Hi All,

The Alexander Chapter-NRHS has completed the installation of the siding on our narrow gauge Lawndale Boxcar project, as well as having primed all of the wood as well. We'll finish installling new flashing around the roof edges and begin the "prep and paint" from the roof downward over the coming month.

With that being said, we do need to build one coupler box on one end of the car and locate a 3/4 Janey Coupler and whatever hardware goes in that pocket.

With that being said,

a) Are there any diagrams out there which show what parts go in a "coupler pocket" from a car of this 1880-1900 vintage? Yes, we could just mount a coupler, but we do want to do it correctly and not take our one existing one apart.

b) Any of you big musuem folks have a spare 3/4 Janey coupler (or five- yes, we are lining up MORE NC narrow equipment to follow)? Know where to find one? Need some knuckles as well.

c) Any diagrams or photos of any freight equipment that show the required hardware for an Eames Vacuum brake on a car of this vintage?

As usual, thanks in advance. The advice provided by this board has been invaluable to this project.

Matt Bumgarner
Alexander Chapter-NRHS

Hi Matt,

I'm rather appalled at the lack of response to your requests. That being said, I have some questions:

1) Wouldn't the car have been built with link and pin drawheads? The Janney couplers weren't adopted as standard by the MCB until 1887 or 1888 IIRC, and I would hardly think that a little narrow gauge road would be at the forefront of adopting new technology. Only something like 10% of the national car fleet had been equipped with knuckle couplers at that time.

2) If the answer is link and pin, then what approximate year was the car converted to knuckle couplers?

I'm thinking that the knuckle coupler conversion would likely have made use of the original draft gear, such as it was. The original draft gear designs were pretty simple, basically a big spring between stops, encircled by a yoke attached to the shank of the drawhead, and later the coupler. This style would be pretty easy to build up using modern car truck springs and flat steel plate... know any local blacksmiths?

I also wonder about the "3/4" size coupler. Nineteenth century couplers were quite a bit smaller than the AAR E or ARA D, although they'd couple to them. As to source, the D&RGW used all full size couplers, although many were the MCB contour that predated the D. The other Colorado NG lines might have used smaller couplers, and if so some of these survive on the White Pass. I believe the East Broad Top also used smaller couplers. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong, I'm sure.

As for drawings, the 1879 Car Builder's Dictionary was reprinted by Newton K. Gregg about thirty years ago, and I happen to have a copy. It has several pages of cut-away views of different link and pin draft gear. I'd be happy to scan some pages (long in the public domain) if you want them. Unfortunately, the engraved drawings in this book are not as clear as we've come to expect from the later Car Builder's Cyclopedia.

Gregg also reprinted a pair of papers (or reprinted one paper as a pair of volumes) by William Voss. While Mr. Voss' position is not disclosed, the papers constituted a look at the best practices of carbuilding circa 1892, and are illustrated with some technical drawings. Unfortunately, while I had both at one time, the one on freight car construction went missing years ago. What you would be looking for (via Amazon or E-bay) is Train Shed Cyclopedia No. 29, Freight Cars, 1892. Gregg also reprinted parts of the 1898 Car Builder's Dictionary, but only the photos and general arrangement drawings; the kind of stuff they thought would appeal to modelers. I have those issues, and there are no draft gear shown.

Gregg also reprinted the 1906 Car Builder's Dictionary in it's entirety, and this might be useful if you can substantiate that the coupler conversion dated to about this time, but by this time modern friction draft gear were the norm, and I'm not sure how adaptable they'd be to the small sills on a narrow gauge car.

Send me an e-mail or PM if you want scans of the 1879 materials.

Try the outfit that advertises in "Trainline", the newsletter of Tourist Railway Assn. It's called Irwin Transportation Products, 724-864-8900. They make and sell a 3/4 size Sharon coupler, which is a older, pre-ARA D coupler. Many older passenger cars (CNJ, CRI&P, etc) had Sharon couplers, but they were full-sized and different from these.

This might be just the thing to be the right size and look for an old-style knuckle coupler from 100+ years ago.

Howard P.

Dennis & Howard,

Thanks for pointing me towards those printed resources, I'll definitely look them up.

To Dennis' questions:

1) Wouldn't the car have been built with link and pin drawheads?

Very possibly. The first Lawndale cars (28') were obtained 2nd hand from the Chester & Lenoir Narrow Gauge (later Carolina & North-Western), which would be of 1880's vintage. A second round of cars (34') was built by the line early in the 1900's by the railroad. Interestingly enough, we now believe that it is a strong possibility that our car was one of the early C&L cars. There is paper evidence from the RR and ICC paperwork that the early C&L cars were lengthened by the Lawndale. Our car differs fairly dramatically from the remaining other surviving Lawndale cars in that a) All of our side sills and intermediate sills have been spliced, unlike the other cars that are all solid; b) Our body bolsters ride under the sills, whereas they are cut into the sills on the other cars; c) Our coupler pockets are constructed differently and mount dramatically differently to the center sills compared to the other cars; d) our car's interior framing has clear evidence of the "re-use" of some wood timbers; e) our car's interior framing varies noticeably from the other cars; f) our car is some 3" shorter from floor to ceiling than the other cars.

2) If the answer is link and pin, then what approximate year was the car converted to knuckle couplers?

My gut feel would be by 1908 when the first Vulcan 2-8-0 arrived. A builders photo shows the loco built with a knuckle coupler.

http://www.tarheelpress.com/Lawndale2.html

It could have been earlier with the the Forney #1 in 1899/1900, but I have never seen any evidence of either style on this engine. Honestly, I never even thought about it until you asked!

On another interesting note, one of our chapter members has a complete link & pin assembly with a steel drawhead/pocket that was fished out of a nearby creek that was home to the W.M. Ritter Lumber Company. Most likely, this assembly came from one of the log cars of the lumber line.

It is FAR, FAR more rugged than the wooden coupler pocket on this, or any of the other existing Lawndale cars for that matter.

Thanks again!

Matt

Matt,

Glad to be of help. My offer to scan out-of-copyright material still stands.

You have to lose that "coupler pocket" terminology; that's modeler-railroader-speak. The only thing that could properly be termed a coupler pocket on real railroad equipment would be the casting on a locomotive pilot beam where a short swing coupler pins directly in. Freight equipment couplers mount in the center sill. On a wood car such as you have, those short additional sills below the center sills are draft sills. The coupler actually mounts to the coupler yoke, which encircles the draft gear, which bears agains draft stops mounted, and keyed to, the draft sills. The coupler and yoke are kept from falling out by a carry iron, and a striker block (later a striker casting) is fastioned to the end sill where it will engage the coupler's striker horn before the coupler can be driven in so far to damage the draft gear or its attachments.

Dennis

Thanks Dennis.

I guess that means Kadee can't help us with that 3/4 Janey?

:>)

Matt