Reading your photo story about the fractured coupler, I was reminded of this:

Wife and I were listening to the scanner the other day, following a train coming down (and I do mean down) the CSX Thomas Sub with a bunch of empty hoppers from the big power plant at Mt Storm. They came all the way down the sub, through Hampshire Yard where they then pick up the Piedmont Interchange, which will allow them to crossover to the main and move to the West Keyser Yard.
When they got on the interchange, we heard them call the dispatcher.."Our train just went into emergency"
The dispatcher then inquired of them "What do you think's wrong?" The reply, "Donno, the conductor is walking the train now.
Dispatcher says, lemmie know as soon as you find out what's wrong.

After a wait, we hear from the engineer " We found the problem..an open coupler on a hopper 42 cars back"

How does that happen? They recoupled and went on their merry way..after giving the dispatcher the number of the car that had the open coupler!

My question is, could the coupler have been defective? Or could the weight of the following cars kept the train together until there was pulling force on the
coupler?

Ed

So couplers popping open on models is prototypical! I can see the big boys adding this as a feature to their catalogs. LOL! "Couplers may unexpectedly open...just like the real railroads."

Couplers opening up on their own is relatively rare but does happen. The cause can be several things, the most common being that it was never fully coupled to begin with. Poor train handling (slack action) can also cause them to uncouple. Another cause is bent uncouple levers. If the uncouple lever gets bent so it is horizontal instead of hanging vertical then the vibrations of the train can cause the weight of that handle to lift the uncoupling pin.

That last reason caused quite a bit of trouble for me a few decades ago. I was running a freight train and came over a small hump at 60 mph. We went into emergency. When we stopped, the caboose crew walked the train and found airhoses uncoupled about 2/3rds of the way back in the train. They recoupled the hoses and we resumed our trip. 70 miles later I went over another similar hump and again we went into emergency. This time the terrain we rolled onto was different however and just as the locos were stopping we got hammered as the rear end of the train rammed the head portion. Turns out that there was one of those bent uncoupler levers and BOTH times the train had come uncoupled. The first time the rear end rolled into the headend and made a perfect gentle recoupling so the crew found only uncoupled airhoses. The second time the rear end rammed us so hard that it badly shifted many loads, blowing the ends or roofs out of several box cars and bending the bulkheads of bulkhead flatcars down and against the cars in front of them. 14 cars were damaged so badly that we had to set them out. Miraculously nothing derailed.

Wyhog

In the snows of the Sierra you must keep your train stretched when you stop. If you don't slack will allow the cut lever to lift in a snow bank on a curve. It never seems to happen close to the engines, but almost at the rear of the train. You haven't had fun till you tromped through 3' or better snow to find a coupler open and the cut lever wedged against an ice bank not allowing the pin to drop. If you were smart you brought an air hose wrench which you can use to chip away the ice enough to release the cut lever allowing the pin to fall. While it is rare, it can happen as Wyhog says or with help from mother nature. I've had coupler bypass and the train come apart too. Walk back, open a knuckle and put the train back together. Hope the difference is too great so that you can make it to the end of the run.

Greg

Wyhog said:

quote:

The second time the rear end rammed us so hard that it badly shifted many loads, blowing the ends or roofs out of several box cars and bending the bulkheads of bulkhead flatcars down and against the cars in front of them. 14 cars were damaged so badly that we had to set them out. Miraculously nothing derailed.

Oh My, those poor fellas in the caboose!

Ed

if the train was going down A HILL OR A LARGE GRADE the pin could have nessled lose itself it dose happen if this happend before technology you could lose half your load and wonder why you a handfull of cars short at your destination .................. kidding

quote:

Originally posted by NYSubway18:
So couplers popping open on models is prototypical! I can see the big boys adding this as a feature to their catalogs. LOL! "Couplers may unexpectedly open...just like the real railroads."

My Lionel PWC GG1 already has that feature. I'm not particularly fond of it.