Couplers

One of the most important things to know about Z Scale model trains is that there are more than one type of coupler used to hold the train cars together - because there are more than one manufacturer of Z Scale model trains. The two major manufacturers are:

     Marklin (a German company), and
     Micro-Trains Line (MTL) (an American company)

Other manufacturers may have         Marklin
their own style couplers and/or      from below
will try to be compatible with
the above two.

While these trains can run on      Micro-Trains
the same track, a Marklin          from below
locomotive will only pull
Marklin-compatible cars, and a      Micro-Trains
Micro-Trains locomotive will        from the side
only pull Micro-Trains-compatible
cars, etc. Currently produced Micro-Trains
couplers are also known as "Magne-Matic" couplers.

Micro-Trains couplers look more realistic, compared with modern day couplers, than Marklin couplers. However, from what I've read, Marklin couplers work better, especially on tight curves where Micro-Trains couplers tend to cause derailment and/or uncoupling of your cars (a problem that I've observed when I tried the MTL "12 Days of Christmas" train - trying to pull six cars - on the tight curves of my briefcase Circus Layout.)

For more information about this problem and how to change couplers, click here (the original web page, "Coping with Couplers," from "Do It Yourself in Z-scale" by David A. Karp) or here (for a copy that I've saved in case the original disappears or changes its address.)