Coupler Draft Gear for the Tender

The original plans called for a bolt to attach the coupler to the rear of the tender chassis. We have had numeruous 'hard couples' to make me aware that a rigid coupler mount is prone to failure if hit. There is also the shock of starting a long train, or one heavily loaded.

I looked at some of the designs that were used in the models at out railroad and at the prototypes found in the Locomotive Cyclopedia (1922 and 1945) and came up with the following design. I made an extra plate and welded it to the center beams while I welded the rest of the tender chassis.

Coupler Draft Gear            

This is a view of the draft gear viewed from the top (the tender frame will eventually be above this).


Here is the drawing for the Crosshead, Wristpin, and Collar.It's a pdf, a jpg file was too small to read. You'll a pdf reader to view this file.

Coupler Draft Gear.pdf

Karl Kobel

With the help of Matthew Kobel and Gordon Carlson (see his work at http://www.locogear.com/page15.html).