I have an old coupling link and I'm wondering how old it is. Most of the links I see at museums have a D shaped cross section, the one or two I've seen with a round section are pretty beefy 1 1/4 or larger diameter.
Mine is 14 inches long and 3 3/4 inches across the outside and appears to be forged from one inch diameter wrought iron bar. I belive it's wrought iron because of the grain in the iron and the rough cracks where the link was dammaged, maybe when the link missed the coupler pocket. Any ideas how old it might be?

Mike Nix



2rivers@upstel.net

Link and pin couplers began disappearing from railroads in the late 1880s though they were around until about 1895 to 1900. When the Railway Safety Appliance Act was passed in 1893, it allowed railroads a reasonable amount of time to make changes to the rolling stock.

awalker2002@comcast.net