Standards for Ops cars

[Thomas Stephens]

Cars used for Ops sessions will have car cards made before they may be used.
On the back of the car card should be the last certificationdate. Think Repack or re-weight dates on actual cars.
All cars should have the following:
1. meet NMRA weight standard
2. Have Kadee couplers. Either #5 or #14. If needed, the equivalent full size coupler compatible with #5.
3. Have metal wheels in gauge.
4. must be test run successfully.

[Bob Johnson]

Cars used for Ops sessions will have car cards made before they may be used.
On the back of the car card should be the last validation date. Think Repack or re-weight dates on actual cars.
All cars should have the following:
1. meet NMRA weight standard
2. Have Kadee couplers. Either #5 or $14. If needed, the equivalent full size coupler compatible with #5.
3. Have metal wheels in gauge.
4. must be test run.

I'd suggest "certification" instead of "validation" and add "successfully" to "must be test run."

[Thomas Stephens]

Updates made.

[Bob Johnson]

Updates made.

Just thinking out loud, should allowance for inclusion of Kadee #58 couplers in the Operating Standards be made?

[Thomas Stephens]

Specifically no to #58.
These are the smaller 'scale' couplers. Any bump in track and they come loose.
Also they are more sensitive to height differences.
Too many issues for these to be in the standard.

[Mike Rehling]

Updates made.

Just thinking out loud, should allowance for inclusion of Kadee #58 couplers in the Operating Standards be made?

My experience has shown that the scale couplers, while they look great, are not the ideal choice for reliable operations. I have a few on the cars that I have donated to the operations and they are hit an miss on coupling reliably. I will be changing them out to #5's.

Mike