"Poleys"
up Hooks
NSWGR Vehicle Drawgear:
1963
Those of you who know me would be aware that
one of my hobbyhorses is the correct marshalling of trains, particularly
the correct juxapositioning of vehicles according to the drawgear with
which the full size prototype was fitted. The inability of certain
classes of vehicle to be coupled to members of certain other classes of
vehicle due to the incompatibility of the drawgear was a distinctive feature
of NSWGR practice, particularly from the war years to the late 70s.
This was due to the peculiar mix of vehicles with hooks and buffers, auto
couplers and buffers and auto couplers and no buffers that occurred during
this period of transition from the original English style of drawgear (hooks
and buffers) and the American influenced modern preference for automatic
"knuckle" couplers.
A very interesting article on the development
of the Automatic coupler in NSW can be found in the April 1998
Australian
Model Railway Magazine ("NSWGR Automatic
Couplers" by Alan Templeman)
The main problem was that vehicles with auto
couplers and no buffers, (known in Railway parlance as "poleys", a reference
to "poled" cattle, i.e. beasts that have had their horns removed) could
not be coupled directly to vehicles with hooks and buffers. Because
of this problem the NSWGR developed the "transition"
link (which is more fully described in Alan Templeman' article in the April
1988 AMRM) which enabled hook and buffer and auto coupled vehicles to be
conveyed in the same train, but only if the auto coupled vehicle also had
buffers. This meant that a train which included hook and buffer drawgeared
wagons and bufferless auto coupled vehicles also had to include a buffer
equipped auto coupled vehicle to separate the incompatible drawgear.
This can be seen in the many photos published of trains of RUs, BWHs and
other wheat wagons that also include an S truck or some other buffer equipped
auto coupled vehicle between the wheat wagons and the steam loco.
This was, of course, to enable the non buffer equipped auto coupled wheat
wagons to be coupled to the hook and buffered steam locomotive tender.
It causes steam to rise under my collar
to see model RUs directly coupled to steam locos that in real life were
equipped only with hooks and buffers! This is, of course, the classic
"poley up a hook" that was forbidden in real life. (It did happen
occasionally, due to mistakes or inexperience on the part of the shunting
staff, and usually resulted in, at best, damage to the rolling stock, and
at worse, a major derailment.)
Here is a list of wagon types that were in
service on the NSW system in March 1963, from the "Carrying Capacity of
Goods Wagons" of that date, with the type of drawgear employed. Only
NSW wagons are mentioned as all interstate vehicles on the system had autos
only.
 |
Automatic Coupler |
 |
Hook Drawgear |
 |
Turton Buffers |
 |
Modern Freight Buffers |
 |
No Buffers |
| Wagon Type/No in service |
Buffers |
Drawgear |
Comments |
| OPEN WAGONS |
|
|
|
| BD
102 |
|
|
|
| G
404 |
|
|
|
| GC
80 |
|
|
|
| GM
5 |
|
|
|
| K
2508 |
|
|
buffers removed by 1945 |
| KC
133 |
|
|
buffers removed by 1945 |
| S
8916 |
|
|
buffers gradually removed by mid 70s, last
batch may have been delivered without buffers |
| U
313 |
|
|
buffers removed by 1945 |
| UT
? |
|
|
buffers removed by 1945 |
| HOPPER WAGONS |
|
|
|
| BCH
880 |
|
|
|
| BLH
65 |
|
|
|
| BRH
182 |
|
|
|
| BWH
