Yesterday when I was taking pics of this B30-7 I noticed something that I never had before.
If you see in this pic there are 2 spare knuckles on the back of this loco and also on the SD20-2 next to it.
Actually I didn’t even notice it until I was cleaning up the pics.
How common is this? I haven’t seen this on any model Loco’s I have.
It’s pretty common to have spare knuckles hanging on an engine. You also used to see them hanging under the side sills of cabooses sometimes-back when they had cabooses to hang things under.
As I remember, this “hardware” with mountings showed up around the same time as the FRED…with the whole crew on the head end, the missing Cabin storage was transferred to the limited space available on the loco. Spare knuckles used to be “stored” in the long hood, wherever space was available (EMDs had floor space behind the compressor, under the radiators - sometimes equipped with brackets to carry spares). Changes in component arrangement and safety concerns (weight, height of storage, lifting/moving injuries, etc.) made the move of these 70-or-so-pound blocks of steel to brackets near ground height sensible. If you don’t see 70+ pounds as heavy, try carrying one any distance on sloped loose ballast, then precisely locating it in the draw-head while adjusting the associated mechanism pieces as necessary. Experience is often the best teacher, but seldom the easiest! Bob C.
One nice thing about having knuckles on the head end was that sometimes the knuckle could be dropped off the engine and the front part of the train pulled up to the knuckle to avoid carrying it back.
Often a flag stick could be stuck through the hole in the knuckle to make it easier for two men to carry it.
Many years ago a B&O freight got two knuckles at the same time about 30 cars apart. Fortunately the head end stopped right next to a track gang and their pick-up truck. There was a road along the tracks and the new knuckles were run back to the breaks with the truck. The train got moving with very little delay. Even in those pre-radio days news of the engineer’s misfortune spread across the division at the speed of light…
On the PRR we carried the spare knuckle face in the cabin or or in the short hood.The same appiled on the Chessie(C&O).
All to sadly one of us would tote the knuckle face to where it was needed…