What is the distance between coupled freight cars?

[OldEastRR]

This is just standard regular cars not HydraCushion or tanker safety types. Like say 2 box cars from the '50s. How many feet/inches?

[wcfn100]

Measured from where?

Jason

[OldEastRR]

OK, I am looking at from one end of one car across the space to the other end of the car -- meaning the floor ends, not including any part of the coupler pocket. Say two boxcars.

[jagged ben]

Was it ever standardized?

[wcfn100]

~42"

Jason

[nkalanaga]

No, it was never standardized.  Striker-to-striker, with a standard coupler, probably was, as the couplers were all interchangeable, but the strikers could extend beyond the end of the car, even on plain underframes.  Some cars simply had the draft gear mounted a little further out than others.

[Missaberoad]

~42"

Jason

So thats the ultamate question!

[peteski]

So thats the ultamate question!

Nice!  Good catch!

[OldEastRR]

Thanks ... I guess. So we'll take 42" as a rough standard.

[wcfn100]

Thanks ... I guess. So we'll take 42" as a rough standard.

For two generic  box cars from the 50's...

Any other cars would be different.  The only 'standard' is that the pulling face of the coupler will be about 15" from the striker face.  But the Striker face will vary from car to car.  I used 6" in the above example.  Fortunately, the striker face distance measurement will usually appear on even the most basic car drawings. 

Jason

[Maletrain]

The car drawings I have for the B&O (Dornette's book) show over 48", ranging from 51 1/2" to 56 3/4" between end sills, for 5 types of cars.

I think this is the dimension that Old East is looking for, because that is what is most visible in a model of 2 box cars in a train. 

But note that ladders, brake wheels, ends of roof walks, and even lips around the tops of open hoppers stick-out past the end sills by some inches.  Even the corrugations in box car ends stick out beyond the end sills in the drawings I have.  Still, the visual distance between cars is roughly the distance between their end sills in most cases.

[wcfn100]

The car drawings I have for the B&O (Dornette's book) show over 48", ranging from 51 1/2" to 56 3/4" between end sills, for 5 types of cars.

Can you give any example of those cars?

Jason

[Maletrain]

Can you give any example of those cars?

The 5 cars in the drawings are as follows: (first number is Dornette's "length in train" and second is his "length over sills", followed by difference.)

covered hopper class N-40:  [38' 0 3/4"] - [33' 9 1/4"] = 4' 3 1/2"
70-ton gondola class O-59A:  [57' 10 1/4"] - [53' 1 1/2"] = 4' 8 3/4"
open hopper classN-35A:  [37' 3 1/2"] - [33' 0 3/8"] = 4' 3 1/8"
50' box car class M-58:  [55' 2 1/4"] - [50' 8 1/4"] = 4' 6"
40' box car class m-55C:  [45' 2 1/4"] - [40' 8 1/4"] = 4' 6"

So, in n scale, these separations will range from a tad over 5/16" to a tad under 3/8".

Edit:  Interestingly, the difference between the "length between striker plates" and the "length in train" numbers for all 5 cars came out to 2' 3 1/2" for all 5 cars.  I would have expected 2' 6", based on the "standard" 15" between the striker plate and coupler face on our knuckle couplers.

[wcfn100]

covered hopper class N-40:  [38' 0 3/4"] - [33' 9 1/4"] = 4' 3 1/2"
70-ton gondola class O-59A:  [57' 10 1/4"] - [53' 1 1/2"] = 4' 8 3/4"
open hopper classN-35A:  [37' 3 1/2"] - [33' 0 3/8"] = 4' 3 1/8"
50' box car class M-58:  [55' 2 1/4"] - [50' 8 1/4"] = 4' 6"
40' box car class m-55C:  [45' 2 1/4"] - [40' 8 1/4"] = 4' 6"

Thanks for that list but I'm a little confused about the numbers.

For instance, the class N-35 hopper is a standard 33' hopper.  The ORER lists the outside length (which is supposed to be the coupling faces in 'normal position') as 35'. Had the wrong hopper.

Also, the class O-59 gondola, the ORER lists the 'outside length' as 55' 7".  Something's is not adding up.  I'd have to assume that "length in train" has something to do with coupler slack but that still seems like a big difference.

Also, out of curiousity, do any of the cars you listed have a Duryea under frame?   

Jason

[Maletrain]

Jason,

The gondola drawing showes the dimension between the strike plates as 55' 6 3/4", so that agrees with your ORER "outside length" of 55' 7" within 1/4".  My guess would be that the ORER does not include the distance from the striker plates to the coupler face in its "outside length" measurement.

All 5 of these car drawings specify Duryea underframes.  But, the photographs as well as the drawings do not look unusual for the period.

While we are at it, the same book showes consistent coupling distances of 26" between light weight passenger cars.  It needs to be noted that the drawing does not include the lengths (3' 8") of vestibules as being "between the sills."  It looks like the strike plates are flush with the visual ends of these passenger cars.

The drawings in this book do not give dimensions that allow calculation of coupling distances between the heavy weight passenger cars.