Could anyone fill me in on the types of railcars these couplers have to be on (i.e. chemicals etc.). I think they help somehow incase of a derailment but not quiet sure how. When were these introduced? Aren’t they reffered to as “E” couplers?
It is a standard SF coupler…E couplers are the “plain” ones, no shelfs…
The top and bottom shelf on the drawbar part “lock” into the other couplers, and are to keep the cars from coming uncoupled in a derailment and riding up and over the ends, puncturing the tank heads on hazmat cars.
The are required on all new tank cars that will carry hazardous materials, and are retro fitted on a lot of rebuilds.
Note on older tank cars, the still use the E and ES coupler, but have added a “sheild” on the ends of the tanks to prevent ruptures…these cars are being retired asap.
And these shelves can, and do support cars that have lost their trucks, have seen one holding up the end of a loaded LPG tank all by itself.
Those are called a double shelf coupler they keep the coupler of the car behind or ahead of the tank car from riding above or below and going into the body of the car and spilling a car full of say propane or cholrine or maybe cyanide gas all over the place. They were made required equipment in the early 80’s I think.
The bad part is , if one car derails it will pull the others off the track as well . We have these on some wood chip cars ,( left over rotary coal hoppers) On more than one occasion the train did not seperate and go into emergency until the train came to a switch or other obstruction, putting nearly the whole train in the ditch .
Randy
Most rotary-dump cars I’ve seen have the Type F couplers, which lock together on both sides as well as top and bottom.
As for tank cars with shields, I was surprised to see a couple of series of brand-new DOWX tank cars fitted with shields. I’d thought that those cars were going to be extinct, too.
That’s railroading, solve one problem, cause another… It’s a make work scheme by and for the consultants.
Does anyone else remember the derailment of an MT sulfer train in the CP near Friesland Wis about 12-15 years ago . One of the strangest things I ever saw … took two hours for that train to derail, one tank car after another. I recall they had 96 cars on their sides with the trucks neatly left on the rails .
Randy
Saw a photo of it somewhere…wild and wooley to be sure!
Their called Shelf Couplers