John West Wrote:
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> This was a very typical kind of westbound train in
> at least the 1961to 1964 time frame when I was
> visiting, and probably going back to around 1950
> when the oil and gas boom started. After the
> Oriental Refinery closed in 1964 combined with an
> overall drop in traffic the trains probably got a
> bit shorter. The cliche "through the weeds not
> around them" has become popular, and I think it
> conveys the impression that the DRGW ng. was a
> RGS-like streak of rust. But through the early
> 60's the DRGW ng. was rather serious big time
> railroading, just on narrow rails and with
> antiquated equipment. Probably one of the really
> amazing things about the ng. was that so much of
> the old wooden underframed equipment survived the
> heavy trains of those years. And of course some
> didn't, the remains of broken cars were not
> uncommon.
>
> [attachment 49458 DRGWlabapulleddrawbar950.jpg]
>
> JBWX
The pic of the boxcar with the drawbar literally torn out of the frame fascinates me. To do this would take a MASSIVE slack run-out with a heavy train behind this car. In order to get this kind of force applied, this car would have to back in the train, so that the head end could start (with the slack bunched) fast enough to yank the coupler out. The draft gear on a box car is as stout as it got on the narrow gauge. The cheek plates that the draft gear transfers the load to the center sills of the car have numerous bolts going through the sills. In addition, the coupler pocket has been pulled out the end sill. This pocket also has several bolts going through the end sill, two which are the truss rods.
One of the things that make the boxcars even more bullet proof is the fact there is a nice roof over it keeping the sills nice and dry, unlike gons and flats which get rain and snow working down through them, rotting the sills.
Most car failures were the pipe gons and idler flats made from gons. The draft gear on these cars attaches to the bottom of the sills. In compression (heavy slack run-in), the forces would bow the car upward over the body bolster and literally snap the car in two over the bolster.
That must have been quite a serious slack run-out.
Ah....but at least we didn't break the knuckle!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/12/2018 11:42AM by Earl.
