I always keep an eye out for RR topics on Shorpy - today they came through yet again!

Circa 1880s. "Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. Detroit Photographic Special." Detroit Photographic Co.'s rolling showroom-darkroom.

Enjoy!

http://www.shorpy.com/node/13194?utm_so ... to+Blog%29

Ridiculously large size:
http://www.shorpy.com/node/13194?size=_original#caption


/Mitch

Interesting bumper post, what's with the blocks of wood protruding from it?

For control of slack when using link & pins, notice slot about half way up knuckle so one can insert link and then pin down thru the knuckle.
Mike Tillger

Technical term, "deadwood" or "dead blocks". These were responsible for maiming as many trainmen as the link and pin draw head itself.

When built, the pilot would have had a long drawbar for occasional use to couple something to the front of the locomotive. After conversion to knuckle couplers, a standard coupling link pinned in the slotted knuckle allowed way too much slack, so the long dead blocks were added to reach past the pilot and meet those on the car. When the coupler conversions were complete and the last link and pin draw heads withdrawn from service, the dead blocks could have been removed, if the locomotive lasted that late.

The detail is probably due to the use of a large format camera, and a decent lens.

100 hundred years from now, we'll probably have a better (quality wise at least) record of this era than the present. How much digital will survive?