Went to Railfest in North Platte this past weekend.  UP had all of their heritage locomotives on display at their diesel repair shop.  Most of these locos are SD70's.  The Katy was my favorite.  I noticed that mounted at the back of each loco were two spare coupler knuckles.  They don't look like an afterthought.  The brackets are designed into the units.

Can someone tell me if these knuckles fail that often?  Also, what happens when they do?

Thanks!

John C

My grandson has the Bachmann/Spectrum 82153 Special Class J 4-8-4 Norfolk and Western #611 in N gage that has been very troublesome. On his earlier layout, a simple double oval of Bachmann track from a Bachmann train set, the loco ran fine until after perhaps a couple of hours of use when it suffered a mechanical problem that stopped it dead. The drivers somehow got out of sync in their connections to the other drivers. It went back to Bachmann for repair and was replaced with a new one, as best I can tell.

I am having a hard time finding a decent Porter Hustler or an equivalent critter in n scale do they exist?  How hard would it be to build one?  I think finding a motor that small would be the hardest part.  Any help and or ideas are appreciated.

How would modern clean air acts effect steam locomotives in revenue service, if anyone was running them?  I am not familiar with the requirements, and my North Central, once it gets started, may be running in modern times.