HST emergency couplers

[alexl92]

Please could someone explain to me how HST emergency coupling rods work and what they're made of, how they connect etc?

I've just seen a (probably old) video of 59103 propelling a FGW HST out of Bath Spa Station whilst hauling 15 stone wagons. I know the 59s are really powerful and have excellent traction control but what I don't get is how the emergency coupling rod can be so strong and robust as to take all that strain being sent through it - the force applied by the 59 on the HST, and the weight of the HST pushing back on it (in effect).

Close pics or diagrams would be amazing too, especially of how they attach to each engine. I just don't get it!

Cheers all.

 

[Bayum]

http://youtu.be/silAEkvqJ-Y
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
http://youtu.be/silAEkvqJ-Y

 

[BestWestern]

It's just a very strong metal bar, essentially. Consider the amount of strain being placed on the coupling between that Class 59 and the first wagon behind it; taking the full load of a train probably weighing a couple of thousand tons. It's amazing how much force can be safely transferred through a relatively small chunk of metal!

The bars (each power car carries two; a long bar is required for coupling to another Class 43 due to the sloping noses, with the 'short' bar used for coupling to anything else) have an eye at one end which fits over a standard locomotive coupling hook, and a similar arrangement at the other which fits over a bracket inside the nose door on the HST. Retaining pins slot in and are secured in place to hold the bar in position and stop it bouncing free, and away you go. Pretty simple kit really.

 

[alexl92]

Thanks all. That video's fascinating; the bar's a lot thicker than it looks from a distance. And I didn't realise that the coupling cover was manually operated. Fascinating!

 

[Phil.]

I'd like to see some of the female guards manage a coupling bar. I'm not a wimp at 6'3" and fourteen stone but it takes (took) some humping!

 

[455driver]

I'd like to see some of the female guards manage a coupling bar. I'm not a wimp at 6'3" and fourteen stone but it takes (took) some humping!

I would like to see them swing a buckeye into position and pin it into position!
There is a definite technique involved, unfortunately I don't have it so just use brute force!

 

[SpacePhoenix]

I would like to see them swing a buckeye into position and pin it into position!
There is a definite technique involved, unfortunately I don't have it so just use brute force!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=silAEkvqJ-Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=276_GW4c2T4

Can any loco class rescue an HST or is it restricted to certain classes?

 

[whoosh]

The HST to Loco bar is heavier than the HST to HST bar.

The HST to loco bar has a hinge which secured out of use by a pin. Take the pin out and the hinge is operable for use with Class 08s which, because they are such a short loco, have more of a swing on the coupling.

 

[matchmaker]

I would like to see them swing a buckeye into position and pin it into position!
There is a definite technique involved, unfortunately I don't have it so just use brute force!

Discarded lengths of point rodding were always useful!

 

[33056]

Discarded lengths of point rodding were always useful!

ISTR a specific tool for lifting buckeyes about 20-odd years ago, basically a metal bar just over a foot long with a bend at one end. Also seem to recollect that, as usual with such portable things, there was often not one around when needed so most people just did it the hard way.

 

[bolli]

ISTR a specific tool for lifting buckeyes about 20-odd years ago, basically a metal bar just over a foot long with a bend at one end. Also seem to recollect that, as usual with such portable things, there was often not one around when needed so most people just did it the hard way.

We use them still (on a preserved railway).
Photo pinched from the GWSR blog:

 

[33056]

Thanks for the photo, they are a little bit longer than I first thought (been well over 20 years since I had anything to with shunters and shunting)

 

[rebmcr]

I'd like to see some of the female guards manage a coupling bar. I'm not a wimp at 6'3" and fourteen stone but it takes (took) some humping!

Looks like it weighs as much as a 5-year-old child, and plenty of women manage just fine with those.

 

[Phil.]

Looks like it weighs as much as a 5-year-old child, and plenty of women manage just fine with those.

Ah yes but when lifting and placing a five year old the child doesn't have to be lifted and placed somewhere with a degree of accuracy and when doing that you're not standing on ballast, possibly in the dark.

 

[Smudger105e]

ISTR a specific tool for lifting buckeyes about 20-odd years ago, basically a metal bar just over a foot long with a bend at one end.

On the Southern we used to use a paddle inserted in the gap in the buckeye jaw...

 

[theageofthetra]

Remember seeing a volunteer, deep into his 80's, lifting a buck-eye on a preserved line in NZ. Conversely a young lady volunteer did the same on another line-tough bunch those Kiwis!

 

[cjmillsnun]

I'd like to see some of the female guards manage a coupling bar. I'm not a wimp at 6'3" and fourteen stone but it takes (took) some humping!

Slightly sexist comment there!

 

[najaB]

Slightly sexist comment there!

Borderline maybe. But the 'average' woman can't lift as much as the 'average' man - and that's biology, not sexism.

 

[ralphchadkirk]

I'd like to see some of the female guards manage a coupling bar. I'm not a wimp at 6'3" and fourteen stone but it takes (took) some humping!

It sounds like your lifting technique may be incorrect then.

 

[rebmcr]

Borderline maybe. But the 'average' woman can't lift as much as the 'average' man - and that's biology, not sexism.

Actually, for the average example, gender is irrelevant. It's the top end (e.g. Olympics) where it starts to make a difference. Source: My housemate is a computational genetics PhD.

 

[najaB]

Actually, for the average example, gender is irrelevant. It's the top end (e.g. Olympics) where it starts to make a difference. Source: My housemate is a computational genetics PhD.

That's surprising (and counter-intuitive) given that the 'average' woman is smaller than her male counterpart = less muscle mass and shorter lever moment. You learn something new every day.

 

[Phil.]

It sounds like your lifting technique may be incorrect then.

Nothing wrong with my lifting technique Young man. I spent two years as a shunter lifting and dropping buckeyes on a daily working basis.