It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 5:35 am

All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 24 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2  Next
Author Message
 Post subject: Troop sleeper step traps
PostPosted: Mon Sep 18, 2017 11:10 am 

Joined: Sat Jul 01, 2006 9:07 am
Posts: 211
Let's try this again. I don't see where the first message I sent posted.

I am digging into the step traps on our troop sleeper. Were these sprung like normal steps or hand cranked? The rotating shaft on ours look to be designed for a handle of some sort.

Does anyone with one of these cars have a working trap?

Thanks
Bill


Attachments:
Image1758204553.jpg
Image1758204553.jpg [ 149.8 KiB | Viewed 9755 times ]
Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Troop sleeper step traps
PostPosted: Mon Sep 18, 2017 11:49 am 

Joined: Sat Feb 06, 2010 9:29 am
Posts: 318
Looks pretty standard to me...it should just hinge there... It might have a spring to pop it up a bit, but not necessarily...should just lift up and engage a latch to hold it upright.
If it's not been moved in a long time, it's probably stuck or stiff...


Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Troop sleeper step traps
PostPosted: Mon Sep 18, 2017 1:27 pm 

Joined: Mon Jan 17, 2005 9:06 pm
Posts: 2530
Location: Thomaston & White Plains
The square end is simply for a wrench used to adjust the spring tension. No hand crank.

Howard P.

_________________
"I'm a railroad man, not a prophet."


Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Troop sleeper step traps
PostPosted: Mon Sep 18, 2017 1:29 pm 

Joined: Thu Aug 26, 2004 2:50 pm
Posts: 2815
Location: Northern Illinois
Never worked on one of these, but my first impression of the square head is it is used to tension the spring.

I see Howard types faster than I do.

_________________
Dennis Storzek


Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Troop sleeper step traps
PostPosted: Mon Sep 18, 2017 1:44 pm 

Joined: Sat Jul 01, 2006 9:07 am
Posts: 211
Howard P. wrote:
The square end is simply for a wrench used to adjust the spring tension. No hand crank.

Howard P.


I have never worked on one either.

Thanks for the info Howard and all.

I guess I just never paid much attention to them before.

Bill


Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Troop sleeper step traps
PostPosted: Tue Sep 19, 2017 8:23 am 

Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 1:18 am
Posts: 160
Location: B'more MD
To further the discussion a bit, the general trap door practice, but not specifically for troop sleepers, was that the square head was for adjusting the torsion spring pressure after a rounded headed pin was removed (knocked out with a punch) , and was reinserted in one of a stepped series of holes to tighten or loosen the spring tension, as desired. I can't tell 100% but it looks like the head(s) of one of the dowels protruding on the casting. There are at least a couple of troop sleepers restored and on display, maybe more that I am not aware of. There is one at the B&O Museum here in Baltimore (MD) and another at the Mad River and NKP Museum in Bellevue, Ohio. As Pullman built them, there may be drawings and or specification information at the Pullman Library in Union, Illinois.

G.F.Payne

_________________
George F.Payne
Baltimore, MD


Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Troop sleeper step traps
PostPosted: Tue Sep 19, 2017 11:13 am 

Joined: Sun Aug 29, 2004 4:49 pm
Posts: 520
And the "spring" was not usually a coil spring, but several pieces of flat spring steel that were twisted (by tightening the square nut) to obtain the desired spring tension to lift the trap.


Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Troop sleeper step traps
PostPosted: Tue Sep 19, 2017 11:49 am 

Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2004 12:59 pm
Posts: 644
I repaired a similar trap on a car (Salt Lake & Utah 751, Niles Car Co. 1916) at the Western Railway Museum a couple of years ago.

All of the above comments are correct, the mechanism is quite simple. Just knock out the pin and all the parts come out.

The trap on 751 had a broken spring. I purchased new spring steel strips from McMaster-Carr.


Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Troop sleeper step traps
PostPosted: Tue Sep 19, 2017 5:17 pm 

Joined: Sat Jul 01, 2006 9:07 am
Posts: 211
Thanks for all the feedback and info.

I think I can see some of the flat steel springs in one of them where the metal sleeve is rotted away. Since I'm going to have to disassemble steps to replacing side sheet I figure I'll take the traps off and rebuild those mechanisms.

I did not see anything in the archives about this and a Google search popped up with all sorts of patent info on different trap designs. So maybe this will help someone else out in the future.


Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Troop sleeper step traps
PostPosted: Sat Jan 04, 2020 5:27 pm 

Joined: Sat Jul 01, 2006 9:07 am
Posts: 211
Reviving one of my old threads, how many groups with troop sleepers and steps vs rungs actually have functional traps?

Just curious.


Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Troop sleeper step traps
PostPosted: Mon Jan 06, 2020 10:39 am 

Joined: Thu Sep 22, 2011 4:29 pm
Posts: 1899
Location: Youngstown, OH
If you have a troop sleeper from the second order you don't have to worry about traps!

_________________
From the desk of Rick Rowlands
inside Conrail caboose 21747


Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Troop sleeper step traps
PostPosted: Mon Jan 06, 2020 10:43 am 

Joined: Tue Aug 24, 2004 6:30 am
Posts: 756
Rick Rowlands wrote:
If you have a troop sleeper from the second order you don't have to worry about traps!

We have two from the second order. Both of them have rungs instead of steps.


Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Troop sleeper step traps
PostPosted: Sun Mar 26, 2023 11:07 pm 

Joined: Sat Jul 01, 2006 9:07 am
Posts: 211
Reviving this thread again in case someone else needs the information in the future.

Does anyone with a pullman troop sleeper have functioning traps?


Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Troop sleeper step traps
PostPosted: Mon Mar 27, 2023 10:04 pm 

Joined: Fri Dec 22, 2017 6:47 pm
Posts: 1398
Location: Philadelphia, PA
That unusual springing on the traps is a similar concept to the torsion bars used famously by Chrysler in its front suspensions. Torsion bars are common on tanks which have multiple road wheels and not much room for springs.

Phil Mulligan


Offline
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Troop sleeper step traps
PostPosted: Tue Mar 28, 2023 10:01 am 

Joined: Thu Oct 08, 2015 11:54 am
Posts: 1773
Location: New Franklin, OH
Phil - concept is the same but application is totally different. Pullman springs are more like the old VW bug suspension with a stack of spring steel strips in a tube.

I could be wrong, but wouldn’t the trap mechanism be the same as used on regular Pullman cars of the time? It would make no sense to me to design something special for a smaller quantity of cars.

_________________
Eric Schlentner
Turner of Wrenches, Drawer of Things


Offline
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 24 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2  Next

All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]


 Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 113 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to: