BRAKIE.I wish today's railroads was as friendly as they were in the 50/60s.
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rrinkerAnd they wonder why no one, especially younger people, care about trains any more. --Randy
Randy,Rest assured there are hundreds of young railfans visit any live rail cam on you tube or your nearest railfan hotspot..
The happy part is the majority I have talk to will buy model trains once they get out of college and find a job.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
Very simple - back in those days, if you tripped ont he ballast and skinned your knee, maybe you got in trouble with your Mom for tearing your pants. Today, it's SOMEONE ELSE'S fault and the railroad gets sued.
There are pales around here they will chase you off of NON RAILROAD property. I was once parked well off the side of the public street with my young sons watching the locla hump yard, when along comes a NS employee from the direction where getting into the yard was nearly a 180 degree turn. Well, since my car was parked over against the sheer cliff, he couldn't swing out quite as far as usual, so he had to stop, back up, and complete the turn. He then proceeded to stop, get out of his truck, and yell that he was going to call the police if we didn't leave immediately. At no point were we standing on railroad property, and there were not any No Parking signs on the street.
And they wonder why no one, especially younger people, care about trains any more.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Jim,I'll throw this in for free..I wish today's railroads was as friendly as they were in the 50/60s.
I spent time talking with tower operators,switchtenders and crossing watchman..I been in the cab of N&W 4-8-0 #444,a B&O 2-8-0 and a brand new N&W GP9. Today the crew would be fired and I would be arrested.
BRAKIEAs a kid I spent hours watching PRR hump cars with hump riders and that is their normal position.
BigJimYou don't know that. He could be looking at someone showing them the proper way to set a hand brake.
Jim,As a kid I spent hours watching PRR hump cars with hump riders and that is their normal position.
Great Northern Ry safety film. Operating hand brakes is about 16mins 10 secs in. The whole film is pretty good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqpayZ2JqlU
Jeff
BRAKIEMaybe you didn't but,that's how I was taught since the side of your foot put more boot on the ladder then the toe and using the side leads to a lessor chance of slipping.
BRAKIEThat man is also a hump rider that had to stand that way while riding the car down the hump..You should have caught that the first time you looked at the photo....
Either way, we are both here to tell about it.
BigJimT-Total BS! Never did it that way.
Maybe you didn't but,that's how I was taught since the side of your foot put more boot on the ladder then the toe and using the side leads to a lessor chance of slipping.
That man is also a hump rider that had to stand that way while riding the car down the hump..You should have caught that the first time you looked at the photo....
BRAKIEYou use the side of your foot to climb and never the toe end.
The picture that Ed posted is the correct and safest way any other way will be a safety violation.
You always climb a car on the outside ladder then step around to the end ladder and brake wheel stand. You use the side of your foot to climb and never the toe end.
You might think having it up high gets you more leverage, but it also greatly increases the chances of overbalancing yourself and falling off the car. Keeping it lower helped you maintain balance when applying force. Plus by the end of the high mounted brake wheel, they had things like "power" brakes which uses gear reduction to increase the force on the brake rods with less force applied to the brake wheel. The REALLY dangerous times were before air brakes, when the brakemen had to run along the roof walks in any kind of weather every single time the train needed to slow or stop. And they didn;t have the corrugated steel that has some chance at gripping shoe soles, either - just wood, smoothed down after years of service. Imagine that, wet from rain, or covered in snow or ice, nd twisting the brake wheel, then using a brake club (basically a heavy stick) for added leverage to tighten down the brakes. One slip and you were over the side (and hopefully not down between the cars). Over the side was bad enough, from a moving train, if in open farm land. On a line carved into the side of a mountain? You were lucky if they ever found your body.
Railroading has always been a dangerous pasttime. My ex father in law, his father was a crew dispatcherat the end of his career. Prior to that he was a passenger conductor, until he lost a leg in an accident. That was I think in the 40's. Even then, the railroad took care of you - moved you to a job you could do instead of just telling you to take a hike. In earlier days, before automatic grade crossings, many of the crossing watchmen were railroaders injured on the job who could no longer do their old jobs.
Well that picture explains everything. Thanks again.
One more case where it looks wrong to me, but it is right.
It also looks extremely dangerous. Makes me wonder why it took until the 1970's to lower the brake wheels.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Well, totally mis-read this question..
SeeYou190Did workers really stand on that platform, or did they just reach over from the ladder and operate the brake wheel when needed?
Sometimes a picture is worth...
handbrake_1 by Edmund, on Flickr
handbrake by Edmund, on Flickr
Back before there were "ergonomic studies" I'm sure someone figured out that you could get more leverage and maintain your balance better if the bulk of the load, or weight, was at waist-level or below.
