A recent pose at a night photo session at the Virginia Museum of Transportation got me wondering just if and how often the front couplers were used on streamlined steam engines, the N&W J's in particular.

Many streamlined engines were converted from an earlier "regular" steam engines and the coupler would have already been there. A coupler would likely be required in the event of a breakdown or perhaps a tow move or even simple yard and or switching moves.

Question - were streamlined steam engines ever used in double header (non-excursion) runs, particularily the N&W J's? Did the J's, or any other lines streamlined steam engine's front coupler get much use? Or, was it simply a safety measure or again, mostly there for possible light passenger car switching?

/Mitch

We doubleheaded with the J in 1994.

Mitch,
Can't speak for other railroads, but the Js had the couplers used on a semi-regular basis--especially towards the end when they were bumped from passenger service to freight runs. Same with the Class A, and the K2 and K2-A (aka "Baby J") 4-8-2s. In the later years, anything goes as far as N&W steam assignments were concerned, including using a J on a local freight.

I've seen photos of doubleheaded Js, but it appears to have been a fairly rare practice. More likely with the Ks and especially the As working on Blue Ridge. Seen plenty of photos of each of those classes doubleheading.
Kevin

How do drop couplers work? While looking at the Mohawk in Elkhart I tried to figure out how it raised into position. Did the coupler have to physically be lifted into position, or was there some sort of device that assisted in that?

Howdy, my understanding is that the concealed couplers were added to steam locos as the speeds increased. The theory (probably correct) was that a “smoother” surface on the front of the train would deflect objects (wildlife, autos at grade crossings, etc.) better than derailing the train which would be a worse outcome.

I rode Amtrak with my Dad and somebody decided to throw an old auto fender out on the tracks to see if they could “make trouble”. Luckily no trouble resulted. And they did hit deer (aka rats with antlers) quite frequently. He always worried they they would get under the train and break a brakeline connection throwing the whole thing into emergency.

The drop or swing coupler was a practical solution that yielded a smooth surface and still gave you a useful railroad coupler when necessary. On the steam engines they used a chain to the uncoupler lever or a big bar to lever them up/over into place.

On the diesels (E7/E8/E9) they had a hydro-pneumatic system that used water and trainline air to extend/retract the couplers.

I suspect that the railroads were adverse to the thought of a loco with couplers on only one end. Probably with good practical reasons, who wants to run a light engine all the way to the next crossover so you can run back just to couple onto a loco or train for a move?

Cheers, Kevin.

Here are other streamlined steamers with front end couplers:

Canadian National 6060:
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/locoPi ... 648&Page=2

Canadian Pacific 2860:
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/locoPi ... x?id=98101

Chesapeake & Ohio 490:
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/locoPi ... x?id=40957

Southern Pacific 4449:
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/LocoPi ... x?id=14925

Norfolk & Western 611 double up with the following steamers on the point:

- Frisco 1522
- Nickel Plate Road 587
- Nickel Plate Road 765
- Norfolk & Western 1218
- Southern 4501

Actually not an unreasonable concern, I've had it tried on me as a freight engineer. The CSX Philly sub coming South out of Philadelphia can be a combat zone, especially from 58th St. through Chester. The most common mischief vandals and thieves try is throwing old tires in the middle of the gauge, hoping to get them bouncing up and down under the cars, hitting a hose coupling between two cars and breaking the connection, putting the train into emergency so they can break into cars of high-value cargo before either crew or railroad police can get there.

Deer usually just get crunched up into a bunch of broken bones when hit by a train. When I was a LSA for Amtrak heading to Richmond, VA from Atlantic City late one night South of DC on the RF&P, I heard this horrible racket coming up through the ice bin drain in the Amcafe. I called over to the conductor who was set up at one of my tables working on his tickets what we had hit. He called the head-end to ask, and the engineer simply replied, "Bambi".

I personally witnessed 1218 coupled to the front of 611 from Lynchburg to Salisbury during the 1989 NRHS convention.

