I never said the draw bar broke only that the engine and tender separated. The two possiblities I understand were either the plate for the pin was not installed or it either slipped out or broke. An old SP official told me if that had happen durring regular steam operations someone whould have been fired. If it had been a regular cab and someone had fallen out of the back due to the loading change on the locomotive, the tender and following cars would have probably ran over them.

Robby Peartree