I'd rather lift a fifty-pound bag of feed from waist height rather than shoulder height.
Regards, Ed
As for that staff brake above, you need both feet on the platform. The right foot needs to operate the pall inorder to hold the brake or release it.
I pity the poor guys that had to operate that lever brake. I hated lever brakes as they took forever to wind up. I can't imagine trying to control a car with one.
Ed,
Thank you for that reply. Your last drawing is what my question is about. Here is another one:
According to my math and calipers, that brake wheel center is 24-30 inches above the platform.
So it seems it is more or less "normal" for the brake wheel center to be 24-36 inches above the platform.
That height seems too low to me, but I guess it is correct.
Did workers really stand on that platform, or did they just reach over from the ladder and operate the brake wheel when needed?
SeeYou190Finding images of the B end of a freight car taken head-on is kind of difficult.
I have mentioned this site in several threads. There are some good resources here but you have to sort through a LOT of photos:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/barrigerlibrary/albums/72157649155982802
9317 003 by John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library, on Flickr
lot 402 002 by John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library, on Flickr
ACF4741001 by John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library, on Flickr
You can download high resolution copies of these photos for your own use and use a photo editing software to crop and enhance some of the less-than-ideal ones to your liking.
Lots of tank cars and billboard reefers here, too.
Build your own reference file.
SeeYou190I have a hard time judging measurements in photographs of 3/4 view, or isometric alignment.
Perhaps a drawing might help?
AAR_XM-B-1 by Edmund, on Flickr
AAR_XM_B-end by Edmund, on Flickr
What era are you seeking information for? Some folks seem to be talking about the roof-walk height. You can get these dimensions off the above prints.
SeeYou190Finding images of the B end of a freight car taken head-on is kind of difficult. . I have a hard time judging measurements in photographs of 3/4 view, or isometric alignment. To make matters worse, almost all pictures of the end are taken from ground level looking up, which makes the platform appear even closer to the brake wheel. . There are tons of good pictures out there of the sides of freight cars, but the ends are a whole different story.
The books in which I found the examples listed are all part of Speedwitch Media's "Focus On Freight Cars" series. These are not builders' photos, but ones taken of in-service cars. The series was begun by Richard Hendrickson, and on his passing, is continued by Ted Culotta, a noted modeller.
The black and white photos show various views of single freight cars, including sides and ends, and often a number of detail shots, too. Text accompanying the photos points out construction features and some background history on the particular class and other related points of interest.
Wayne
I found plenty!
BigJimWhy don't you Google images of freight cars?
Finding images of the B end of a freight car taken head-on is kind of difficult.
I have a hard time judging measurements in photographs of 3/4 view, or isometric alignment. To make matters worse, almost all pictures of the end are taken from ground level looking up, which makes the platform appear even closer to the brake wheel.
There are tons of good pictures out there of the sides of freight cars, but the ends are a whole different story.
Don't forget, too, that not all house cars with staff-type brake wheels used platforms. For those, the brakeman would stand on the car's roof to operate it, so the brakewheel would be mounted even higher.
A quick look through some of my freight car books showed examples from the Milwaukee Road, Western Pacific, D&RGW, Santa Fe, C&NW, Soo Line, NC&StL, and CB&Q.
I checked The Official Railway Equipment Register from January 1943 instead. I sampled several cars from several railroads. I looked only at house cars 40' feet and less. I found that most had an extreme height clearance between 8-9" above the roof walk. Some had extreme height 18"+. The extreme height can be assumed to be the brake wheel in most cases for box cars.
Looking over drawings of boxcars from the early '30's, it looks like the range is 36" to 42". This is for the vertical-shaft style.
I will mention that the 42" height seems like a good choice for me, of average height. 36" isn't all that bad, either.
Ed
Why don't you Google images of freight cars?
In the Model Railroaders cyclopedia, fifth edition on page 116, there is a UP box car 120000 series. Height to brake wheel 14'9". Height to roofwalk 14' 1 5/8".
I have a period car builders cyclopedia, I'll check that next.
This question applies to house (van type) cars with roofwalks and high brake wheels.
How far down would the brake platform be from the brake wheel?
I ask because I always assumed a railway worker would stand on the platform and turn the brake wheel. This means the brake wheel center should be about 48 to 60 inches from the platform.
I have notive on several car the wheel is as low as 36 inches, and I have one that is only 30 inches. On this one the brake wheel almost touches the platform.
What is correct? Any insight is appreciated.