If you’re an amateur or casual model railroader, then this is the video for you! Tyco HO scale trains from the 1970s-80s make excellent budget railcars for your fleet, but there’s one problem: they come with an older style coupler, the X2F “horn-hook”. The current industry standard is the Kadee coupler (or compatible off-brands). Horn-hook and Kadee couplers are incompatible with each other, so you need to switch types.
Today I will show you an easy way to replace your Tyco horn-hook couplers with the standard Kadee #5 coupler. This tutorial only works for Tyco cars with Talgo trucks, which I will show you how to identify. Kadee offers a special coupler specifically designed for Talgo trucks, but it’s harder to find and more difficult to install than this method I use.