Hi all. Hoping a former or current car-knocker might be able to give me pointers. My troop sleeper car is due to be moved in a few weeks by truck. The guy hauling it said it would be easier to load if the couplers were removed. I want to do it without torching them off. Need advice as to how to disconnect. I plan on having a trailer underneath the couplers and just winching the whole coupler and drawbar out, then it would be easier to replace. Once on my land I will simply reinsert and let them stay there by gravity, won't need to permanently redo the pin or pins holding them in place....thanks!

Vince

Troop sleepers have standard Type E freight car couplers, attached using a horizontal key.

Look under the car at the coupler shank and you will see a horizontal piece of steel going through slots in the draft gear yoke and a slot in the rear of the coupler shank. One side of the key has a "head" on it, the other has a hole or two holes for the key retainer. Remove key retainer (pin and pin lock), pull key out horizontally, then carefully pull coupler head and shank straight out the end. Reverse process for installation.

Hope this helps. I will try to post some pics here later.

Howard P.

Thanks Howard! Pictures would be awesome but you have helped greatly already.

What Howard said........... To add, couplers are either cross keyed (draft key) or butt pinned. If it is cross keyed, a torch to heat the keeper tab and bend it up so the keeper can be removed is in order. Most of these are a two piece widget. Once the keeper is removed just remove the cross key. Sometimes they will pull out by hand. Sometimes you have to beat the hell out of them. Sometimes wiggling the coupler side to side is necessary. Sometimes a little shim under the coupler is necessary. Getting the coupler in that sweet spot so the key comes out easily is the trick. Once the draft key is out, a bobcat, backhoe, forklift or anything will pull the coupler right out. You can pull the thing out by hand but watch your feet. Standard E couplers are heavier at the head because they are short shank so depending on how you chain/rig to it, look for it to pivot head down when it comes out.

Some pics of a B&M boxcar coupler/cross key setup. I will grab some closeups of a troop sleeper coupler this weekend and post on Monday.

This photo shows the "pinned" end of the cross key; in this case, they used a piece of round bar as a cotter pin, and heated then bent the ends over as shown. Note the oblong washer against the draft pocket/center sill.



This photo shows the other side of the cross key, the "head" side. It seems they are usually inserted from the brake pipe side! So it has to be maneuvered into place around the brake pipe. The key head is marked "HTS" (high tensile steel) upside down.



Hope this helps!

Howard P.

Probably if the two U-bolts holding the brake pipe are removed the brake pipe could be bent out of the way.

.

Idk............this might be easier. Looking at that arrangement where you have to take down the trainline to get the key out......... I forget sometimes that some things have gotten easier to deal with on modern freight cars. Now if we could apply some of those same thoughts to making all the regulations easier to deal with.

We moved both our troop sleepers by truck and the couplers were NOT removed both times, but the trucks were. The company were hired had an extendable flatbed trailer which not only helped with the length, but also the height. A good portion of the car had no flatbed underneath it which gave a place for the car's undercarriage to hang down lowering the clearance height.