This is somewhat timely for me, but I think that the spinning brakewheels is
beyond any semblance of reality and purely a figment of someone's imagination.
I was reading, just yesterday evening, a "True Tale" in a 1942 issue of
RAILROAD.
The writer was a fireman and spoke of THE SWEENEY.
The SWEENEY was a pipe that connected the cylinders (steam) to the main air
reservoir. It's purpose was to supplement or replace the function of the air
pump in the event of failure or overheating of said pump.
The valve was similar to an angle cock and was opened when additional help
was needed to increase the pressure in the main reservoir. The SWEENEY
apparently worked when the valve was opened and the engine had been reversed,
by using the pistons within the cylinders to pump air into the main
reservoir.
According to this fireman's story (Atlantic and Pacific..later part of Santa
Fe in Arizona) the SWEENEY was an experimental kind of thing and only to be
used in the event of a dire emergency. You can see that it would have a
tendency to force steam into the main reservoir and in severe cold (which
were the conditions in the story) said steam would condense to water then to
ice in the brake pipe with resulting disastrous conditions.
How's that for something new and different. I'm sure there's nobody on here
old enough to remember the SWEENEY.. The story I'm referencing occurred about
1901.
Let's have comments. I think that the spinning brakewheels are beyond
imagination.
Pete Hedgpeth
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