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Making Carmer"Push-Type"Uncoupling LeversEd BommerYou’ve seen them on freight carsbuilt from the 1910’s into the early1930’s. They were original equipmenton USRA cars. But how often do theyshow up on a model? Hardly ever!Known also as “Carmer” uncouplinglevers, they are long flat bars taperedand bent to shape, with a round endpassing through the eye of the couplerpin. About one third of their length isfrom the end of the handle to the pivotmounting on the car. The rest lies on topof the coupler.I found it best to make these as thelast detail parts put on a model. This isbecause the couplers, retainer line andbrake staff must be in place before fittingthem up.What you need to make a pair are:1. Two 2" lengths of .015x.060 flatbrass strip, Detail Associates #25302. Two 1" lengths of .022" diameterbrass wire, Detail Associates #WR25703. Nippers to cut the strip and wire.4. Two pair small needle nosed pliers5. A soldering iron or gun.6. A motor tool with a cut-off wheel7. A flat, fine needle file.8. Piece of scrap wood and a halfdozen modeling pins.9. A bit of fine steel wool.10. A #74 drill bit & pin vise.Clean the flat and round wire partswith steel wool. Make a jig as shown inPhoto 1 with scrap wood and pins. Thisis needed to hold the flat and roundbrass stock for soldering.Solder about 1 ⁄2" of the round wire toone side of the flat strip. Next, with thefile or Dremel cut-off wheel, carefullychamfer the corners of the flat stripwhere it meets the round wire.Measure 1 ⁄4" along the round wire andbend it up, parallel to the face of the flatstrip. Leave 1 ⁄32" after the bend and cutoff the rest of the wire. Smooth the cutoff end with a file or the Dremel wheel.Now comes a bit of fancy, fussy fittingbecause these levers bend in twodirections, sometimes at the same time!We will start with the brake staff end ofthe car, from the coupler to the handle.After that it will be easy to make a copyof it, bend for bend, to put on the oppositeend.Center the round part over the pin ofthe coupler on your car. Slide the couplerback and forth as you hold theuncoupling rod above it. Measure andmark the flat strip where the outer edgeof the coupler box is when the rod iscorrectly centered. This will be wherethe first transverse bend is made.Grasp the lever stock with two pair ofMake a jig out of wood to hold the parts whileyou solder them together.needle nosed pliers as shown in Photo 3.The bend mark is between the two tools.Now bend the rod slightly downward,opposite of the round end bend thatshould point upward. Next, at a pointabout 1 ⁄32" from this bend make another,angling the flat surface of the levertoward the car’s end sill. It must clear thebrake staff by at least 1 ⁄32" before meetingthe end of the car. This usually needs toDistinctive push-type uncoupling levers werestandard on many USRA freight cars.be “eyeballed” since it’s nearly impossibleto measure exactly with a ruler.At this point, make a compoundbend for the lever to be parallel to thecar end and also parallel to the part thatlies over the coupler. Measure another1/16” and bend it slightly away from“Hold the two pair of pliers as shown, grippingthe flat strip by its edges. Bend byslowly rotating one of the pliers to get asmooth transverse bend.”the car. This short flat stretch will bewhere the lever is to be attached to thepivot mount on the car.Now make a downward transversebend with the two pair of pliers at thepoint of where the lever bends awayO Scale Trains • 47