Hi all.
I recently found what I’m pretty sure are 2 old coupling pins. I’ve not cleaned them up yet although I do have one currently in electrolysis. Were the pins ever marked with the railroad they were used for? Are they collectible? I assume they’re fairly common around the old rail lines.
I don’t have any pics right now but will post some when I get a change. They are slightly different styles.
Thanks,
Bill
Somehow, I would think that since link-and-pin couplers have not been in service since prior to 1900, it would be difficult to impossible to determine if that’s what you have.
If you can post some photos that’ll be a help. I’ve seen some in a local railroad museum (found in this area as well) so I can make a good guess. And no, they were never marked by the owning railroads, any more than rail spikes would have been. And link-and-pin coupling did hang on into the 20th Century, not on mainline rairoads but on much smaller industrial 'roads that didn’t interchange with the “big boys.”
And [#welcome] aboard!
PS: Put a ruler alongside them in the photo so we can get an idea of size.
Thanks for the welcome and the quick response.
I’m on quite a few forums and consider myself somewhat tech savvy, but I can’t figure out how to do images on this site. I usually use imgur bbcode.
Can someone point me to the instructions on how to post pics on this site?
Thanks.
[img]https://i.imgur.com/WmVEZHu.jpg[/im
To post pictures on this site - they have to be linked from a third party picture posting site.
Bob Keller from the “Classic Toy Trains” side of the house tells you how to do it.
http://cs.trains.com/ctt/f/95/t/270990.aspx
Well I can’t get the bloody link to light up, so go to “Classic Toy Trains,” you can find it through Trains.com Sites, then go to the “Forum.” It’ll be the first entry on top.
Imgur is good. Copy then go to the Forum and using the bar as seen along the top select Insert, then paste and a code will come up then select ok at the bottom of the box that has appeared and bingo.
nevermind
Well, I couldn’t figure how how to get the pics to show in the thread, but here are the links.
The latest one I found is 14 inches long with a shaft diameter of 1.5 inches.
Here is the head on that one.
This is the first one I found. It’s in the electrolysis tank so I can’t get a good measurement, but it’s a little shorter and has a different “head” on it. Also found the wrench and other stuff the same day.
com/NJ2KkwN.jpg[/im
No no no
If you have copied Imgur BBcode, the only thing you do is ‘paste’ or ctrl/cmd-V it into the text … do NOT use any Forum option or tool.
Just paste the BBCode into the text box. Don’t use the insert from the menu.
Edit: Overmod beat me to it. I’m old and slow.
If I do that on my iPad I just get the square empty little box. I touch insert along the top ( between edit and view) and the code shows up and push ok. Then the pic appears.
Beforehand, if there is a pic I want to post I ‘save image’ and it goes to my photo file and immediately also goes to my Imgur photo file. Then I can download from there and copy to Kalmbach. Be careful to select ‘hidden’ on the memify or else it goes public and the Imgurgians will fry you alive if it’s not up to what they put up, which of course it won’t be.
Made that public decision once just to see. Took me weeks to shake an ‘Iluminatae’ labelling plus ridicule and get off my lawn stuff.
If a mod could delete the duplicate pics that’d be great.
Thanks.
Also, in my research, I did find where a pin had the name of the RR on the top part. It was a B&O. But it was a different head on it than mind.
I am having a problem believing that the item shown singly is a pin used for link-and-pin coupling. A pin has to be grabbed and lifted for uncoupling. That pin has no easy place to grab it.
I did an image search, and all the pins I found had a way to lift them, either a “handle” or some chain.
On the other hand, the dimensions look to be within the range of coupler pins. Maybe it was of the “better than nothing” variety.
Ed
If they are, you probably shouldn’t have done the cleaning on the one. I know cleaning an old coin like that can greatly reduce it’s value to a collector.
Right, looking at your pictures (nice finds!) I don’t think those are from a link-and-pin coupling systems.
This is a museum preserved link-and-pin coupling set-up.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_coupling#/media/File:Link_and_Pin.jpg
I don’t think a cleaning would do any great harm to any collector value, assuming they have much to begin with. I’d just paint them with a good-quality rust arrestor and give them a coat of Rustoleum so they don’t get any worse.
Looks like a really old knuckle swivel pin, for a Janney coupler. Here’s a new one:
Thanks for the responses. I agree the one doesn’t have a way to easily grip and pull it out and it certainly looks like the photo of the janney pin.
The other one does have a way to pull it out as the head is down a couple inches from the top.
As for cleaning it, I think that is better than leaving it to rust away. I’ll post a better pic of the other one later. I’m planning on taking it out of the electrolysis tank in a bit.
Here is a better pic of the first one I found. It does have a shoulder to keep it from sitting flush so it could be easily grabbed. It’s about 12 1/4" long by 1 3/8" in diameter.
The other pic of the B&O is not mine. Just one I found on the web. I’d love to find one that had the RR ID on it.
Oh, you say it is a new one – I thought our friend had gotten the old one cleaned up with the electrolysis?