Eastern Railroad Discussion > SEPTA Regional Rail Couplers

I had an opportunity last week to ride the commuter line between Warminster and the PHL airport and found it most enjoyable since this was my first train ride in over 50 yrs. One thing struck me as I visually examined the cars at rest at the Warminster station and that was the fact that the couplers are not of the knuckle type. Can someone please tell me why these cars have different couplers than the standard AAR couplers found on other passenger and freight cars? They appear to be very similar to the couplers on subway cars.

Jim--Hatboro

The couplers automatically make mu and brakepipe connections when cars are coupled, and disconnect the mu and brakepipe connections when uncoupled, thereby relieving a number of brakemen of their jobs. These are standard couplers for electric multiple unit commuter trains.

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Here's a shot of a NJ Transit MU with the transition coupler hanging off the the right.

rfprr

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FWIW, these are called Tomlinson couplers, and have been used since interurban days. LIRR had a pair of SW1001s with these at the A end to rescue MU trains if the power was out.

DL701 Wrote:
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> FWIW, these are called Tomlinson couplers, and
> have been used since interurban days. LIRR had a
> pair of SW1001s with these at the A end to rescue
> MU trains if the power was out.

No, actually they are referred to in the NORAC Rulebook as "Spear" couplers. And they were not used back in interurban days. The earliest equipment I have seen with these type couplers were the original Budd Silverliner MUs of the early 60s.

Tomlinson couplers are similar in that they automatically make the air and MU connections, but true Tomlinson couplers use a flat hook (think N scale model train coupler) recessed into a slot in the casting and they interlock like a pair of knuckles on a conventional coupler.

Currently, Metra Electric and NICTD/South Shore MU cars use Tomlinsons, as did the original IC suburban MUs. The late, great Chicago, Aurora & Elgin also used Tomlinsons on their steel interurban cars (but not the wood cars). Indiana Railroad (the interurban) and Key System were also significant users back in the day.

Did a web search to find a close-up photo of a Tomlinson coupler and found a good one here:

http://www.keyrailpix.org/gallery2/v/WRM/tomlinson.jpg.html

I am taking the liberty of attching the image in case the link doesn't work. Apologies if that causes anyone any heartburn.

NZ

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The "bullcock" WABCO couplers that you saw are on all 1,800 or so LIRR and MNRR EMU cars, as well as on the 950 M-1's from 1968, most of which have been scrapped. The ones on the new M-7's are actually not compatible. They are thicker and require an adapter. They also can't MU with older classes of cars.

The UA Turbotrain also had one behind its clamshell.
PATCO in Philly used to have them, but they replaced them with something else.

PATCO looking west from Collingswood platform

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