I have set that picture of the 475 and 90 side-by-side at East Strasburg as my desktop picture. Having now been staring at it for several days, I can't help but notice that both locos have their front couplers open.

I have heard a story that old-time train crews closed the knuckles on their cabooses and locos "so the luck wouldn't run out." This seems rather silly to me. Leaving the knuckle open seems like it would be slightly safer since an unintentional bump would simply lead to a hard coupling rather than a possible broken knuckle. Anybody else heard this story?

They also nailed the horseshoe over the caboose doorway "ends up" for the same reason.

Len Smolsky of NHIR told me that crews should close the angle cock in the brake line and open the coupler knuckle when leaving cars on a double-ended siding. Other bosses said that was just for crews who were too lazy to walk to the other end of the train when hooking up to those cars.

I always understood that knuckles were closed in case of a grade crossing accident the knuckle wouldn't close on the car and in effect "lock on" to it.

Made sense to me.

Up here in Snow Country, we're taught to keep the knuckles closed, particularly on the leading end of a locomotive. The snow will tend to accumulate inside the coupler, and when a coupling is made, it is instantaneously compressed into solid ice. Even a fusee will not thaw it enough to get the knuckle open.

John R.

In the film "Danger Lights" engineer Larry Doyle closes the knuckle on the front of a loco in a roundhouse scene and yells at the men "Is that any way to leave an engine!".

The old head New Haven engineers taught us 35+ years ago to keep 'em closed on the leading end-- the "lock on to an auto at a crossing" business. And when switching, to use the cut lever on the engine.

HP

on the
Naugy