Fellow Listers,

Looking at various freightcar diagram books I note
that most give the length of a car as "length over
strikers". Would the striker be defined as that
part of the drawbar mechanism that the coupler hits
when it gets shoved back into the pocket after a
"hard joint"?

As a side comment, it seems odd that one would measure
a car length that way, because IIRC the coupler pocket
and therefore the "striker" generally sticks out beyond
the end of the car, does it not?

Shawn Beckert