1908 - The Progress of the Master Car Builders - 100 Types of Couplers

Coupler equipment photographed in Canada is included.

More pieces on railcar design evolution can be found by pressing the Railway Technology & Systems 04 'radio button' above ... and then scrolling down to the Railway Cars heading on that page.

This 1908 edition of Kirkman's Science of Railways shows technical drawings of some of the one hundred or so different variants of Janney-style couplers produced by different manufacturers. 

Figure 5 appears above. It is difficult to make it attractive as the left margin disappears into the 700-page book's deep gutter. However, you get the idea: The Master Car Builders are working through the painstaking process of achieving an initial universal standard which US railroads should follow. With longstanding cross-border operations, large Canadian railways interchanging with, or operating in, the US are affected by these decisions as well.

In the 1890 Congressional hearings, some railroads seemed particularly inflexible. The Pennsylvania Railroad representative spoke of the corporate standardizing mission of the legendary Altoona Shops pertaining to the wide range of products which the railroad purchased. He didn't seem particularly amenable to the idea of compromising on ... coupler designs to reach a national standard ... or the rate at which couplers would be converted on the PRR. In 1890, I think he said the Pennsy was 10% converted to Janney-type. (It seemed to me he was not a nuts and bolts operating person who was empowered to publicly commit to any particular course of action - unlike some of the other witnesses.)

Most of the text and diagrams which follow in the book (and which are not included here) are exhaustively technical and devoted to presenting to the professionals who bought this series of books, the exact testing procedures of the Master Car Builders for coupler standards testing: minimum batch size, number of samples from a batch to submit for testing, types of standardized tests (including repeated drop testing in a special device) to determine strength, drawbar rigidity, etc.

I am just presenting the diagrams showing the wide variety of designs. 

Imagine, if you were running a railway's spare part inventory ... the absolute impossibility of keeping replacement parts in stock for 100 different types of automatic couplers!

from: Van Horne's Road; Lavallee; 1974; Railfare.

On the CPR at Laggan (later Lake Louise) circa 1884, we see the expected link and pin couplers in use.

As previously discussed, end doors were used to load/unload 'full length' products, such as lumber.

A multi-storey boarding car can be seen at the left.

After the black bar in the image below (see Figure 114), we see two processes for making a coupling when knuckles are missing, or broken and removed.

As you will have noticed, all of the couplers above are notched in the middle of the knuckle, with vertical holes formed at the knuckles' outer end. A link could be inserted into the notch and it could be held in place using a standard coupling pin. The first image of Figure 114 shows 'the old way' of coupling by hand when faced with automatic coupler problems ... by using two pins and a link.

So that a brakeman does not have to stand in front of a moving car when both cars were previously equipped with functioning automatic couplers, the Hinson Emergency Knuckle can (theoretically) be used to make the coupling 'automatically'. 

This process involves first attaching the emergency knuckle into the defective coupler using a pin. Then the cars can be moved together to complete the coupling. The undamaged knuckle-equipped automatic coupler closes and locks onto the emergency knuckle. 

Again, this preserves the key safety feature of automatic couplers - that the brakeman does not have to stand in front of an approaching car with a link and pin in his hands to complete a coupling.

*  *  *

Above, is detail taken from the exhaustively-labelled car diagram below. 

In particular, the name 'deadwood' (item 57) was indeed an official part name. You may recall brakemen coupling link and pin cars generally had to ensure they were not crushed by the two protruding deadwoods as the cars came together. 

*  *  *

from: A Way to the West; Allan Bell; 1991; Privately published.

Above: Detail from the Canada Atlantic yard at Bridge Street in Ottawa, undated. In the few Canadian photos available in my books which show car ends for this era, people are often posing right in front of the coupling system!

The lumber car at the left shows a link and pin coupler pocket. It has a brake handwheel located to the left of the coupler pocket. The handwheel assembly is therefore one more crush hazard the brakeman has to watch for as the cars come together. 

The boxcar 2443 at the right has a link pinned in place. The draft horses have been by (watch your step) and, in fact, you can see a wagon with a draft horse being loaded at the right of the photo. A person seems to be taking a stroll along the roof walks on the next track over. 

