The Home Machinist!

Does anybody make a model of an angle cock in the closed position? It looks kind of odd to have it open on the front of your engine or the rear of the caboose.

Jeff

You could cut of the handle with a jewelers saw and silver solder the handle turned 90º
Actually angle cocks are not usually used on the front of a locomotive.

Howard Gorin wrote:You could cut of the handle with a jewelers saw and silver solder the handle turned 90º
Actually angle cocks are not usually used on the front of a locomotive.

So how does one keep the engine from losing it's air? Angle cocks are needed if there is a front coupler ...

Every engine I ever saw had angle cocks in front. ( well maybe ones befor air brakes )

John B.

There is a valve used but it is not the angle cock used on freight cars.
There may be some exceptions, but I do not remember seeing any.

Howard is quite right, the use of an Angle Cock on the front of a locomotive is an exception, not the rule.

Typicaly locomotives would have a Cut Off (Straight) Cock on the Pilot Deck / Pilot Beam, not an Angle Cock.

I've seen the pipe come straight off of the Pilot Beams, or with 45 or 90 deg elbows to angle the hoses.

You'll also find that most all locomotives have the front end Air Brake hoses on the oppotise side of the coupler as you would see on a car. So the pilot hoses are shorter than standard lengths and don't cross under the couplers when connected.

Generally when I've noted the use of an Angle Cock on a locomotive it was a shop repair near the end of steam or on a shortline / industrial / logging road.


Cheers,

Curtis F.

To someone who has been an engineer for the last 27 years it doesn't matter what size, type, shape or angle they are. In railroad vernacular they are ALL angle cocks.

Jeff

Here is a SP GS-4 Pilot deck, air and signal line. I don't have photos, but I did as Howard said and cut the handle and silver soldered a stem to the handle and re-assembled. It is functional but not operational. This valve will be mounted on the tender and straight valves will be fabricated for the loco. Jeff, to answer your original question, I am not aware of anyone currently marketing a valve representing a closed position. Howard and Superscale both have nice angle cocks on the market representing an open postion.

When I asked this question I was told to just cut the handle off an open angle cock and solder it back on sideways. So I tried that with a Precision Scale Car angle cock and all I got was a worn-out saw blade.

On angle cocks on locomotives they are in the closed position when in line. Look at the photo above and you can see a line in the valve stem crossing the top. It's. 90degs from inline. That's the closed position. Now the trainline can be standard.

If you are having a hard time cutting bronze try a dremel cutoff wheel. It will cut hard steel.

David.

You can see 'em here too as Dave said, inline. On the deck of the 81, hiding behind the lift bar,
and out where you can get it on the 78.

Paul

An exception to the rule.