The Dingham Autocoupler was developed for use on Lofthouse-in- Nidderdale, the 0 Gauge layout of the Skipton and District Railway Society.  Following considerable development work, a new 4mm version of the coupler is now available. Although both versions use the same principle of operation and look similar, the 4mm coupler is not merely a scaled-down version of the 7mm. It is, in fact, an entirely new design, developed specifically for 4mm layouts in 00, EM or P4/S4.

     Every train that runs on Lofthouse is shunted in public view for one reason or another. Goods trains have brake vans attached or detached, banking engines are attached to the rear of up trains and pilot locos are detached from double-headed down trains. There is also a daily pick-up goods in the timetable. Finally, passenger locos are run round trains and non-passenger vehicles, such as horseboxes and fitted cattle wagons are set down or picked up from the yard.

     Lofthouse needed reliable and unobtrusive auto-couplers and we could find nothing on the market that satisfied all our requirements. So – no alternative but to develop a coupler that did -- the Dingham Autocoupler.

     The coupler uses a latch and loop system and is intended primarily for single-ended use – i.e. the loop is always on the right-hand end of stock and the latch on the left, or vice versa. However, on layouts where locos are turned, it may be possible to fit locos with a latch and a loop at each end, so enabling automatic coupling and uncoupling whichever way locos are facing.