Shelf couplers

I began seeing them in the very late 70's, but I haven't been able to determine when they were required on railcars.

willie

Not Required

As far as I know, bottom shelf couplers aren't required.  Tank cars, however, are required to have top and bottom shelf couplers.

from trains magazine

http://trn.trains.com/en/Railroad%20Reference/ABCs%20of%20Railroading/2006/05/Couplers.aspx

Need a year

I've been searching the net with no luck. Does anyone know when shelf couplers were required on tank cars with hazmat material? I'm modeling June 30, 1986 and prior years. Would like to remove the shelf couplers on my tankers and go with regular kadee's but not sure when those shelf couplers were required.

Thanks

1981, IIRC

If memory serves, all DOT-spec tank cars (DOT-105, DOT111, DOT112, etc) were required to have double-shelf couplers (Kadee's #119 in HO) by the end of 1980.  I don't know when, if ever, AAR-spec tank cars were required to have them, but I think almost all do.  (AAR-spec tanks are mostly AAR-211s hauling corn syrup.  An AAR-211 is visually the same as a DOT-111 but is not allowed to carry hazmat.)

In Canada the equivalent to a DOT-spec is the CTC-spec.  I don't recall if the Canada Transport Commission required shelf couplers by 1981.

Scott Chatfield

Timeline

Dear ??

30 seconds with Google says:

https://railroads.dot.gov/sites/fra.dot.gov/files/fra_net/18097/HZ1802_AAR%20RSI%20Safety%20Project.pdf

Full timeline, inc pre-mandate analysis, design dev time, and FRA/NTSB mandate

Happy Modelling,
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyzlr

The report in that post directly above

... is fascinating.  Thank you.  The picture of the shelf coupler is causing me some confusion re how they couple ...

Are the shelf couplers completely interchangeable? 

• I'm trying to see out how the shelves end up in the right relative alignment if they're both the same. 
   
• One must be over/under the other?

Specifically, are they different on either end of the car thereby imposing a car direction on every car?

Yes

Dear Mike,

By "interchangable", I take it you mean "can 2x shelf couplers couple together?",

to which, the answer is "Yes"

No, the design is such that when a pair of them "face off" against each other, they present a matching Ying-Yang type situation

A couple of Google images might help

Notice how, compared to the "normal" coupler above, the "extra shelf bits" tend to flare out to each side,
and to not cross the centreline of the coupler.

This is a "Type F lower-shelf" pair. Look _below_ the knuckles, see how the shelves effectively slide past each other while "hooking under the knuckle" (thus providing the "vertical over-ride protection" feature)

Now, while the "dbl-shelf" coupler pair below may look like the top shelf is in a "one shelf over the top of the other" situation, note how the Bottom Shelf is nicely "side by side" at a common height

Upshot: The design is such that the "shelf" components do not protrude accross the coupler centreline,
and thus the one single design willl push together and all parts "slide past" each other,
with no compatibility issues...

...No there are not "left and righthanded" or "type 1 / type 2 matched-sets",
and thus NO, there is no need for "A end VS B end" arrangement or coupler types...

I hope this helps...

Happy Modelling,
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyzlr

Not for Operations

Using these for prototypical accuracy when photographing models is all they are good for.  My opinion. In operations they are a major pain to uncouple with the typical skewer type application.  More often than not I find having to 5 finger the "offending" car by the truck in order to separate them.  They aren't worth the hassle in operations scenarios.  I am not alone in this opinion as others I have interacted with at sessions all have simialr sentiments.   2 cents. 

Type F “Tightlock” couplers

The type F couplers are not designed to slide past each other, when coupling F to F. In this case, the draft gear and “coupler box” allow for vertical movement. Type F couplers are mounted in a way that the slide plate(lower ledge under the coupler shank at the strike plate) is sprung.

.

No. They're the same on both ends, and cars do not have "direction".

Thanks for the replies

Prof, thanks for the link! That was interesting. I used google but never had luck coming across what you had found.

Jeff Y, I agree with you in that using a shelf coupler in op sessions is a pain so regular couplers it will be!

Thanks for all the replies! 

Brian 

Tank cars in the 70s were

Tank cars in the 70s were equipped with Type SF couplers (double shelf F). I think the end of SF couplers coincides with the beginning of SE couplers (double shelf E). Tank cars from the 60s and earlier were equipped with standard E couplers.

