>>11132902Yeah, that's just how it is. Just about every American brand of coupler I can think of plays well with each other, but Kato really only plays well with itself. Of the other brands, I think it plays the best with modern Athearn and Bachmann (haven't had the chance to test older Athearn or Bachmann's single-piece knuckle couplers, so I can't speak for those), so I'd recommend having at least one of either on hand as a head-end car if you're planning on using Kato engines.
If you're saying that most of what you have is rapido couplers, then I'd recommend Bachmann. Their modern freight stuff comes with spare rapidos in the box, so if you get two of the same car you can have one that's just a general head-end car, and one that's a head-end car specifically for your older rolling stock.
For freight it really doesn't matter, but if you're doing passenger then I'd strongly recommend seeking out a box car in your road name of choice's livery to be your head-end car(s).
