Greetings List,
I have a tough question for the group concerning braking systems on Q freight
trains, mid-1882........I've found a recorded story involving a Peoria freight
coming into Galesburg that needed to make an emergency stop. The engineer
whistled out signals for the brakemen's application of handbrakes AND he
"turned the steam into the pipe." From the way this was written, it leads one
to think of a trainlined mechanism that connected each boxcar's handbrake to
the actions of the engineer's steam application.
Given the low steam pressure in a small boiler and the physical requirement of
10 to 20 cars this story is perplexing. This particular brake wheel had been
previously twisted up. The article goes on to explain the results of the
handbrake wheel spinning as the steam is applied to the pipe? This action
caused a brakeman to be spun off the top of the car as the brakeman had the
misfortune to be sitting on top of the brake wheel itself. There seems to have
been some odd attempts at braking systems just before the initial attempts of
engine and/or train air but I've never heard of anything like this.......any
ideas, anybody? Bill
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