A phenomenon I hadn't noticed before are the streaks of car oil on the ends of the 8944 and the 2443. The oil has leaked out of the journal wells onto the wheels and has been 'spun off' while the cars were in motion. 

If you return to the CPR Laggan photo, you'll see this phenomenon on the CPR car as well. 

*  *  *

from: Over the Hills to Georgian Bay; Niall MacKay: 1981; Boston Mills.

Above: The Canada Atlantic station in Ottawa in 1895. At the left, you can see a Maine Central car which has arrived in interchange, still with a link and pin coupler and (it appears) without an air brake hose. Cars were usually shopped for conversion to air brakes and automatic couplers at the same time.

Generally, during the transition period, air brake-equipped cars would be marshaled immediately behind the engine so the engineer had the maximum control over the train using all available automatic brakes.

*  *  *

from: Van Horne's Road; Lavallee; 1974; Railfare.

This beautiful photo shows a stock car which was probably retrofitted with Janney-style couplers and air brakes. Built as a stock car by the Perth Car Shops in 1883, the car is shown in 1901. Other cars with similar modern equipment can be seen in the background.

Notice the interesting tracked door on the end. Its travel could be limited to admit only a stock attendant and to prevent livestock egress. Half of this door is barred like the main doors.

Below the coupler, you can see the old-style outside brake beam which was sometimes a source of injury for brakemen as they worked to complete a link and pin coupling with an approaching car of this design. Bonus detail: On this occasion, this car is loaded with car wheels. 

I may well be wrong, but the little cylinder near the roofline ... atop the pipe rising behind the ladder ... may be a hard-to-read item 195 on the MCB standard boxcar diagram: 'pressure retaining valve'. Of course, modern practice is to locate retainer valve handles under the carbody. However, in 1900 and for decades to come - even with air brake-equipped cars ... brakemen often travelled along the roofwalks to relay hand signals during switching and to apply the handbrakes on kicked cars. 

... During a Canadian winter with snow heavily drifted along the tracks, the car roofwalks would be relatively free of deep snow ... and hopefully free from ice! When a train required retainers to be turned up or down, one could argue that time was always saved in winter by following the traditional route of the car roofwalks and adjusting the retainers from that location. Trudging through the deep snow along the roadbed can take a great deal of time and energy.

"To Strike Is No Remedy ...

To quit is starvation, and to continue is death; not immediately perhaps, but inevitable if he remains long enough in the service."

EF O'Shea, Brotherhood of Railroad Brakemen. 

A fraternal-financial organization with 15,000 members in 1890.

*  *  *

This post gives a short sample of the testimony given to the US Senate's Interstate Commerce Committee in 1890. It follows my earlier look at railcar construction in the late 1800s. During that period, the obvious necessity of developing consistent safety standards for North American railways was receiving widespread attention. 

In 1863, Ezra Miller had patented the Miller Hook to help prevent passenger car telescoping during a collision or derailment. It was reviewed in a previous post.

Ezra Miller Saved Lives

In 1873, EH Janney had received a patent for his most recent coupler innovation. This patent introduced the movable 'knuckle'. 

Just reading the testimony before the Committee provides a vivid image of the deplorable safety conditions for railroad employees. 

The shocking loss of life in passenger train accidents was easily presented in the newspapers so it would receive the attention it deserved from the politicians and railroad officials. However, the lethal working conditions for running trades employees in freight service - with most citizens being unable to imagine or identify with their plight - was a more persistent area of regulatory neglect. 

In testimony, it was estimated that 1 in 5 brakemen and conductors would survive their careers to 'die a natural death'. 

*  *  *

It would take the efforts of a social reformer who served as Iowa's Railroad Commissioner from 1883 to 1888 to focus the attention and action of the US Congress on the issue. While the early, relatively short railroad lines had come under state jurisdiction, the growth of railroad company systems far beyond state lines required the oversight of people seeing the 'big picture' of railroading. 

from: History of Railroads in America; Oliver Jensen; 1975; Random House.

Lorenzo Coffin (1823-1915) was one of the people responsible for the eventual development of the Railroad Safety Appliance Act.

Appropriately, Coffin is the first witness as the testimony begins.

