Bill
What i do is take one wagon and put a relex coupler on one side and a short coupler on the other end, works fine to couple different rolling stock in a stam...

Regards

Jean-Pierre

Hi Bill


Certainly, option 1 is the best because of the reliability of recent {Märklin}close couplers:
- they dont uncouple by accident
- they work extrely well in pushing operations
- they don't interfere with buffers.

Option 2 Roco universal couplers: they are very good in theory but very fragile (plastic open loop). I don't recommend them.

Option 3 Adjust the height of the couplers:
- only possible on older, metal couplers. Yes you can improve the functioning there but NEVER to reach the precision of modern couplings AND cars.
- the compatibility between Relex and close coupling is very limited. Old Telex are NOT compatible with new couplers.

On my layout, I had to sort the cars the following way (personal choice)
- better close coupling cinematic Some coupling cinematic may be hanging with an improper height
- sort a minimum of rolling qualities (even sometimes new cars don't roll smoothly) Not all Märklin axles are the same even on recent cars (15 years or less)
- file the Märklin CC metal buckle so that it does not collide with its counterpart (resulting in coupling failure) but escapes upwards or downwards

Here is the result of my work
On decoupling



On coupling



The videos above are made with automatic operation (It MUST work every time)

Cheers
Jean

I mix all kinds of couplers.

As I buy a lot of rolling stock 2nd hand (Ebay and physical shops), I have a collection of almost all kinds of couplers.
For passenger trains, of which there is little change in composition, I usually use Roco and Fleischmann close-couplings.
With many I use Märklin current conducting couplers or drawbars.
For freight I have changed most modern Märklin Relex to the 7205 type, -but generally do not have any problem mixing Märklin short couplers and Relex together.
With ancient Märklin metal-Relex I dont do anything at all. (If anything, I´m trying to phase them out of my collection)
If there are problems with buffer-heights, I might resort to the Roco Universal coupling or even the old style A-coupler.
If I am putting together a freight train that I dont expect to break up soon, I try insert NOT-KKK-capable units in between units with KKK (Kurz Kuplung Kulisse), as this seems to be just about tolerable aestethically, compared to 2 NON-KKK units coupled together.

Old style Märklin Telex can still be used, once you Dremel off the "horns" on the side of the coupler.