Saturday, March 12, 2022

1945, Diesel Locomotive Draft Gear

 



There were two different systems offered to retract the pilot coupler on early EMD cab units!
It seems likely that the Armstrong 85 Revolution Technology quickly yielded to a power-driven system (link at the end).

Thanks to a gift from my brother, Eric, of some classic International Textbook Company railway self-study texts ... this bit of railway trivia has resurfaced in 2022. 

In 1950 GM-EMD, Baldwin-Westinghouse, Alco-GE and Fairbanks-Morse all advertised diesel-electrics with streamlined pilots covering their front couplers. Can you imagine the fun of having to retrieve a snow and ice packed coupler from its pocket - midway through a run on a cold winter day? Surely this feature was never part of an order for a Canadian railway! You will find that answer below.



Yes, that Blomberg: Martin P Blomberg (1888-1966)
This textbook was published in 1945.










from: Locomotive Cyclopedia 1950-1952; Simmons-Boardman.





To see the power-driven pilot coupler system, just check out this older post.