# USAT 60 ft Cushion Box car



## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

Just received my USAT 60 ft car. Really looks great. May have a problem mounting my type of coupler but will get it figured out as these cars come with coupler mounted to the floor. Later RJD


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## xtcbct (Jul 15, 2008)

Is that coupler box available separately? It looks different than their other body mount coupler. 

Xian


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## Esppe Pete (Jan 21, 2008)

Looks like one could replace the coupler with a Kadee at the shank and retain the spring/action of the USA box. Anyone try this yet? A 1/32 to 1/29 sale Forklift would look great inside one of these!


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

My observations so far is that even a Kadee coupler will not work with out a lot of mods. I'm presently working to see if I can adapt a AC coupler however this is even going to be a task in it self. For me I think this will be the only car I will invest in as it is to much of a problems to modify the coupler box and coupler to retain the effect of a cushion under frame.. Later RJD


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

Ok took a few more pics of the coupler system. 










As you can see the coupler box is not very wide and the USAT coupler shank is narrow also. This makes it difficult to change to another type coupler. The little metal pin is what holds the coupler to the small connector where the spring buts up to. Also the V shaped spring attaches to the rear of the coupler and is used for self centering of the coupler in the coupler box. Notice the rectangle grove in the top cover plate. The small box to the left of it has a notch that fits aligns up once you install the coupler assembly and also retains the coupler from pulling out of the draft gear box. I'm still working on a way to make a AC couple work. The next pic is where I installed a Aristo roller bearing truck with truck mount coupler. Even moving the coupler as far as I could on the truck mout it still sits to far under the car as it barely sricks out the end of the car. Irt will couple and makes it a close coupling but it will work but not very prototype.










As you can see coupler is almost flush with the cross over step. Not the best pick but will try to get abetter shot. Later RJD


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

Well I did manage to retain the cushion effect with the AC coupler but I'm still not where I want to be with the look as now the coupler hangs out to far. I still have a few more tricks to try and then I'll post a final result. LaterRJD


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

Well I finally went back and just installed the AC coupler mounted truck on this car and forgetting about the cushion effect. Not worth the effort. I had to extend the coupler on the coupler shank so that now the coupler sticks out from the cross over plate form. I used AC roller bearing trucks with metal wheels to do the mod. I also had to add four 1/4 inch washers under the truck to raise the truck off of the truck bolster. Coupler height is perfect. 




























This is the piece of brass stock that I used to remount the coupler. Later RJD


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## rocketrider (May 6, 2008)

Nice cars and easy to modify so they can be used with other cars with Kadee couplers.


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## KD Rail (Feb 27, 2011)

Like many of us, I couldn't resist picking up one of these and brought home my prize a couple of weeks ago.

Up front, I am a body mount Kadee 830 kind of guy so I was really pleased to see that USAT had built in a mount for Kadee couplers.

This had to be the simplest and quickest mount to date! Removed the USAT cushion coupler, and mounted the Kadee 830's with three #4 x 5/8" screws into the pre-mounted holes. Flipped it back over and checked it for height and it was dead-on, no shims needed. From the box to the bench to the track in about 20 minutes.

The cushioned effect of the USAT coupler is interesting, but if you are running Kadee couplers this feature is not of any real benefit as the couplers go together so effortlessly there is no need to bump the couplers together like the USAT and Aristo products. My primary reason for buying the car is that I like long rolling stock. I really like the look of that double door unit....

Just my preferences and I hope this is helpful to someone.

Keith Stratton
CCO (Chief Custodial Officer) 
KD Rail









Mounting was clean and easy, no modifications at all. 










Coupler height was perfect, no shimming necessary 










The coupler box extended out from the end just right! 











Looking right at home on the rails.
The SOO gondola in the background is full of discarded manufacturers couplers, which makes for an interesting load. The other gon is used to haul beer bottle caps to the recycling plant!










Fitting right in with some of my other long rolling stock. A deck lengthened USAT depressed flatcar and a lengthened Aristo bulkhead flatcar. 
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## sdl39fan (Jul 31, 2011)

Keith, looks like the pics are not showing. I just ordered one of the cars today via RLD Hobbies. 

Michael Osweiler 
Waseca, MN


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## KD Rail (Feb 27, 2011)

Thats odd, it showed the pictures as I inserted them and also after I posted.

Is there an issue using a mac on this forum when it comes to posting photos or is there a secret handshake thing that I'm not doing right? Hints anyone?

Keith Stratton
CCO (Chief Custodial Officer)
KD Rail 
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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Keith

The following is a partial of the URL that you pasted into the MLS HTML editor...

webkit-fake-url://28854D69-C678-4B7B-85D6-55840CFF2BD8/image.tiff

While I don't know much of anything about Mac's, however in trying to provide you some help. In searching the web for the "webkit-fake-url://" what I've learned is, this is a temporary encrypted storage handle created by any browser built on the WebKit layout/rendering engine (e.g. Safari & Google Chrome) when you copy a image URL to your local computer's clipboard and then paste it into an editable content area. It isn't the actual URL for the image file's location but a local browser encoded representation of it. Which is part of the reason that your pictures didn't display in your reply.

The reason the pictures displayed when you inserted them into the message content area prior to submitting your reply for posting, is your browser was still controlling everything and it knows how to decode the encrypted "webkit-fake-url."

Since I don't have a Mac, nor use Safari or Google Chrome for a browser I can't provide any help beyond the above explanation. Maybe Kevin (i.e. MLS - East Broad Top) one of the other MLS moderators can jump in and help out since he does use a Mac and seems to have little problem posting pictures in his replies, or maybe one of the other MLS Mac users can help. Sorry, it's the best I can do.


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