Question about front couplers on engines

bigkid posted:

In looking at pictures of steam and diesel engines most seemed to have couplers on the pilot, which makes sense given multiple units, push/pull service and so forth. The question I have is I have seen engines that don't have couplers on the front.

Do you mean very early steam locomotives from say, the Civil War era, or before?

Some of the diesels seemed to have a pockets on the pilot where they can stow away the coupler (?) ,

Early passenger diesel units tended to had movable doors covering the coupler, but there surely is a coupler behind those "hide-away" doors/covers. Besides, by the early 1900s, couplers on both ends was a Federal requirement.

but others I have seen don't seem to have one.

You will have to be a bit more specific on that comment.

Raises the question, why would they not have couplers on the front, given how much flexibility they give? 

Since the requirement for a working coupler on both ends, there are indeed couplers on both ends.

The designers of the early diesel passenger units were very concerned about style. Consequently, as Jack pointed out, many early passenger diesels had a front coupler behind a door in the pilot. When the engine was MU'd behind another unit, the door was opened, the coupler was swung out and used in the normal fashion.

When the loco was the lead unit in a consist, the coupler was swung into the stowed position and the door was closed, thus providing much more sleek and streamlined look to the front end of the unit.

However, every locomotive, steam or diesel, is required to have a functional front coupler.

A couple of examples with the coupler covers open:

After time, most if not all the railroads removed the covers.

Rusty

Here are some non-diesel engines (PRR and an NYC Hudson) with drop couplers, some of which even have covers.

Thanks all for the replies, I didn't realize it was a regulation that they have couplers front and back! I likely saw steam engines, like the diesels, that had drop couplers, I knew Diesels had those but I didn't realize they did with steam engines, which explains the ones I thought didn't have them