Trains Magazine recounted a tale years ago where a rooster in Wabun (just west of Roanoke) took to charging a N&W or Virginian diesel-hauled coal drag in a game of (appropriately enough) "chicken." The crew could do little but roll their eyes and await the inevitable faint "splat"--which was immediately followed by the rush of air and the train slamming to a forceful stop.

"[Name]," said the one head-end man to the other, "I do believe we jus' done killed the bravest rooster in Wabun."

Yes, the "splat" had somehow opened up the angle cock at the coupler.

I was reading about the Hiawatha 4-4-2 an d its train and I have the HO scale Fox Valley model, they would run the train pinned at the 128mph mark...zooooooom...

the engine had the shovelnose streamlining and one trip they hit a cow and sent it careening over the telegraph poles, no break in the train speed.

This is going a bit off topic, but back in the late 1960's and early 1970's there was an area in a major Upstate New York city where the "locals" learned that they could delay a train by turning the angle cocks when the train stopped at the interlocking in their neighborhood. They learned that they could stop the train and “borrow” all the good free stuff on the train for themselves.

They actually told the dispatchers to “try not” to stop the trains in that neighborhood, and they told the train crews to “stay in the cab and lock the doors, and wait for the local police”.

There is a reason that they try to park the semi trailers back to back in the flat cars so you can’t open the doors.

Human Nature, seems it does not change much over the centuries!

Cheers, Kevin.

Having lowered the coupler on 261 multiple times, I can say that it is indeed manual labor. The coupler is attached to a large, rectangular steel casting with a 3" or larger hinge pin through the middle. Since the hinge goes through the approximate-middle of the steel casting, the weight in the back-half serves as a counterweight, making it a bit easier to raise and lower the coupler than if entirely unbalanced. A locking pin of similar size to the hinge is used to secure the coupler in up or down position.

We use the coupler regularly in switching and have on multiple occasions run the locomotive in reverse, pulling the train. For most railroads, having two couplers on a locomotive was an issue of practicality, and since 261 was used in mixed service, it makes sense that it would be periodically double-headed.

Happy Holidays!

Davidson

Yeah, not to drag this totally away from couplers, but that's still pretty much the situation on the Curtis Bay branch of the Baltimore Terminal Sub. at the Cherry Hill housing project. The locals are nicknamed the "Cherry Hill brakemen" because they they can cut your train, tie handbrakes and steal the end-of-train device before you know what hit you. It is essential, if at all possible, to bring a train by there stretched out so they can't get slack to pull the cut lever (they still turn angle cocks all the time). They also have mugged or shot at trainmen walking trains or throwing the switch to the S. Baltimore Industrial track, and tried to board engine consists passing by (happened to me). A major part of the problem is that the branch lies between the project and the nearest MTA light rail station, making it an attractive shortcut.

There is a local rental store near me with 2 delivery trucks proudly displaying their name and they park them back to back like that all the time, I wondered about that, now I know.

Steam locomotives are not the only streamlined versions of a rail equipment, the North Shore Electroliner was also your streamlined "locomotive" but also had hideaway couplers all the same. Obviously they had to have the couplers for practical reasons, but for those streamlined engines they were designed for that streamlined look and to pull that crack passenger train. In the diesel transformations the streamlined steamers may have gotten deshrouded and put on other service or scrapped, but I tend to believe they stuck to one engine one train, but would love to see a doubleheaded streamlined engine consist just to blow that out of the water.

We have made use of 614's concealable front coupler many times much like the 261's experience. We'd be lost without it.

As to having to go through the "tough" areas we never venture through those neighborhoods without a trusty 12 guage and plenty of ammo. On those few occassions where we needed to use it, one or two blasts into the air convinced them that this train wasn't worth it!!!

Ross Rowland

Having seen behind those doors on pilots of Electroliner 801-802 many times, I can assure you, there is NO "coupler" there! There is a pocket where a drawbar may be attached for towing purposes, but no coupler.

Jeff