DRGW Narrow Gauge Grab Irons.

While working on several freight cars on the C&TS this summer, I came across something I've probably been looking at for 35 years, yet never understood the significance.

On many DRGW narrow gauge types of cars, there are some grab irons that on first glance, look odd, but after some discussion makes a bit of sense. That is on the 1st level of grab irons (from ground level) the metal is formed so that on the side towards the middle of the car, there is a stop, so presumably, so if a brakeman is climbing on the car in wet weather, his boot doesn't slide off of it. Sarcastically, this is something those nitpickers don't look for because it's hard to replicate on an HO scale model!

For instance, on a DBG:



Note how the 1st grab iron is formed.

The same as a stock car:



And a high side gon:



I asked around, and others have also seen this, but nobody can tell me the official reason why this was done! Let's nail this down, and I'll document it in my restoration notes. This is just another tidbit of information that could be lost.

Bill Kepner