New Coupler for Z Scale

So, if a 90-degree crossing track "changes everything," I wonder what impact this will have:

Awesomeness!!!

(I can see this getting expensive to replace my fleet's couplers)

I guess we'll have to wait until 2014*

*or sooner

*or sooner is a very good possibility

David,

Cool - really cool! One question though. Is there any chance that replacing other couplers with these will be any easier, or will it be the same tedious process... with springs flying off into space just when you think you've got it?

Joe

Springs will not be flying off anywhere, because the spring in this design is integral with the shanks. What poses an issue is that MTL, AZL and FT boxes all have different internal geometry, so it will require some effort to convert such boxes for use with the ProtoMate. It will come with its own box, so it might be easier to simply replace the whole box. That said, it remains to be seen what approaches will work the best, since no one will have them in their hands to try for many months yet.