The 'power brake' is differentiated from the manual train brake then in use which was applied by brakemen running along the tops of cars to apply handbrakes. One witness takes care to distinguish between a power brake and an automatic brake. Today, we would expect an automatic air brake system to create an Emergency application in the event the train line was broken in some way - without it being initiated by the engineer. 

In some of the testimony regarding the formal testing of early air (and other) brake systems, a witness speaks of riding in one of the 50 boxcars travelling down the 1% grade used by the test train. The violent run-in of slack caused the riders to be thrown against the leading end of the boxcar. Some riders had taken the precaution of surrounding themselves with pillows ... but pillows and all still made the sudden trip forward. It seems likely that experimental straight air systems were also being tested ... and the slow propagation of the straight air through the train line would be a very effective way of creating such violent slack action.

The 'automatic coupler' in its simplest terms meant that a brakeman did not have to stand between cars during coupling - that the coupler 'dropped the pin' automatically as the brakeman stood safely outside the rails and watched.

*  *  *

Here are some of the defects in the design of railroad freight cars identified in the testimony.

In searching through my books, I have seen hundreds of triangular 'cowcatcher' pilots from the late 1800s with their hinged link and pin coupling bar in the centre. The 3/4 front view of trains has always been extremely popular. However, photos showing the rear of a tender, or the end of freight cars are relatively rare. 

from: The Central Pacific & Southern Pacific Railroads; Lucius Beebe; 1963; Howell-North.

Above, at Promontory, Utah in 1869 is an example showing many of the design shortcomings of freight cars. You can see a coupler pocket into which a link has been inserted, with the pin dropped to hold the end of the link in the coupler pocket. A brakeman coupling another car would insert that link into the approaching pocket and drop another pin to secure it there.

Braking system: You can see the narrow roofwalk and the handwheel at the roof to apply the 'train brakes' when they are called for by the engineer's whistle signal. At the very bottom of the handbrake shaft is a chain which will wrap around the shaft as it is turned. The chain is connected to links/levers which will draw the brake shoes into contact with the treads of the wheels. The large transverse wooden bar below the coupler is the brake beam. At the left end of the brake beam, thanks to the sunlight, you can see the left brake shoe which will be applied to the left wheel tread.

Above the coupler pocket, and bolted to it, is a heavy 'deadwood' (probably a slang term). The deadwood is a sturdy piece of wood providing a strong connection between the coupler pocket and the car frame. 

Why automatic couplers are needed: An identical car is approaching the (imaginary) brakeman, standing beside the coupler pocket of the car above. With a pin in hand, he is ready to insert that link and drop the pin into the approaching pocket. Assume the momentum of the movement approaching the car above will push the standing car back two or three feet ...

1. You (you have become the brakeman) stand beside the stationary coupler pocket, align and skilfully insert the link into the approaching pocket and quickly drop the pin.
2. Avoid getting your hands or fingers crushed between the link, the two coupler pockets and the pin.
3. As the cars move two or three feet, walk with them, so the approaching brake beam does not catch your ankle and break it, or cause your legs to become trapped under the approaching car.
4. Keep your torso back so it is not crushed between the deadwoods as they approach each other.
5. You may prefer to keep one foot outside the rail so you can quickly shift away from the cars if something goes wrong. However, if you adopt this position and fall, your body and limbs will land on the rail in front of the approaching wheel.
6. Become proficient at this act so you can perform it at night, in the rain, by the light of a dim coal oil lantern.

*  *  *

from: Railroad Album; John O'Connell; 1954; Popular Mechanics.

The lovely illustration above shows two different designs of car end appurtenances. The upper design shows deadwoods (or perhaps metal 'bumpers', in this case) which are almost flush (if viewed in a side profile) with the contact face of the coupler pocket. A brakeman would have to be particularly skilful to perform a coupling pin drop and extract his arm so it was not caught if the second car had identical deadwoods/bumpers.

On the lower image, you can see a brakeman walking with the approaching movement. The link is raised, ready for insertion into the stationary car. Then the pin will be dropped into the stationary car's coupler pocket. At least in this case, the deadwoods pose less of a crushing hazard than those in the upper design.

