Anybody know where I could find photos of 1920-era brake wheels?
staybolt Anybody know where I could find photos of 1920-era brake wheels?
Hey, Dave-
Thanks for reply and resource. I did a brief check a minute ago and found a few sources for the cyclopedia you mention. I think the design I'm looking for may be one with curved spokes that I think I've seen at rail museums. Since my railroad is 1920s era I'd like to be sure.
-Chuck
staybolt...I think the design I'm looking for may be one with curved spokes that I think I've seen at rail museums....
Like these?
They're included in Tichy's KC- and KD-type brake gear sets.
Wayne
Hello,
I like to use brass, staff-mounted brakewheels as they tend to hold up better. I keep a stock on hand as they are quite prone to getting snagged. Here is a page from the Precision Scale catalog:
Precision_Brakewheel by Edmund, on Flickr
Cal-Scale (Bowser) has them, too. #190-289. I solder .015 bronze wire to them for a secure joint.
For a nice collection of prototype photos you can browse the Barringer AC&F Library at Flickr:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/barrigerlibrary/albums/72157649155982802
494004 by John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library, on Flickr
9429 002 by John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library, on Flickr
Good Luck, Ed
Wayne, Ed-
Tichy, Precision Scale and Cal-Scale + 1920s car photos...yep, the design with the curved spokes is the one! Thanks, guys!
According to the article, the horizontal brake wheels as shown in Wayne's model photos and Ed's prototype photos were ARA (American Railway Association) "Plate A" hand brakes. Note the absence of any mechanism - the brake wheel turns a shaft which winds up a chain attached to rods and levers and tightens the brake shoes on the wheels. Very simple.
The wheels were typically 16 inches in diameter.
The problems: the chain could ball up on the shaft, it was hard for a brakeman to get enough grip to turn the wheel adequately (it took both hands, or using a club for more leverage, and he was standing on a possibly moving freight car running board in all sorts of weather), and when the brake was released (a simple ratchet wheel and pawl held it in place) the wheel would violently turn the other direction, with dangerous consequences for a brakeman needing to hold on to the wheel for support! As cars and loads became heavier, brake failures and injuries became more common -- in 1924 8.7% of trainman injuries were due to hand brake issues.
The solution was a geared mechanism operated with a hand wheel. Initially the hand wheels were still horizontal and the brakeman stood on the car roof but that had its own danger and the end-mounted mechanism for the gearing and a vertical hand wheel became the norm. Special situations for flatcars, tank cars, and some gondolas were involved.
The so called "power" hand brakes with geared mechanisms were made mandatory for all freight cars built or rebuilt after January 1, 1937. The brakeman would on housecars stand on a shelf mounted to the end of the car. The handwheels got larger too - more like 22 inches - with a variety of different styles for the spokes and for the rims of the wheel. The problem is that the wheels were not always interchangable between manufacturers of the mechanisms. The 1950s saw a movement towards standardization.
By the way while it is common to refer to an era of "horizontal" brake wheels worked by a brakeman standing on the roof of the car, the article has a wonderful photo of a 1914 tank car (the kind with the thick underframe, sort of like the Model Die Casting old time model) which lacked an end platform so the hand wheel was vertical but facing the side not the end; the brakeman would stand on the side platform an reach up for the wheel. The wheel was near the top of the tank and the chain ran down the end of the car. What a neat bit of detailing that would be.
Dave Nelson
Since I model in the 1920s all my freight cars have the "K" brake system with the vertical brake wheel shaft, chain (yes, I go to that detail using 40 link/inch chain...smallest I've found) and levers. That's why I wanted to make sure I had the correct wheel style/size. Also, I've got the running boards/"catwalk" on the "house" cars so the brakeman can get from car to car to set the brakes (I've got one of those prototype clubs that Dave mentioned that was used to get that extra leverage on the wheel). As far as I know, the main reason for the hanging "telltales" was to warn these workers on top of the cars that a low clearance situation (e.g. bridge, tunnel) was coming...another detail to model! A dramatic example of what happens when there isn't a telltale is in the movie "Narrow Margin" (Gene Hackman, Anne Archer). Once in a while I'll see a remaining telltale on the prototype roads that hasn't been removed, even though the catwalks are gone and no one's up on the high cars anymore.
staybolt As far as I know, the main reason for the hanging "telltales" was to warn these workers on top of the cars that a low clearance situation (e.g. bridge, tunnel) was coming...another detail to model!
As far as I know, the main reason for the hanging "telltales" was to warn these workers on top of the cars that a low clearance situation (e.g. bridge, tunnel) was coming...another detail to model!
There were still plenty of telltales around when I started railfanning perhape because there were still running boards on freight cars and while in theory perhaps no brakeman had to run along a freight train's top and tighten brakewheels any longer, in theory they COULD be up there and needed warning. And it was not just bridges and tunnels. Industries where cars could be pushed inside, or which had covered loading docks to the side, were also protected by telltales.
Although not OT to the hand wheel topic, a bit more about telltales. On the C&NW and perhaps other railroads they were also known as Whip Guards, and only the ropes themselves were called telltales. The CNW Historical Society published two books of reprints of CNW standards and for whip guards in Vol 2 it gives complete data with measurements. Interesting that one of the last improvements made was a plastic tip at the end of the braided rope.
Somewhere I read that on some roads the telltales were either rope or metal chains. Imagine being hit by that at speed.
B&Odwg by Edmund, on Flickr
Regards, Ed
Telltales are easy enough to make...
...using styrene rod and tubing, along with some strip material and some .008" wire.
Telltales
Yet another example of how the railroads built (build?) infrastructure so robust as to withstand a cat 5 hurricane....half the vertical pole is 4 in. pipe (probably iron in 1906), tapering only to 3 in. for the top half, then buried in a 1 ft. x 4 ft. cylinder of concrete! When I look at what remains of the steam/mechanical age artifacts (e.g. a concrete coaling tower, an original freight or passenger station), not to mention those that have been removed and only seen now in photographs, I'm wowed by the mass of the components used, whether metal or wood. A good example of contemporary construction done to replicate that era is at the Age of Steam Roundhouse Museum in Ohio. From photographs I've seen, founder Jerry Jacobson went to great lengths to use the techniques and materials from that earlier period in putting together his showpiece.