By Randy Mower

Author  Bio Last year, I picked up a couple of Bachmann cars: a box car and a tank car at a train show.  I planned to detail and paint the cars and convert them to Kadee couplers. I found the conversion was not nearly as difficult as I anticipated and took less than 1/2 hour each.

Last year, I picked up a couple of Bachmann cars: a box car and a tank car at a train show. I planned to detail and paint the cars and convert them to Kadee couplers. When I got home, I discovered that I had less #831 Kadee couplers (truck mount) than I thought I had. I did have a number of #830 couplers (body mount), so I decided to convert them to body mounted couplers.

I found the conversion was not nearly as difficult as I anticipated and took less than 1/2 hour each.

The boxcar was painted grey and lettered for MOW. I removed the lettering with paint stripper since I planned to paint the car boxcar red and letter it for Western Maryland.

To install the body mount Kadees: assemble the #830 coupler and hold it against the recessed area in the frame near the ends and mark the width of the coupler box on the end of the car. Use a razor saw to cut the end sill down as far as the frame. Remove the screws that secure the floor to the frame and mark the level of the frame on the inside of the end sill and remove the frame.

I used a Dremel tool to cut between the vertical cuts and used a hand file to trim up the cut out section. Place the coupler box in position and use a Dremel tool to drill three mounting holes thru the floor. The screws that come with the couplers are just long enough to reach thru the floor and into the nuts. This will work with any enclosed cars such as the boxcar, stock car, or reefer.