*  *  *

from: History of Railroads in America; Oliver Jensen; 1975; Random House.

Again, here is detail from a photo taken during the construction of the Union Pacific as a stone bridge is being constructed by masons. Beneath the straddling man, you can see the link and pin couplers and the two pins inserted into them. This image shows that the faces of the two coupler pockets are in direct contact with each other. This illustrates the crushing hazard between the coupler faces ... the brakeman's hand must occupy that space between those faces as he inserts the link.

*  *  *

I will likely continue with this topic in the future. 

Below is the correct name and link to the archive.org document I have found so interesting. 

One could analyze it for years ... but I probably won't go that far.

Automatic couplers and power brakes

US Congress, Senate, Committee on Interstate Commerce

https://archive.org/details/automaticcouple00commgoog/page/n7/mode/1up

*  *  *

As you'll notice, the data below (Page 6 of testimony) has been compiled by Lorenzo Coffin.

The Master Car Builders origin and elaboration below is interesting. The term appears in the Science of Railways (circa 1900 - a decade after this testimony) as an entire 400+ page volume is dedicated to standard car design based on the standards of the Master Car Builders.

It was funny to discover that MCB is a term of solemn significance in railroad history. In the 1980s, I was privileged to visit a local 'dream' layout - lots of brass steam locomotives, etc. The owner was referred to with appropriate awe because he had completed the necessary peer-reviewed exercises to be formally recognized (I presume in HO) as a 'Master Car Builder'.

All the different types of Janney couplers will be illustrated in a future post. 

In testimony, railroad officials generally pointed out that air brakes were not practical to use with 50-car trains unless there were Janney-type couplers because of the significant slack action created by long consists of link and pin. Their opinions for Janney-type implementation ran the gamut from continued laissez-faire to immediate federal regulation. 

A problem I had not considered was the 'supply chain' issue and the need to avoid rushing out and buying just any Janney-style couplers. The railroads wanted and needed good quality, durable Janney-style couplers (estimated conversion cost per car: close to $100 in 1890 dollars) and the skilled labour to complete the changeover in a reasonable period ... of YEARS. There were more than one million freight cars in service in the US in 1890. 

Another problem involved our poor brakemen again. Testimony stated that it was significantly more dangerous for a less-experienced brakeman to step in between two freight cars when one car had the usual non-standardized link and pin appliance, and the other had a non-standardized Janney-type. This more dangerous condition would persist for years during the conversion period. (In old photos, you'll notice that early Janneys often had a notch in the knuckle. The link would go into that notch and the pin was dropped down the hole in the knuckle to secure it.)

One of the officials was asked if he knew about the state of affairs concerning brakes and couplers in Canada and he had no idea.

Ezra Miller Saved Lives

Sixty-four passengers were killed on the Lehigh Valley Railroad at Mud Run station, Kidder Township, Carbon County, Pennsylvania at 2002hr on 10 October 1888, when the Seventh Section (powered by two engines) ran into the stopped Sixth Section of an excursion special.

... with those details, once we're done here we can take off and check out the disaster on Wikipedia, Google maps, and other on-line references! But beware, there is more than one Mud Run in Pennsylvania!

By the sounds of it, the train order office was being used as a block signal to maintain the ordered 10 minute spacing between sections. The sunset there at that time of year is 1830hr - so it would have been good and dark in the forest in the valley. As you might expect, there were problems with rules observance pertaining to the train order signal ... the flagman failed to go out the prescribed distance to flag ... and so on ...

But that's not the point of this post, it's this frequently-reproduced photograph ...

from: History of Railroads in America; Oliver Jensen; 1975; Random House.

The engineering of passenger cars in that very early period of railroad technology had resulted in the invention of the Miller Hook system - two decades earlier - which had been invented to help prevent tragedies such as this.

from: Mr Pullman's Elegant Palace Car; Lucius Beebe; 1961; Doubleday & Co.

Above, is a drawing from circa 1870 or so, representing contemporary passenger car architecture or engineering. 

'Architecture' was probably a better description because passenger coaches were generally built like wooden sheds with windows on wheels. Coaches were not engineered to mitigate buff (compressive) forces - particularly during collisions. 

