Monday, August 16, 2010

A Miller Platform

According to the original car card 102 had the patented Miller Platform.  Patented in 1866 it was one of the first platform and couplers to become widely accepted as a replacement to the pin and link (the first coupling system).  It had opposing springs that kept slack between cars to a minimum to reduce telescoping on starts and stops. It also put the forces of the draft gear in plane with the sills mostly eliminating cars riding up and into the car forward in derailments, radically reducing loss of life.  The miller hook did have several flaws and the standard soon became the Janney coupler.  At some point in its life 102 had the Miller hook changed to a Janney coupler.  This was accomplished by keeping the Miller buffer plate and chopping wood away to accommodate the larger Janney coupler.  They also had to cut into the truck for additional room. 
Presently, the A-end platform is missing the sill and hardware and the framing is very dry rotted with both draft timbers broken. The B-end has suffered from some damage that was repaired with metal - then vandals set it on fire.  So the debate became to rebuild as delivered, recreate the current modification or move to a Janney platform to go with the current couplers.  Historically it seems wrong to build a platform that never was, to use the Janney coupler.  I don't think that I could rebuild a Miller platform and then purposefully destroy it to make a bastardized platform coupler arrangement.  After research and discussion we came to the conclusion that it would be best to rebuild the original, use what Miller hardware was intact and if possible recast missing metal parts.

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