Re: Where did the CATS get this?

J.B.Bane Wrote:
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> My assumption right or wrong has been that in some
> cases the "pin" that moves up and down to hold a
> normal knuckle in the coupled position could be
> broke. If so a std replacement knuckle would not
> solve the problem. The "Emergency Knuckle" pins
> in place of the regular knuckle but is not
> dependent on the lift pin to hold it in place.
> The pin that a knuckle hinges on only is used.


Most of the time the knuckle itself is what breaks. They are designed to break before the car would be torn apart by excessive force.

I remember one trip to Tehachapi and the train we were chasing between Mojave and Palmdale broke a knuckle about 50 cars back in the train. The crew took the spare knuckle off one of the engines (they are carried in a bracket welded to the trucks) and started back to the break. We pulled in on the access road, pulled up alongside the crewmen struggling with the coupler, opened up the side door on the van and said, "Need a lift?" Needless to say they jumped at the chance. We had them delivered in a couple minutes, waited while they installed the knuckle, drove the engineer up to the head end, went back and got the conductor after they made the joint and took him up front.

Those guys cleaned out the units and gave us every bit of paper - orders, clearance cards, telegrams, bulletin book pages, you name it! They offered us a ride but we were heading north after chasing them so declined.

We chased them into Palmdale and were listening to them and the dispatcher on the scanner. The DS couldn't figure out how in the world they got that knuckle changed out and back on the move so quick. The engineer just said, "It pays to have friends."