B&O/C&O used these on their cbooses. I remember rideing on them as a trackman on work trains, mostly plowing stone or spreding ties for a tie unit. After plowing stone we would have the train crew "shake" the stone that was stuck in the cars out. That draft gear looked odd seen from the platform of the caboose. Didn't seem to help much either.
Tim
Link to a brochure for the SP's Hydra Cushion system
http://www.carrtracks.com/sphc01.htm
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Some other illustrative links:
http://www.amstedrail.com/ProductsServices/FreightCar/CushioningUnitsandTwinPack.aspx
http://www.gbrx.com/Cushioning_Units.php?expandable=0
http://www.gbrx.com/files/files/NAR/Repair_Maintenance/GRS%20Parts.pdf (pages 3 and 4 of 8 - approx. 3.40 MB in size)
http://www.balfourwelding.com/ahigears/download.html
But I still haven't found a decent video of one of these in action ! (hint, hint . . . )
- Paul North.
Thanks for the link to that technical pamphlet dated Feb. 2003 (21 pages, approx. 608 KB in size) - it'll come in handy for future reference, I'm sure.
As it says in the text and diagram on page 9 (10 of 21) in "Part 4: End of Car Cushioning and Cushion Underframes", the cushioning is usually provided by low-pressure hydraulic (or pneumatic) cylinders, similar to the shock absorbers in an automobile - either 1 at each end in the draft gears, or just 1 in the underframe (only).
Cushion sill box car, keeps the contents from getting pounded during switching and such.
SP had lots and lots of these, still see them around with "fragile" contents.
Yup, it moves about 3 feet both ways, akes switching with them in a cut of cars a pain in the keister, the cushion action will drop the pin on a kick real easy, and it beats the heck out of your engineer.
23 17 46 11
More than you ever wanted to know about draft gear
http://techinfo.wabtec.com/DataFiles/Leaflets/TP-2009.pdf
There is a continuous drawbar under all cars. Traditionally, the drawbar is composed of the two couplers and the center sill under the bottom of the car that runs the full length. There is some moderate spring action between the couplers and their connection to the ends of the center sill.
What you saw was a cushioned car, which basically has the couplers connected to a connecting link with the tradional moderate spring action between the couplers and the link.
Then the two couplers and their connecting link, as a unit, are connected to the center sill by a connection that has extreme spring action that cushions that individual car from the tradtion slack action of the train.
The cushion car still has the same amount of slack action as a traditional system, but there is a much greater cushion to isolate the individual car from the normal slack run in and run out.
I watched some flat switching this morning and saw something I have never noticed before. A few hopper cars were being cut off from a large boxcar. The cars didn't get a good shove and came to a stop. I have seen that happen before, no big deal; but when the locomotive came back to give them an additional shove, the coupler on the boxcar was extended from the end of the car by about 3 or 4 feet!
When the boxcar coupler touched the stalled cars, the coupler seemed to retract into the boxcar frame and went a lot farther into the frame than any I have ever seen one move when a coupling occurs.
Then I watched the other end as the engine pulled away and at the other end of the car, the coupler also was extended out about 4 ft. The engine didn't move far and when it stopped the boxcar continued to move such that the coupler on that end retracted to the point where the knuckle was right at the end of the car frame and the other end was again extended out about 4 ft.!
When the engine came to a complete stop, the boxcar sort of drifted back the other way and sort of centered itself such that the couplers on both ends were about equidistant from the ends of the car.
The wheels stayed in the same relataive position to the boxcar itself.
I could not see under the boxcar, but from what I viewed it sure seemed that the couplers were mounted on one continuous drawbar under the boxcar.
Is there a continous "drawbar" under all cars. I always thought there were pockets on each end that cushioned a drawbar/coupler at that end, and that the pulling force was transmitted to shock-absorbers and pads that press against the drawbar in the pockets and that pulled on the frame, which transmitted the pulling force to the shock-absorbers and pads at the other end and that in turn pulled on the drawbar at that end to pull the next car.
I was also shocked at how far the couplers could extend from the car when pushed or pulled from the other end.
Is this normal for all cars? Or was this something special (or just unusual)?
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
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