In terms of passenger comfort, it looks as if this car has a link-and-pin coupling system which would 'accordion' the train consist in or out whenever there was a change in train dynamics. For example, when starting or stopping, with a careless engineer, there could be a jolting change in coupler slack, particularly in the second half of the train. 

(I enjoyed standing and working on hay wagons in high school. A hay wagon was coupled to the tractor using a single pin. This link-and-pin passenger train jolt would have been quite an experience, particularly if a passenger was standing at the time.)

The end sill (at floor level) is set at a different level than the coupler. This is normal today. However, this design does not seem to employ a strong metal fabrication which combines the end sill AND the coupler.  

... If strong buff forces from a colliding engine were applied to the back of this car at the end of a stationary train ... you can imagine that the 'wooden shed' would be easily separated from any metal structures attached to the bottom of its wooden floor. 

... The front of the stationary train would have significant inertia, so the 'back wooden shed' and the 'next wooden shed' would become the 'crumple zones' which absorbed the shock of the collision. 

Whether or not the cars interact 'perfectly' like a telescope is not particularly the issue - it is the fact that the wooden passenger compartment is not engineered to protect the people inside.

from: Train Wrecks; Robert C Reed; 1968; Superior Publishing.

Here is a little historical background on the issue of link-and-pin couplers

from: Railroad Album; John O'Connell; 1954; Popular Mechanics.

from: Yonder Comes the Train; Lance Phillips; 1965; AS Barnes & Co.

Above, is a display model of a Miller Hook from above or below. 

You can see the model drawbar is anchored by slot screws.

This is a pretty rough image in the book.

 

The model shows how two couplers would automatically couple.

The worker would avoid the link-and-pin danger associated with standing between the coupling cars. 

They would not have to manually insert the link into the stationary pocket and drop the pin to secure it.

The model also shows how a cut lever would be used to uncouple, 

by pulling one of the hooks toward the side of the car.

*  *  *

from: Cars, Their Construction, Handling & Supervision; Marshall M Kirkman; 1908; World Railway Publishing Co.
Note: The following 'aged paper' images also come from this publication.

The exhaustively-labelled diagram, above, identifies item 319 as a Miller Hook. 

Like early Janney-style couplers this one has 'backward compatibility' ... 

A link can be inserted in the 'knuckle cutaway', and a pin dropped into the hook.

(The diagram shows a standard Janney-style coupler on the other end of the car.)

*  *  *

On breaks, while writing this, I was skimming the minutes of a session of the US Senate Committee on Interstate Commerce from 1892. It dispels any idea that we had link-and-pin, then we changed to Janney-style, and we all lived happily ever after.

In his testimony, the AAR representative indicates that their member railroads have converted 20% of their freight equipment to 'automatic' couplers. The AAR represents something like 2/3 of the US route miles. I assume the rest of the miles were not 'interstate' railroads or these railroads elected to be otherwise outside of the AAR. The AAR says ... Don't legislate, many of our members are doing well with their conversion. 

The switchman-representative of the body which provides benevolent disability insurance to injured switchmen says Lehigh Valley 'hook-and-link' (maybe a European design import) is his preference. Link-and-pin are pretty good if you know what you're doing. Automatic couplers are a mess. There are hundreds of different patent designs of 'knuckle couplers'. You can wreck yourself lining the drawbar up for a coupling. The cut rod can snag on your coat and drag you along. When we have problems with different patents being incompatible, we resort to link-and-pin to couple them. So there! The railroad officials who call the shots 'wouldn't do our job for $100 a minute'.

So, considering all of this in 1892, you can understand why lives were lost between the invention of the Miller Hook (1869), the Janney-type (1868) and their universal adoption on all interchanged railcars. 

Delaying factors included ... the inertia of large companies with massive investments in diverse rolling stock ... the cautious views of their association which doesn't represent all of the railroads anyway ... the conflicting evidence from the workers (including the significant disability and death statistics) ... and the reluctance of legislators to become very unpopular, by dictating a standard which all parties condemn. 

To some extent, some of the parties are looking expectantly to the Master Car Builders to declare a preferred standard for Janney-style couplers.

And, as a reminder, the Mud Run disaster occurred in 1888.

