Author Topic: Miller Hook Couplers  (Read 6183 times)

Marcel Levesque

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Miller Hook Couplers
« on: January 30, 2017, 03:30:19 PM »
Does anyone know if there is a car equipped a complete Miller Hook coupler setup still out there somewhere?  I have seen diagrams but never one for real.  It would be nice to see one in the flesh or a really good photo.

Marcel

Bernie Perch

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Re: Miller Hook Couplers
« Reply #1 on: January 30, 2017, 03:40:53 PM »
Marcel,

I believe the Rhinelander Logging Museum has a business car with Miller Hooks.  I saw a picture of it and if I recall where I saw it, I will write it up here.  You can reach their website through a general search mode.  I don't know their hours, but it said it was closed today.

Bernie

Philip Marshall

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Re: Miller Hook Couplers
« Reply #2 on: January 30, 2017, 03:56:52 PM »
The Nevada State Railroad Museum has at least one car from the V&T with the complete Miller Hook coupler setup, but I don't know how much of it is original and how much is replica. There are photos in Donald Ball's book on the Billerica & Bedford.

Mike the Choochoo Nix

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Re: Miller Hook Couplers
« Reply #3 on: January 30, 2017, 04:59:51 PM »
Yes there is one in Rhinelander Wisconsin. It still has the Miller hooks, but the spring platforms have been converted to solid ones. The hooks are slotted for link & pins so railroad never saw a need to change them as it was a link & pin road. When the road shut down the car was left on a siding and used as a cabin. It was never stripped when they scraped the line, it even has it's trucks. It's 3 foot gauge. A nice museum if you get a chance to go there. If you do check out the brand new clock case oil headlight they found in an old ware house in Rhinelander in the last few years. Luckily it was donated to the museum and not sold to a collector.
Mike Nix
Mike Nix

Dave Crow

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Re: Miller Hook Couplers
« Reply #4 on: January 31, 2017, 12:39:56 PM »
Marcel,

I don't know if you read the Railway Preservation (RyPN) Interchange Forum, or the Narrow Gauge Discussion Forum, but folks from one of the museums out west had discussions about their restoration and even had CADD drawings for the Miller Hook couplers (and platforms) they replicated.  Randy Hees is now out at Nevada RR Museum, and if it wasn't Nevada, then possibly Western Railway Museum...

I did a quick check on RyPN and found that Mid-Continent restored Milwaukee, Lake Shore & Western Railway #63 and included the Miller Hook couplers on the car.

Dave Crow

Ted Miles

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Re: Miller Hook Couplers
« Reply #5 on: March 23, 2017, 08:37:27 PM »
Dear Dave,
                To further your understanding; Randy Hees is executive director of the Nevada State Railroad Museum- Boulder City; which is down near Las Vegas.

The V&T collection is up at the State Museum branch in Carson City, NV and that is the branch that has the passenger car with the replica Miller hook platforms. They are thinking about restoring a second car with those antique couplers.

The Western Railway Museum is where I work and it is an electric museum; none of our cars had Miller platforms. Although some of them have link and pin couplers.

The Society for the Preservation of Carter Brothers Railroad Resources at Fremont California; is also a narrow gauge collection. They too are planning restorations that will need Miller hooks. They have a good web site!

Ted Miles, narrow gauge fan east and west