Should I Convert Bachmann Coupling to Hornby (or vice versa?)

Many of us have both Bachmann and Hornby rolling stock. For my part, I prefer the Bachmann locos over the Hornby ones, but sometimes needs must and they are just too pricey. I also have a penchant for out of stock (and even out of manufacture) wagons from the Railfreight Red Stripe era, which are not always easy to come by.

Subsequently, I have a mix of Bachmann and Hornby, and have struggled with the approach needed to convert Bachmann coupling to Hornby, or the other way around.

In fact, the answer is not obvious, but very simple : neither - it's not about the couplings, it's about the way that they are attached to the rolling stock. There are so many different types of coupling to choose from - and neither the pre-fitted RTR couplings from Hornby or Bachmann are the best - that it's usually simpler to choose one, and then convert everything to NEM.

The Buffers Model Railways Couplings Guide, a great round up of all the couplings on the market, points out that when mixing Hornby and Bachmann, they're often not even set at the same height. Thus, adapting all rolling stock to use NEM pockets is a logical first step.

The article Converting Rapido to NEM Couplings from a few weeks back covers this in detail (and is applicable to old style Hornby and Bachmann as well as Rapido), but you may well find that your modern rolling stock has been pre-fitted with NEM pockets.

This being the case, you can just choose the best coupling for your needs, and buy in bulk. Or, if you already have Hornby, with the standard Lima D ring style coupling, and one of those Hornby uncouplers (Uncoupling Ramp reference R620), you can just buy NEM compatible D couplings and switch them out.

This technique will also work if you have modern Bachmann stock, but only if the heights of the rolling stock are the same, which isn't always guaranteed! It is, however, somethign I've done in the past, but now I'm steadily converting all my rolling stock to the Bachmann tension locks, in order to use Brian Kirby style magnetic uncoupling.