*  *  *

We continue with technical details and illustrations from The Science of Railways (1908) ...

MCB stands for Master Car Builders

Above: I believe this is the Miller Hook as seen from below the car.

Above: I believe this is the Miller Hook as seen from above the car.

*  *  *

In the second paragraph below, 'hool' is hook - it's not some Gaelic or Olde English railroadin' talk.

The upper diagram above shows a 'phantom' pin inserted into the hook (backward compatibility).

The lower diagram above shows a cross-section view.

The coupler/drawbar is the piece protruding at the left, a spring loaded buffer appears above it at the 'sill' (floor) level.

*  *  *

Sometimes, a second reference helps clarify complex diagrams and concepts ...

from: Train Wrecks; Robert C Reed; 1968; Superior Publishing.

There is a small community of us which believes that the flying switches ... made with three-coach consists ... performed by Forneys in suburban commuter service at Dorval, Quebec ... in the late 1950s ... are unique and fascinating. However, Advantage 9, above, is bragging that you can kick coaches all day long if they are fitted with Miller Hooks. Just heave the big bar over to release the hook on the fly.

At the US Senate Committee on Interstate Commerce, the switchman-representative of the benevolent insurance organization said that Miller Platforms were a problem with some of the sharper curves in the yard. He stated that an interim joint must be made with link-and-pin in that case.

... He went on to say that passenger cars are switched very gently to avoid damage, including breaking glass ... long before safety glass, we assume ... Add glass to the list of safety features taken for granted today. 

... Considering his freight car specialty (in contrast to passenger car switching) he gives a very thorough description of the 'human experience' of being a switchman. He said that freight cars get very rough treatment. There is great pressure to switch a high volume of cars quickly with hazardous footing ('dirt') in the yards and usually with inadequate resources. He points out the difficulty of operating at night with an oil lantern. And ... he says that freight cars often come together at speeds ... up to 10 to 12 miles per hour (!!). 

*  *  *

Some photos of Miller Hooks/Platforms

I had always wondered what 'that big bar' on the rear platform of some observation and private cars did. 

From my image search in my own books, it turns out that old coach photos often have their couplers cropped away during photo layout editing. Visible couplers in photos are often lost in the dark end-of-car murk, making them unhelpful as crisp illustrations of Miller Hooks. And no one putting a book together is particularly interested in showing a detailed rear view of a plain coach. 

There were no Miller Hooks to be seen in the core fleets of Canada's major railways, as far as I could see - just on the odd imported car. As we've just heard, these imports can be temporarily coupled using link-and-pin technology. 

You can imagine that many American roads in the business of hauling long passenger trains in dense urban corridors would have chosen Miller Hooks and Platforms for their obvious advantages. My guess from my image search is that Canadian passenger equipment probably skipped a generation of technology and went directly from link and pin to a suitable Janney-type. 

From an American perspective, British railways were believed to have been relatively free from coach telescoping in the late 1800s because of their own slack-controlling couplings which featured the familiar buffers to keep the couplings under tension. With the Grand Trunk and the CPR British Empire affinity, one might speculate that rough slack action and coach telescoping risk resulted in quick adoption of the Janney-type.

Given what we'll see below, I checked Van Horne's car at Craigellachie (the photo with his son driving his own last spike) and his car had a link-and-pin coupler pocket.

The clearest surviving photos of Miller Hooks and Platforms I have found are in books showing business and observation cars. Unfortunately, they were not always photographed plumb, but we'll take what we can get.

from: Mr Pullman's Elegant Palace Car; Lucius Beebe; 1961; Doubleday & Co.

An unidentified car in an undated image.

from: Mr Pullman's Elegant Palace Car; Lucius Beebe; 1961; Doubleday & Co.

The car above was used on the Boston & Lowell Railroad in the 1870s.

In this case, it seems the desire for symmetry caused the large telltale lever to be replaced with a handwheel which matched the handbrake handwheel.

from: Mansions on Rails; Lucius Beebe; 1959; Howell-North Press.

Burlington, Number 200, La Rabida, was the private car used by railroad president Charles Elliott Perkins from 1881 to 1901.

This was the nicest photo I could find to illustrate a Miller Hook and Platform.