From scale drawings in MR's Steam Locomotives Cyclopedia, the "doghouses" are about 5 ft tall from the tender deck with about a 4 ft x 2 ft door - see pages 60 and 69. That height seems pretty low for a winter clad brakie or two. Was there a footwell below the tender deck to allow a bit more leg room or was it really like a doghouse entrance?
Did any have steam heating provisions?
What were factors leading to some roads incorporating doghouses, presumably cold weather and limited space in the engine cab for the head end brakie being two.
Railroad management wasn't usually given to providing creature comforts for operating crews. Despite many northern U.S. roads operating in very cold winter weather like their Canadian counterparts, very few adapted steam loco vestibule cabs as did the Canadian roads.
Isambard
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There might be a small steam loop under the seat, but a man can warm that space very well.
Those were useful devices to have when the brakeman needed to be out of the weather and still need to look to the rear in certain operations to keep watch.
It would not be too cozy because of the water beneath and the assoicated forces of a steam engine working against the loaded train.
On my model railroad, I give preference to doghouses on the steam loco choices. The 2-8-8-2 Y3 and the heavy 2-10-2 has doghouses with more steam coming.
There is more, but it's late in day for me.
Some PRR tenders had 3 man doghouses. One more duty of the front end brakeman was to scoop water on the fly out of track pans. Most tenders/locos had some sort of signaling between the cab crew and brakemen. I have been told by a not so reliable source that they used a pull cord/bell+ light signal system. But the engineer used the whistle for signaling back to the brakeman. I read an old Trains article about how the brakeman didnt see the end post of the track pan and mangled the scoop on a K4. He said the spray and wind blown water hid the marker pole until it was too late. The coductor was rippin mad. Instead of scooping water they had to stop at the next station to fill the tank
Pete
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One factor would be the length of the train an engine would normally work. On shorter trains a four man crew would be OK (engineer, fireman, brakeman, conductor) so they wouldn't need the doghouse for the head brakeman. An engine used on longer trains would be more likely to use a head brakeman, therefore more likely to use a doghouse. It depends on the work too, obviously a train that did a lot of set-outs and pick-ups would be more likely to need a head brakeman than a train just running from point A to point B nonstop.
The Missabe sometimes used cabooses on both ends of their ore trains so the crew at both ends had someplace to ride, may have made it easier to 'turn' the train too??