Bobcatt,

I imagine that the older S scale couplers were from before they changed the manufacturing process to die casting - the original EC couplers in HO were this type:

Compared to the die cast couplers (Narrow Shank EN87 in this example):

You bet, Jeff. They couldn't be put together "as received" or you ended up with a dummy coupler.

I still have a few unassembled ones. I wish Frank Sergent would do them in die-cast as well, but there just isn't a sufficiently large market for him to spend the money on the moulds.

Maybe if all the S manufacturers adopted the Sergent as their "standard" coupler for the new millenium... :-)

I got my package from Sargent yesterday, and assembled 6 of them in about a half hour. The assembly process is pretty straight forward, the part I was dreading, the ball bearing, wasn't bad at all.

So how do they worl? I really like them  - enough that I'll pull the Kadees off of the rest of my fleet (which, is, thankfully, small). The uncouple very easy, and recouple as easy as anything.

Here's a quick video so folks can see it in action - sorry about the poor quality, my still camera doesn't do such a great job with video, and the dark shadow you see is my arm giving the loco a boost (i chose that one as it still had horn hook couplers, but the loco hasn't been broken in yet for smooth running).

Video (7mb)

Hi Scarpia,

Is it just me or is anyone else having trouble viewing the video?  Just before the un-couple the video goes green screen and I lose audio...?

Hi,

No problem for me getting the video to play.  I use VideoLAN for all media, it seems to play anything without any surprises.

I ordered some Sergent couplers last week, I want t give them a try on my Bronx Terminal layout.  Kadee's centering feature are actually a bit of a hinderance on the small radii of this layout, will give Sergents a try, if anything, they sure look good!

Looking forward to giving them a try!

-T.

I played the video with iTunes - worked great with no problems.

Nice demo there, Scarpia! Gotta love those scale couplers ... they sure do look nice.

it worked on my other machine, but I put it on you tube anyway.

Hope this works better for you.

Sergent Coupler video

Thanks Scarpia,

The youtube video worked great.  Nice demo.  There are a lot of things I like about the Sergents.  Since I have yet to upgrade couplers on the bulk of my existing rolling stock I have the luxury of choosing to go with Kadee or Sergent couplers on the layout.

I'm trying to decide what criteria would best be used in the selection process, to help one determine which brand of coupler is the best fit, depending on the circumstances.

I'm looking forward to learning more about these couplers.  Any insights, experiences and advice would be great!

Looking forward to seeing an article on Sergents in MRH!

Stupid computers.  I tried to play that first video using the defalt quicktime player more than once.  Like I said, green screen.  I went and watched the video at youtube and it was great.  Out of curiosity I tried to play the first video link again.  Now it plays without issue.

I ordered a bunch a couple weeks ago to test as well.

So far I am quite impressed with them, the look great and function well.  One issue I am finding is the amount of force it takes to get them to couple reliably, a bit more than I would like. 

I posted a bit of a review with a couple of videos on my site at the link below..

Sergent Coupler Tests

Tim Warris

Tim,

Great stuff.  Thanks for the videos!