Hicks Car Works: Van Dorn Link

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

A friend asked for a picture of a Van Dorn coupler link:

It's 2" thick and about 22" long. Here it is mounted in the coupler:

Anonymous said...: Thanks for taking the time to post the info. My reason for asking is that the Lake Shore Electric started out with this style coupler on their Niles cars but could not get them to work in two or three car trains because of the roller coaster nature of the line. They eventually ended up with hi-knuckle MCB couplers and these worked fine in three car trains including DUR cars when they were interchanging.; March 14, 2008 at 9:14 AM
Randall Hicks said...: I don't know why the track profile should have been a problem; Van Dorns were designed for use by electric lines with rolling profiles. Compatibility was certainly a consideration, however. The CA&E originally chose Van Dorns for compatibility with the Metropolitan elevated.; March 14, 2008 at 11:36 PM

Hicks Car Works