit timetable operations within the constrained environment of a model railroad. No more, no less. There are three principal factors that are accounted for in this manner.
The first, of course, is distance. If a real train were to travel an hour between stops, at, say, 50 mph, we'd need 50 scale miles of track -- over 3000 feet in HO -- to absorb that hour. Most of us don't have quite that much room for our layouts... By scaling time at, say, 10:1, we reduce that to 300 feet -- still a lot, for most people, but it's starting to approach something manageable. Note, that an N-scaler would need ``only'' 1650 feet of track for the same situation, and hence could get away with a slower clock -- but your equations would have the clock run faster.
The second major reason for scale time is to aborb the differences in how long certain operations take. For example, when we couple or uncouple cars, we don't have to worry about air hoses, pumping up the brake line, having someone physically there to pull the pin, etc. We also don't have to have our brakie walk the full length of the train to throw switches, put down fusees, etc. All of these things are largely invariant with respect to scale, too.
Finally, most of us don't have ``real time'' to devote to operations. (If nothing else, we need to do things like build cars, engines, factories, etc.) If I run my clock at 10:1, I can reasonably expect to get a full day's operation into one operating session -- and thus I can have trains going out and back, meeting lots of other trains, etc.
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Fast time is not meant to try to scale down time, but to compensate for lack of distance on a layout and to fit operating sessions between a two and four hour time frame (some do go longer, depending on the ratio and if they're run on a weekend).
Anyway, I've operated on layouts which have used a 12:1 ratio (one real hour equals 12 fast ones) and 6:1 (one real hour equals four fast ones). I've found the 6:1 sessions to more enjoyable as you have time to do things like switch at reasonable speeds and yes, even, think. At 12:1 you sometimes feel that you are moving 87 times faster.
Should also note that fast time is used to schedule trains to different parts of a layout and that having a train depart a town and arrive at another one an hour later is more realistic than having it arrive 10 minutes later real time.
How do I break in my new engine?
If you are comfortable in opening and taking apart the engine, then I would suggest to disassemble the engine trucks, clean them from the manufacturing grease with water and soap. When throughly dry, check the gears for any flash from manufacturing, so that they are smooth, then reassemble the trucks lubricating the gears with plastic compatible oil or grease. I use Labelle oil (I forget the item number) which is plasic compatible. I then run the engines at half speed each way for 10 min. on the club layout. Nowadays I use this method only on Athearn and few other engines.
I have found though that in the last years, manufacturing methods have improved. Engines from Kato, Proto2000, Stewart, Roco, the new Lima, run fine right out of the box, so I leave them alone and deal with them when I do maintenance (which is a few years away).
As for your engine, if it is from the latest production, that is, center motor, one or two flywheels, both truck powered, I would leave it alone and just run it around by itself as stated above. I have the new Italian engine 656 Caimano from Lima and I did not have to lubricate it at all (I did open it anyway because I am thinking of putting constant lighting).
How do I tune two engines for double-heading operation?
One solution is to use a computer controlled command control system. This would allow the computer to control each locomotive in such a way that everything runs together smoothly regardless of the DC response of the individual engines, as long as you don't try to run the consist faster than the slowest loco will go. This should also improve reliability of pushers and mid train helpers.
The cheap and dirty way:
Run heavy trains with all the power at the front end and put the
faster locos in front, so all the couplers will be in tension at all
times. This works OK if the differance between the engines is not
too bad. If it is a gross mismatch, one or locos may not run at all.
...
Obviously to make two engines run the same speed, they must be geared the same and the motor has to be the same make (generally speaking). If the speed difference is small (don't ask me the values, please), the consequences to the engines is minimal. But, if the difference is great, (eg. Athearn GP9 and Proto2000 FA1), then I would not run them together and just live with it.
My personal rule of thumb is that in general not to run different makes engines.
If the trains pulled are long, or the cars are weighted to NMRA standard, the speed difference should not count much, because both engines will work to pull the train.
Example: 30 weighted cars going up a steep grade will require 2 or 3 engines. A typical train like that at the club would have a Kato in front and 2 or 3 Athearns following.
