Continuos Draft Gear, how was it attached to the coupler shank?

Here is a photo of a typical 5" x5" x 21.250" shank with a key slot and a shank butt that is about 8" in height. The "key slot" on this is typical of most others, it is always located just in front of the butt's rearmost vertical rivet hole, so that there is enough room for both the vertical rivets to go through a "cut out" in the "key". The front rivet passing through the cut-out or notch is what reatains the "Key" in the "Key Slot" and taht interfearance is what keeps all the parts conected.

These key slots were used to connect the cast steel draft yokes (for friction draft gear) to the shanks in the same way as described above.

Now the real questrion is; Were these "key slots" also used to attach the "Continuos Draft Gear" components to the coupler shanks, (prior to the advent of the cast steel draft yokes and friction draft gear)?

One example of the old Continuos Draft Gear on a piece of rollingstock is this D&RGW Work Car 04914 owned by the Ridgway Railroad Museum at; http://www.ridgwayrailroadmuseum.org/workcar.html

Chama also has a few of the D&RGW older cars that still have Continous draft gear.

Is anyone here close enough to drop by Ridgeway or Chama and take some photos and a few measurements under the draft gear that could verify how the draft gear was attached to the coupler shank on the old 4000 series cars?

Photo copyrighted; Narrow Gauge Supply, Inc. Post only with written permission and with the appropriate credits.

The D&RGW continious draft gear did not use the key slot, instead the couplers were connected using the hole at the end of the shank. A threaded rod was inserted into the hole and a nut inside the coupler shank secufred the coupler to the rod. The rods from each coupler went into a box in the center of the car.

Somewhere I have pictures that I will try to remember to dig up and post.

Jason Midyette

Since you've established what the attachment method is, now I need to know what size that hole is, and if there is anything unusual about it, like a stepped surface inside the butt, or a hole or slot that is used to get the long bolt inside the shank.

Most coupler shanks I am familiar with are thin at the rear wall of the butt, where that hole is needed.

I remember seeing a long bolt sticking out the rear of a really old shank in the coupler/journal box "scrap pile" at the CRRM Golden in 1993(!), that must have been what that was from. I hope that was not cast in place integrally! That would be impossilbe to replicate without owning my own steel foundry.

I could use a drawing of the rear and inside rear of that old shank next.