some suggestions for draw bars

[desert_rat]

 A while back, I purchased a couple of steamers (DCC) and had trouble keeping the draw bar in place while placing Engine & Tender on the track.
Some good suggestions where given here (one was the Rix Rerailer).
But while at the Anaheim Convention a vistor was watching me struggle with this. There was also a rough spot on the track at the end of a bridge that each time the engine went over it, the tender can disconnected.
He suggested adding a small piece of soft rubber tubing to the end of the draw bar pin.  "This worked great."
I have also "Carefully" bent the draw bar into kind of a Z or S shape. This raised the draw bar just enough to help also.
Thanks for all the suggestions and just wanted to pass this along.

[Woody Elmore]

An old HO trick was to replace the drawbar post with a screw. You could then put a nut under the drawbar to keep the engine and tender coupled. Alternately, you could thread the draw bar with a die so that it would take a nut.

it looked awful.

Putting the tubing on the drawbar post is another old idea which I haven't heard in years. And, as you mention, bending the drawbar itself is also a good fix.

[Yampa Bob]

I carefully thread the post with a small nut, usually a 4-40 or 6-32, held in a nutdriver,  then slip on a short piece of 1/16" inside diameter silicone model airplane fuel tubing. It only takes a few threads to grip the tubing.

The drawbar should ride in the center of the post, so bending it is a good idea.