You're very right about the Märklin short couplers, Miguel. But I would say that they work fine most of the time. However, you will see that it gets even worse with the Märklin current-conducting short couplers. They can be nightmarish!

As for Roco, I assume that you are referring here to the "universal" couplers #40395. I have no experience with these, and I am glad to hear that they perform well on the uncoupling track. The short coupling #40270 is the one I use on all my Roco 303mm passenger coaches. They perform very satisfactorily most of the times. However, if the consist is rather heavy (more than 6 coaches), they could tend to snap sometimes on the way. And they cannot be uncoupled remotedly via the Märklin uncoupler track, unfortunately. The bright side is that they fit very closely and can be uncoupled just by lifting the coach or car with your hand (same as Fleischmann couplers).

Actually, the Fleischmann short couplers are my preferred ones. However, they do not easily fit into the Roco NEM socket on the coaches. It requires some extra pressure and the result is not so good. They work best with either Märklin or Trix. And my experience has been that they can be uncoupled with the Märklin uncoupling track.

Hope this helps.

This is a ROCO item
See this:
http://roco.co.at/index....&artikelnummer=40395

Philip

John, as you describe, both couplers are a positive lock on the little hook on the Roco 40395 universal coupler.
I really like that coupler. I guess it couples OK to most Märklin couplers in operation?

regards
Kimball

I'm actually replacing all my Marklin short couplers / Brawa couplers, Roco short couplers, ACME couplers etc with the Roco Universal coupler as decriberd by kimballthurlow and river.

The Marklin short couplers dont mix with ACME coaches (too short), and tend to uncouple in climbs with heavy loads.

The Brawa standard couplers are a nightmare. They are rubbish. Wont spend any words on them.

ACME couplers are very sturdy (metal??) but too long

The Roco short couplers tend to uncouple with heavy loads or in climbs. Cant have that.

I see the Roco universal couplers as a nice alternative: right lenght, sturdy, wont uncouple.

For my American rolling stock, I use Kadee couplers. For those of you interested in previous topics about these couplers, simply introduce "Kadee" in the search field.

Pierre.

I have been planning to use Marklin current conducting couplers on my 43100, and 43110 cars (the green compartment cars). I have the 43119 which has the pick up shoe, and tail lights. I thought it would be less drag to have only one pick up.

What kinds of problems have you hit? Am I crazy to do it, or should I light each car independently?

Yes, they are made by RTS, but they are a nightmare to couple and uncouple!