We have a very special announcement for you today. BMR, in partnership with Brickforge, has been working on a replacement for the old LEGO 9v era magnetic train couplers. Today we are ready to officially reveal this project that we hope to have available for sale late this summer. We’ve put together a video to introduce you to these new couplers.

Now let us take a look at these couplers in greater detail.

The Kadee Knuckle Coupler

The heart of our new couplers is of course the Kadee® knuckle coupler. Kadee’s couplers are the industry standard for model railroad couplers. If you are not familiar with this staple of model railroading, you can learn about them from the Kadee website link bellow.

How Kadee® Couplers Work

The specific couplers we are using are the 743 and 747 O scale couplers from Kadee. We feel these two couplers give us the best possible options for mounting to LEGO trains. These are die cast metal couplers offering exceptional strength and durability, as well as reliable operation. They are also true O-Scale, 1:48 couplers. 1:48th scale translates very closely to 8 wide LEGO scale for North American trains.

The Brick Compatible Draft Gear Boxes

The second half of the equation for these new couplers in the draft gear boxes designed by BMR’s own Glenn Holland, and produced by BrickForge. Draft gear is the equipment that connects the coupler to the rolling stock. The couplers are also self centering, meaning they are spring loaded to return to the center position when uncoupled to make coupling was easier.

These draft gear boxes will be injection molded in ABS plastic, the same process used by LEGO for making LEGO bricks. We are working hard to make sure the quality of the fit meets expectations.

We have designed four different draft gear boxes, two for each style of coupler.

These four draft gear boxes give a wide range of mounting options for your trains. The offset hight of the 747 coupler is one plate higher than the 743. The standard gear box has top studs for mounting, while the Z variant, named for the Z shape of the bottom gear box half, has a tile top, with under studs on the thiner end.

Remote Uncoupling

One of the feature of Kadee couplers is the Delayed-Action, Magne-Matic® Uncoupling. Through the use of a magnetic uncoupler, Kadee couplers can be uncoupled with out needing to touch the cars.

We are are still testing different options for use with LEGO track, but we’re are hoping this will bee a feature that LEGO train builders can use on their own layouts.

LDraw and Studio Part Files for Modelers

We have been working to make LDraw and Studio compatible files for builders to use in their own virtual modeling. We plan to release these files for free download when the couplers go on sale.

Converting Existing BMR Models to the New Knuckle Couplers

For any one who has previously purchased a BMR Premium Instruction Model, we will be offering conversion instructions to adapt the new couplers to all our existing models. These will be available for free download when the new couplers go on sale.

When Can You Buy, and How Much Will They Cost?

We are still in the fine tuning phase of the coupler production. What that means is that the designs have been finalized, injection molds for the draft gear boxes have been cut, and now we are working with our manufacturer to tweak the final product. We have test samples in hand and everything is well on it’s way to becoming final. We just have some adjustments for the mold here and there to get the boxes dialed in perfectly. For any one familiar with injection molding plastic parts, you are probably aware that this can take several versions to get right. So we are not setting an exact release date yet, but we are hopeful that as long as everything goes to plan, we can have a release date by end of summer or early fall.

Pricing is still to be determined. We want to wait until we are closer to full production to give a number.

So Who is BrickForge?

Brickforge is a purveyor of custom crafted accessories designed to outfit your minifigs or MOC displays. Operated by husband and wife team Richard and Ashley Glatter, BrickForge parts are enjoyed by many around the world.

BMR has been working with Brickforge to codevelop these new knuckle couplers. BMR’s Glenn Holland designed the draft gear box adapter for the Kadee coupler. Brickforge has provided their experience in injection molding custom parts, and will be producing the adapter boxes though their manufacturer. BMR will be selling these couplers online in our web store, while Brickforge will sell couplers at events they attend as vendors. We are also looking into providing these couplers to outside re sellers.

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