390 |
|
|
|
| CH
29 |
|
|
original pre-war 4 wheeler, not later aluminium
bogie hopper |
| CCH
894 |
|
|
|
| CU
60 |
|
|
buffers removed by 1945 |
| FCH
7 |
|
|
original pre-war 4 wheeler, not recoded BCH |
| HCH
150 |
|
|
|
| HRH
33 |
|
|
|
| LCH (both
types) |
|
|
post-war built versions |
| LCH
868 |
|
|
pre-war built versions |
| MH
23 |
|
|
|
| RH
77 |
|
|
|
| RU
625 |
|
|
|
| COVERED VANS |
|
|
|
| PV
58 |
|
|
|
| BPV
23 |
|
|
|
| CV
96 |
|
|
12 ton capacity, std 10ft steel underframe |
| CV
9 |
|
|
10 ton capacity, timber underframe (converted MVs) |
| HLV
75 |
|
|
|
| LV
(both types) |
|
|
10ft wb std u/f, 18ft body |
| LV
356 |
|
|
11ft 6ins wb, 20ft body, some still fitted
with |
| LLV
378 |
|
|
|
| MBC
192 |
|
|
|
| MLV
406 |
|
|
converted from ,
post war, includes (MLK) |
| MLV
114 |
|
|
36ft fishbelly u/f |
| MLV
25 |
|
|
Aluminium body, converted from ,
early fifties |
| MRC
55 |
|
|
converted from ,
post war |
| SRC
23 |
|
|
some may have been |
| TLV
45 |
|
|
|
| TRC
259 |
|
|
|
| FLAT WAGONS |
|
|
|
| BE
32 |
|
|
buffers progressively removed |
| CT
22 |
|
|
4 wheel sugar cane truck |
| BCT
11 |
|
|
bogie sugar cane truck |
| BET
1 |
|
|
|
| BKC
15 |
|
|
|
| BKE
8 |
|
|
|
| BKF
15 |
|
|
|
| BKR
20 |
|
|
|
| BME
50 |
|
|
|
| BMF
1 |
|
|
|
| E
46 |
|
|
buffers progressively removed |
| FME
20 |
|
|
|
| HME
50 |
|
|
buffers progressively removed |
| KF
132 |
|
|
buffers removed from most post-war |
| LE
25 |
|
|
buffers progressively removed |
| LFW
4 |
|
|
|
| LLW
3 |
|
|
|
| MF
9 |
? |
? |
Milk tank wagons, probably |
| MLE
209 |
|
|
buffers progressively removed |
| MX
6 |
? |
? |
probably |
| SE
3 |
|
|
|
| SL
2 |
|
|
|
| TE
6 |
|
|
|
| TW
3 |
|
|
|
| UME
181 |
|
|
buffers progressively removed |
| WW
3 |
|
|
|
| STOCK WAGONS |
|
|
|
| CW (1921) 713 |
|
|
Diagonal framing, wooden underframe |
| CW (1948) 243 |
|
|
Vertical framing, standard post war steel underframe |
| BCW (1927) 27 |
|
|
|
| BCW (1959) 100 |
|
|
|
| BSV (1959) 269 |
|
|
|
| GSV (1929) 492 |
|
|
Wooden underframe |
| GSV (1948) 216 |
|
|
Standard post war steel underframe |
| GOODS BRAKEVANS |
|
|
|
| CHG
90 |
|
|
|
| LHG
140 |
|
|
|
| MHG
199 |
|
|
|
| OHG
6 |
|
|
LHG vans still fitted with hooks and buffers, ostensibly for stock train working |
| PHG
235 |
|
|
|
| SHG
73 |
|
|
|
PASSENGER CARS
Most passenger cars, except for the N cars
and the A/C cars were still fitted with hooks and buffers till the 60s,
and even the Ns and A/C cars were fitted with hooks and buffers on the
outer end of the sets. Some EHOs and MHOs were fitted with autos
in the fifties.
STEAM LOCOS
As a general rule all steam locos were fitted
with hooks and buffers on the front buffer beam, late in the steam era
some standard goods had autos fitted to the front buffer beam.
59 and 60 class locos were delivered with "unit"
drawgear at both ends.
STEAM LOCO TENDERS
All steam loco tenders were fitted with hooks
and buffers with the following exceptions;
At least one 3650 gal standard tender was
fitted with an automatic coupler.
Likewise at least one 32 class tender was
also fitted with an auto coupler.
"Turret" tenders- delivered with "unit" drawgear.
"Wampu" tenders- Most, if not all, converted
to "unit" drawgear, post-war.
Some 36 and 38 class tenders had automatic
couplers fitted during the sixties.
Any blanks are because I don't know, any further
information greatly appreciated to make this list as complete as possible.
|