BTW, slower engines, where the differnce is small, are great for using as helpers. Sometimes at the club we run trains with about 60 cars and mid-helper engines. We try to put the slower ones as helpers so that the danger of derailments is minimized.
Another note is that dirty wheels also contribute to difference in speed. So clean those wheels.
What are Kadee couplers and why should I use them?
Most locomotives and rolling stock come with an industry-standard coupler - for HO they are X2f (commonly called horn-hook) and for N they are Rapido. These couplers are only suitable for those who don't plan to do much switching and coupling/uncoupling of the cars, their primary advantages being that they are free and require virtually no adjustment.
Kadee makes a line of more prototypical looking couplers that are available in all common scales and which are used by most serious modelers. They are magnetically operated, allowing you to uncouple cars without touching them. Uncoupling ramps made of permanent magnets or electromagnets can be positioned at strategic places on your layout to perform this uncoupling. Rix (another company) sells an inexpensive magnetic rod which can be held between the cars to uncouple them without removing them from the tracks. Note that Kadee couplers are not compatible with the standard couplers, so once you switch you'll have to convert all of your equipment. In HO the most common size (#5) costs $2.95 for a package of 4 (2 cars).
Does anyone have a source for "screw-type" couplers?
I used 3-link and screw couplers in 4mm scale, although the screw couplers didn't actually screw. A variety of suppliers make them. They look good, but I found them too fiddley. They are one of the reasons I moved up to O-scale. My Eric Underhill 0-6-0ST has screw couplings that actually screw. I think you can get them separately from Slaters.
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I think that there is a working metal screw coupling in H0 built by Brawa. For train compositions that are never separated, there is a screw coupling imitation by Maerklin (in H0).
In `1' scale, there is a fully functional screw coupler by Maerklin.
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Marklin sells a box of 50 in HO scale. I orderd a box, but has not come in yet. That means I have not seen them and do not know exactly how they work. They do go with the NEM pocket. I will use them with my Roco passenger cars, since the trains do not get switched that much. I am using the new Kadee couplers for the NEM pockets and they work great. Of course they look terrible on European cars.
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Symoba and Maerklin makes dummy screw coupling imitations for HO NEM 362 coupler pockets. If you use them, the cars becomes permanently coupled, and has to be turned over if you want to uncouple them. It has been described in the literature how you modify the NEM 362 pockets to let the couplers be retained by steel wire, enabling magnetic uncoupling, but everything of course will hang out from the other car.
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I can't help you with 3.5mm screwlink couplings, but the following company supplies working (and non-working) screwlinks for 4mm scale:
Exactoscale Ltd,
29 Crouchmore Avenue,
Esher, SURREY KT10 9AS.
The last time I bought some they were #2 for the working pair and #1.50 for a non-working pair. They look very good, and yes, by twisting the coupling on the working ones, the two links do get closer.
I have to admit that I've only had a fifty percent rate of success with the working ones, as I tend to get solder into the screw thread, but maybe you're better with a soldering iron.
Most of Exactoscale's items are concerned with 4mm, 18.83mm gauge, dead-scale locomotive construction: gearboxes, drive shafts, frame spacers, sprung hornblocks and so forth; so I don't imagine their 24 page catalogue will hold a great deal of interest to most readers.
Their advert in Model Railway Journal states that the catalogue is available on payment of #2.00, of which #1.50 is refunded on the first order over #15.
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Screw couplings are certainly very common on fine scale British layouts in both 7mm and and 4mm scales. In 4mm, they are usually somewhat over scale to ensure that they are robust enough to be used, although for many years PC made (and may still make - I don't build models in 4mm any more) etched couplings which are very close to scale dimensions, but are a little to delicate for continuous use as train couplings. The Jackson ones are much better for train coupling, but are a bit overscale.
In 7mm, CCW make a very nice unit, which is very close to scale.
Slaters make a set of lost wax brass castings which I have yet to build totally satisfactorily (I now throw Slaters screw couplings away, and replace with CCW). Slaters three link couplings in both 4mm and 7mm although again slightly overscale work and look fine.