Unlike our models, draft gear is an integral part of the car design and not easily swapped out. Since the draft gear is determined by the coupler type (E or F), converting the 60s tank cars to SE couplers was pretty simple. A standard E coupler (no shelf), a lower shelf E coupler (SBE) and a double shelf E coupler (SE) all use the same draft gear so any one of those can drop right in. For this reason when cars equipped with E couplers (especially covered hoppers) need couplers replaced an SBE is installed instead of a regular E coupler. In many cases you can find plastic pellet hoppers equipped with SE couplers though the vast majority are equipped with SBE couplers. Even more rare but not unheard of are mechanical reefers equipped with SE couplers. When I was a switchman I'd spot a couple cold storage facilities and we'd catch one of those cars every month or two.

It would require a major rebuild to swap out the F draft gear for E draft gear, but since the 70s built tank cars were already equipped with double shelf F couplers they were never changed. The few still running around today still have their SF couplers.

Being able to model the differences between couplers is part of what drew me to Sergent couplers. Here is a 1970s built tank car equipped with SF couplers like the prototype:

Here are a couple with SE couplers (the one on the left has ExactRail stirrups and it's draft gear replaced with Moloco parts; the one on the right has the factory draft gear and stirrups):

Unlike the Kadee shelf couplers, these are easy to operate using the Sergent uncoupling tool, which is pretty much just neodymium magnets in a brass tube.

March 1, 1985

Per Rule 17.B.3 of the 1985 edition of the "Field Manual of the AAR Interchange Rules":

"All tank cars carrying regulated commodities must be equipped with double shelf couplers not later than March 1, 1985."

All other tank cars were to have double-shelf couplers installed when their existing couplers reached wear limits or were otherwise condemned.

Scott Chatfield

Sergents

Dear Ryan,

...unfortunately, the drying-up of Sergents E and F-type coupler availability seems to be a particular pain-point...

Happy Modelling,
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyzlr

Great Info

Great info, I have updated my Prototype Info Rolling Stock Timeline on my web page.

Rolling Stock Timeline – Wilmington & Northern Branch (wnbranch.com)

Rolling stock timeline

Dave, that is a great timeline you have there. Since you are making updates, would you consider adding the May 31st, 2005 start date of reflectorization of locomotives (complete within 5 years) and freight cars (within 10 years after start date) to the list?

Further digging in the Field Manuals

By the 1980 edition Rule 17.A.7 stated that "cause for renewal" (replacement) was "couplers of other than double shelf design on tank cars of DOT 112 or 114 specification."  112s and 114s were large stub-sill tank cars used to haul LPG/propane, anhydrous ammonia, butane, and butadiene.

By the 1983 edition, spec DOT105 tanks were included in this rule (although it was now Rule 17.A.5).  In other words, by 1983 all common pressure tanks had to have double-shelf couplers to be interchanged.

For other tank cars you still had to get the car owner's permission to substitute shelf couplers for non-shelf couplers (Rule 17.B.3). 

Scott Chatfield

I agree Prof Fortunately, I

I agree Prof

Fortunately, I started long ago and loaded up on bulk packs. I also created a part that allows me to convert SBE couplers to SE, so I don't have to rely on Sergent to produce the SE couplers anymore. Unfortunately, all the F couplers I currently have are all that I'll ever have unless someone comes up with a way to make more. I have a few pair reserved for some locomotives I have yet to build. 

Most of the F couplers I have are on rotary coal gondolas. I was able to replace several of the operating couplers with functional dummy F couplers from HO3DIM to fill out my coal fleet. There's not much reason to couple and uncouple the individual cars in the coal trains, so dummy couplers work fine. I'll be going back to get more later on. Here's the link if anyone is interested:

https://www.ho3dim.com/ho-scale-couplers

Fascinating Thread

Thanks so much for everyone sharing.  This is a very interesting topic to me.

I'm currently adding a second tender to a Rapido Royal Hudson and staring at the stock "electronic/mechanical" plug coupler between the Tender and locomotive and wondering how they are going to last over time pulling heavy trains on grades.   I'm suspicious the prototype has drawbars for a reason!