Kansas central Boxcar draft gear - Part I
| November 01, 2014 04:27PM |
The Kansas Central Narrow Gauge boxcar in Leavenworth Kansas had its draft gear reinstalled on October 30. Being an 8-ton car, it continually amazes me how small everything on it is when compared to the 25-ton capacity D&RGW cars I am more familiar with (it was pissible to carry all four of the KC car's cheekplates at once, two in each hand. Try that with the Rio Grande car parts!).
Anyway, onto some pictures of "the world's cutest draft gear" (and what must be one of very, very few surviving examples of such from the early 1870's);
A shot of a pair of the cheekplates attached to the new draft timbers. The spring pack is in the lower plate in the photo. The new draft timbers are 45 1/2" long modern 4x6's (so 3 1/2 x 5 1/2), which are fairly close in size (about 1/2" larger in each dimension) to the existing original portions of the center sills.
The spring pack (three coil springs nested inside each other) and plates that go inside the cheekplates (as seen above). The shank of the long gone original coupler went through the approx. 2" diameter hole in each of the plates and the center spring. This allowed the coupler to move back and forth a bit in the draft timbers, with the springs providing some buffering of the shock as the car was pulled or pushed.
A look at the assembled "B" end draft gear ready to be installed under the car. The daft timbers were attached below the center sills and held in place by three 5/8" bolts per timber as well as a 1 1/2" square shear block (most likely wood).
For comparison, here is a cheekplate from a D&RGW 25 ton car's draft gear. I think this one part alone weighs more than all of the metal parts of the KC boxcar's draft gear put together!
An overview of the draft gear and coupler from a 5500 series D&RGW stock car. Massive in comparison to the KC cars parts, yet tiny in comparison to a modern freight car's draft gear.
As we have hit the maximum allowable pictures per post, today's trivial trivia will be continued in Part II
Jason Midyette
Anyway, onto some pictures of "the world's cutest draft gear" (and what must be one of very, very few surviving examples of such from the early 1870's);
A shot of a pair of the cheekplates attached to the new draft timbers. The spring pack is in the lower plate in the photo. The new draft timbers are 45 1/2" long modern 4x6's (so 3 1/2 x 5 1/2), which are fairly close in size (about 1/2" larger in each dimension) to the existing original portions of the center sills.
The spring pack (three coil springs nested inside each other) and plates that go inside the cheekplates (as seen above). The shank of the long gone original coupler went through the approx. 2" diameter hole in each of the plates and the center spring. This allowed the coupler to move back and forth a bit in the draft timbers, with the springs providing some buffering of the shock as the car was pulled or pushed.
A look at the assembled "B" end draft gear ready to be installed under the car. The daft timbers were attached below the center sills and held in place by three 5/8" bolts per timber as well as a 1 1/2" square shear block (most likely wood).
For comparison, here is a cheekplate from a D&RGW 25 ton car's draft gear. I think this one part alone weighs more than all of the metal parts of the KC boxcar's draft gear put together!
An overview of the draft gear and coupler from a 5500 series D&RGW stock car. Massive in comparison to the KC cars parts, yet tiny in comparison to a modern freight car's draft gear.
As we have hit the maximum allowable pictures per post, today's trivial trivia will be continued in Part II
Jason Midyette
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488 stops for water at Los Pinos tank on closing day Oct. 1979. Photo courtesy Don Richter
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