Re: Dumber question

Just to add a note from my small chance to observe DRGW eqipment: a few years back our carman at SVRy decided to rebuild the brake system on what we called "one of the green cars" which had been DRGW gons before conversion to pass. use. As I recall after creating a computer aid to figuring out appropriate lever lengths so braking force is the same to both trucks as well as appropriate for the light weight of the car, he discovered the lever lengths were out of whack for one end of the car. The car shops of old were probably savy enough to get it right, but somewhere along the line maybe after a wreck or derailment carmen had exchanged brake levers to get the car back in service, possibly unknowingly making the car have more braking force on one truck than the other. I think it was a small change, that being the holes in a lever or levers a few inches off. I guess my point is that the prototypical while the same in general layout could vary a little bit in dimensions due to repairs. As I recall we had the same scenario with coach 20, but the brake rigging had been recreated and misapplied when it went into service when it was restored. There was probably nothing original remaining. Perhaps Jim will read this and remember the details on the green car.