British narrow gauge link-and-pin couplings - two different types?

[eldomtom2]

There appear to be appear to be two different types of couplings described as "link-and-pin" in use on British narrow gauge railways. The first, seen here on the Leighton Buzzard's 10-12-D, appears to be similar to the infamous American type, with a tube fitting in holes in the couplings and then held in with separate pins.

The second, seen here on one of the Ffestiniog's ex-WD wagons, appears to essentially reverse the principles of the first coupling - here vertically mounted external pins are fixed to a single centre buffer and then coupled using a separate metal loop.

 

Am I correct in my assumptions here? Are two different types of couplings referred to by the same name, or have I missed something?

Edited September 1, 2020 by eldomtom2

[Jeremy Cumberland]

There is no general standard for narrow gauge couplings, although individual railways and manufacturers often had their own standard. The bottom picture shows Hudson's link and pin arrangement, and very good it is as well, without any need to do anything while vehicles are moving, or needing to crouch down to make a coupling. Simply buffer the vehicles together, remove a pin, slide the link over the hole and replace the pin.

 

In your first picture, the pin needs to be removed before the vehicles are brought together, and alignment might be more difficult - or very difficult indeed depending on how well the buffers line up, needing to be adjusted while the vehicles are in motion. Also there is no easy way of moving the link laterally, so links tend to be over-long.

 

I really don't see how one is the opposite of the other. Both have central buffers, both use vertical pins* and both use single links. Many industrial diesel locomotives had tall central buffers with long pins and two or three slots for links, and could couple to either.

 

In some places, bars with a hole/slot at each end are used instead of links.

 

*Edit: I assume the locomotive in the top picture uses a vertical pin, like this:

 

Edited September 1, 2020 by Jeremy C

[Nearholmer]

I can’t remember whether it applies to the one in the top picture, but some of the more sophisticated versions have a pin arranged so that it can be turned to increase the distance between pin centres, taking up slack and bringing the coupler-heads into tight contact (that might only apply with ‘Norwegian hook’ rather than plain link and pin).

 

There is also a further variant, almost exactly like the typical coupler used on 16mm/ft models, where the pin pokes out above the top of a full-faced centre buffer, and is formed as a hook. Bord an Mona in Ireland are the biggest user of those that I’ve come across. This is ripped from a photo by Brian Solomon, and shows the coupler, plus the special link that allows wagons to be rotated in a tippler while still coupled in a rake. This particular one looks as if it might have a shackle fitted through a hole in the top of the hook, but you can see that the other end of the coupling is an ordinary link.

 

Edited September 1, 2020 by Nearholmer

[eldomtom2]

1 hour ago, Jeremy C said:

I really don't see how one is the opposite of the other. Both have central buffers, both use vertical pins* and both use single links.

My confusion was in thinking that the pins on the other were fixed to the buffer.

[Hobby]

The top one in Jeremy's post is very common in Eastern Europe.