The handbrake on any railcar is used primarily as a parking brake. A car
that is spotted at an industry or parked for any length of time must, by
rule, be "tied down", to prevent it from rolling away. It is really only
strong enough to keep the wheels from rolling. If a locomotive is powerful
enough it could certainly push a car with wheels the locked. This is not a
good practice as it quickly produces flat spots on the wheels. If you have
stood at track side as cars roll by and you hear a rythmic "whump, whump,
whump" that is the sound of flat spotted wheels! When a string of cars is
spotted, a certain percentage of them must be tied down to prevent them from
rolling. The number actually tied down varies from situation to situation,
on a good string on level track, two-three are sufficient. On grades, brakes
are always applied on the up-hill end of the string.
BDS
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