Hello all-

Odd question here: On a Reading Commuter coach - say like 1341 at Stewartstown ;) - how was the vestibule trap door secured in the upright position?

Was it secured in some fashion, with a latch, or was the spring along the hinge strong enough to keep it up?

We'll be using 1341 on our Santa Runs this December, and think that squishing potential passengers would be a bad thing...We can come up with a number of current, practical solution, but I was just wondering about how it was done historically. I've googles around, and don't see any details in photos or drawings.

Thanks in advance!

Mike

The trap door should spring up just past 60 degrees on its own and then be pushed up to vertical and latched. The latch would be mounted on the outside of the exterior door.https://scontent.fagc1-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/14910554_1680755792238189_4511905958575600764_n.jpg?oh=8a4ce1b624b6cad660272eda103d541b&oe=58B8EDA2
similar to this Reading MU coach. Photo borrowed from RCT&HS MP&RE Facebook page.
Mike Tillger

it has been a while since I was out to your site, need to rely on pictures.

Looking at your traps on line, it appears that most of the doors are either gone or missing the inserts.
I did not see the trap latch or door latch in any door in any pictures. Here is how the sequence works.

The door swings back against the bulkhead and locks in a drop latch at the top of the door. Some door latches may be on the side near the top. The trap latch will now be on the front of the door

The spring trap is released by the foot release, swings up and click latch to the front of the door. Shown in the picture you were sent. The door must be in good shape to hold the trap, and the door top latch must be in place.

Be very careful it you cannot latch the trap. The spring may be gone and it will fall like a bag of rocks.

Definitely should be a latch to latch the trap up. The traps on the cars at work also have a curved grab iron bolted to them for people to use when entering/exiting. If it's not latched up you will pull it down on you when using the grab iron.
Also in the latch there is a spring for the thumb latch to release the trap to put it down that breaks. If it's broken and the trap is latched in the up position it can come down on you when using the grab iron. Trap doors don't look that heavy but when you remove them to replace a broken trap door spring you need 2 people to do it safely.

If there's no exterior vestibule door, than the latch must be mounted on a bracket that sticks out from the vestibule wall. Some New Hope & Ivyland RR ex-Reading coaches were converted that way so they could run without side doors and still use the high platform at Warminster, Pa. station.

If you can't source one from another donor, they are still in the Adlake catalogue, on page 17 (#760 trap door holder).

http://www.adlake.com/index.html

James L. Howard & Company is also a long-time and current-day supplier of railroad and transit hardware. I have no idea how receptive it may be to small orders.

Trap Door Holders

Thanks everyone for the info. I've tried to contact Adlake through their website, but It doesn't seem to be working.

Mike

The site is up and running; I see a problem(?) with the home page. At the upper left corner there is an icon with three horizontal white lines; click on this and it brings up a menu list that shows up on the top of the resulting pages. It was not acting this way when I visited the website on the 23rd.

If you got past this and entered an inquiry. Give the firm a day or two to get back to you. It was probably closed for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Eric Krall is in charge of Adlake's historical alliance program, try contacting him directly.

Eric Krall
Account Manager
Adams & Westlake, Ltd
940 N. Michigan St. Elkhart, IN 46514
Phone: 574-264-1141 Ext. 204
Fax: 574-264-1146
E-mail: ekrall@adlake.com

Adlake has an active Facebook page, they just posted something yesterday, and this post about hardware a month ago: "Did you know we still make and repair historic hardware? We work with historic car owners, museums and excursion railroads to help them source and refurbish hardware. We still have a lot of the patterns in our foundry and the prints in our shop. Contact us at adlake@adlake.com and we will be happy to work with you. We love being a part of history!"

https://www.facebook.com/12383484769349 ... =3&theater