Remote Uncouplers (LGB "Duo" diesels)

[SevenOfDiamonds]

LGB's standard KOF diesel has been issued as 2090(0) and 24900 (plus a ToyTrain" version) with plain wheels, and as 21900 (analogue) and 24900 (digital) with counter-weighted wheels and, most relevantly to my question, remote uncouplers.

I have acquired (and successfully bench-tested) the remote uncouplers and original circuit boards from a 23900, and was hoping to fit them to a 2090(0) that I already own. However, the footplate moulding are very different. The 2090(0) uses flat plates to retain the motor block, and provide the fixing for the standard couplers, while the 21900/23900 use the remote uncouplers to retain the motor block, and have square openings on the upper surface at each end of the footplate (into which the remote uncouplers protrude) . . .



One option is to take a razor saw to the footplate of my 2090(0) to create openings for the remote uncoupler units but, once cut, if that doesn't work, it won't be possible to reuse it as a 2090(0). Has anyone already done this? And are there any tips to prevent me getting it wrong?

Alternatively, does anyone happen to have a spare 21900/23900 footplate? Or (since I have read about others having reliability issues with the remote uncouplers) does anyone want to revert their 21900/23900 to standard couplers by swapping their footplate (and ancillary parts) for mine?

I'm not holding out any great expectations of positive responses, but I thought there was no harm in asking.

All the best

David

 

[Madman]

I installed Massoth remote couplers to a Kof diesel with fairly good results.

This is the Masoth uncoupler fitted to the Kof diesel.

My original attempt also worked quite well but the freight car needed an LGB uncoupling ramp. In this version I simply used the exisrting coupler but tied it to a miniature gear motor in the hood of the loco. With one of those tiny R/C modules from China, I was able to control the operation of the motor.

In both instances I have to start and stop the movement of the hook by pressing the stop button on the transmitter.

 

[SevenOfDiamonds]

I installed Massoth remote couplers to a Kof diesel with fairly good results.

Thanks, and having read up on the subject, I see that Massoth are soon to release their "third generation" automatic uncoupler. However, the LGB version (produced as far back as 1993, I think) is considerably bulkier . . .



. . . and it is these that I have acquired, and want to be able to install.

Best wishes

David

 

[Gizzy]

I have what I believe is the LGB 21900 red DUO Kof loco, but mine is digital.

I use it mostly on Hardyard, my portable shunting layout.

Although I can't help you with a chassis, I can take some reference photos for you if required....

 

[SevenOfDiamonds]

I can take some reference photos for you if required

That's a very kind offer, Gizzy, but (since my initial post) I've found this picture of the underside of a 21900 on t'web . . .



It would require a degree of dismantling to learn anything more, I fear.

The LGB uncoupler boxes have approx dimensions of 33mm side-to-side, and 29mm end-to-end. If I simply "emptied out" the insides of the boxes moulded on the 2090(0) footplate, that would leave me openings of 33x25mm at the cab end, and 30x30mm at the bonnet end . . . so both would require some more significant removal of plastic (and hence my earlier comment about the inability to reuse it on a 2090(0), if I couldn't get the remote couplers to fit, or work). Of course, the risk would be removed if someone had a spare 2090(0) footplate that they were willing to sell me (or a complete but non-working 2090). It's not a spare part listed at either Modell-land (not that they would sell me one, as a UK buyer, if they had one) or MTS-Line (at high postage rates) . . . and (unless you know differently) Warenburg seems to have ceased trading.

Anyway, the cogs keep whirring. Maybe I'll just fit one at the cab end, which requires the least amout of "extra plastic removal".

Cheers

David

 

[dutchelm]

I run 3 of these on my shunting layout. The original "Duo" never worked as it should so I digitised it. An ESU Locsound decoder with 12v interposing relays in the cab to work the couplers. A bit crude but it worked so well that Wolfgang Richter copied it & it went into production a few years later.
The LGB shunter drove the couplers directly from a PCB without relays. I built one myself using a circuit & components supplied by Muns. Thats the yellow one, a red one with a body from a starter set shunter. I also run a Blue one & that is as built by LGB. I never received any thanks from LGB for copying my prototype.

 

[Dan]

If you have DCC, you can get a hook and loop kit to make the hook and loop work for uncoupling with a servo. I have Kadee couplers and tie a chin to them and the other end of the chain to the servo. I program my Zimo decoder to do the 'waltz' which will automattically back up the engine while opening the Kadee to uncouple and then pull forward away from the car/rolling stock.

 

[SevenOfDiamonds]

Well, having acquired a spare one (in case it all went horribly wrong), I bit the bullet and took my razor saw to the chassis/footplate of a 2090(0) and have managed to fit a remote coupler to the cab end, squeezed in between the existing longitudinal elements, connected it to the ciircuit boards from a 23900, and, as a complete chassis, the remote uncoupler works! I just need to tidy up the buffer beam (I misjudged how far upwards the uncoupler would need to intrude, so cut too far. I know better for next time!!!) then carry out the modifications to the bodywork, repaint it, and complete the assembly before it is ready for a photograph. I chickened out of adding the second one to the bonnet end because I thought it would weaken the structure too much. I can't imagine its a conversion that anyone is likely to tackle (or be intereted in a "blow-by-blow description of) because of the lack of availabilty of the various components needed.

Cheers

David