Whazzit?...MOW item? Santa Fe style...

Cranes to lift and move the wheels.  They don't need a separate big or small hook to move wheelsets.

Rusty

Rusty's more likely to be correct than I am but I think he's referring to the overhead booms.  I think the devices "leaning" against the cab might be lifting jacks to help get the wheelsets under whatever car they're being placed on.  Just a guess.

He's not asking about the overhead crane/boom. He specifically asked about the gizmos leaning against the cab. Unfortunately I have no idea.

@dkdkrd posted:

I'm gathering information and parts/pieces to create a reasonable facsimile of this nifty home-brewed Santa Fe MOW car in O scale...

...but I'm stumped by the gizmos leaning against the cabin wall adjacent to the wheels.  This is the only photo I have of this car.  The caption made no mention of the specific features.  I can only imagine they have something to do with handling the wheel sets...moving them to/from this MOW car, or in the replacement process on the defective car.

 

Those are different types of drawbars (couplers) sans knuckles and knuckle pins, standing on end, coupler end down.

C.J.

@dkdkrd posted:

OMG!!  C.J., I think you're on to it!!

I turned the picture upside down and now I see the working end of the coupler...sans knuckle.

But, then, it looked like the upper end was some sort of wooden contraption/bracket attached to the coupler casting.

Those are different types of "yokes" (#8 in your diagram below) they house the actual draft gear.

So, I found this expanded view diagram of a complete coupler....

and part #8 bears some resemblance to the top ends of the gizmos in the photo.  Yet, they seem 'different'.  Perhaps a simpler version of older couplers???  Temporary bracketry for transporting/hoisting the castings to/from this car? 

Different yokes are required for different applications on the many different types of rolling stock, depending on whether the equipment requires a long shank or short shank coupler, has a cushioned drawbar or cushion underframe, rotary or Tightlock couplers among other things. 

Or are these some devices regarding wheel set replacement,  adapting those coupler shank castings to a different purpose? 

Not Likely.

 The photo is not itself dated, but these types of cars were collectively built in the 1950's-1960's per the book text.

Thanks for your input!  

 

KD

Here's a tip of my hat, to GP 40.

He has posted clear and accurate answers to real railroad questions on a number of occasions.

@Number 90 posted:

 

Here's a tip of my hat, to GP 40.

He has posted clear and accurate answers to real railroad questions on a number of occasions.

Tom,

I humbly thank you for your kind compliment. With officers such as you within their ranks, it is easy to see why the AT&SF was indeed the first class operation it was.

Warmest Regards,

C.J.

That is a wheel change car. They had them on the road I worked on, but they were gone by time I got there. But I had a general car foreman who had worked on the car and told stories about it. When a car failed enroute and had to be set out on a remote siding, they would send out a wheel change car with two or three carman. The train crew would have to position the wheel change car against the defective end of the car. That is why the car is double ended.  You never knew which end of the car was defective. Then the carman would go to work changing out a wheel set with a hot bearing or replacing a coupler that had been pulled out of the end of the car, or what ever the problem was. After the car was repaired they would just wait for a train to pick them up and take them back to their terminal.  The GCF told me about waiting 3 or 4 days to get picked up.  They just lived in that little house without knowing when they would get picked up and head back home. On our road we had a 70 mile long mountain canyon that was inaccessible.  In the forest with a river right next to the tracks, stuck for days, probably fishing and maybe a little hunting. Not a bad job at the right time of year.