# Questons about hand brakes/ time periods



## SRV1 (Nov 14, 2010)

In looking at older cars, is there a sure way to date cars based on the hand brake style implemented? The tall ones sticking up over the cars with the horizontal wheel seem to be old but how old? Anybody know when did this type first come into service and about when did they start dissappeaing? How far back do the vertical style wheels (like modern day) go back that are flush on the ends? Would these have been seen in the 30s or 40s at all? 
Now for a really newbie question.... do all freight cars possess a brake wheel or did some go without? To be honest I dont even really understand the purpose of these brake wheels or how theyre used. Are they just like a parking brake or something while they sit in a yard? One time I saw a guy in real life spinning one on a loco.

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## Southern (Nov 17, 2008)

i do not know the answer to your first question. There are also two types of end had brakes, low and high mounted. The older ones are high mounted.

I might have this wrong as I am just a railfan. When the brakes have air they are off. When the air from the loco is lost, the brakes are applied. when the air reserve on the rolling stock is gone the brakes are off. If the hand brake is not on the rail car can roll off if it is on a hill.


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## 64conv65hard (Dec 6, 2013)

I work on trains and the handbrake is used to secure unmanned equipment. NEVER rely on airbrakes alone to secure equipment. If the air was to eventually bleed off you now have nothing securing the equipment. Before leaving unmanned equipment you must first test for proper securement by releasing all air brakes and making sure equipment does not roll, if equipment does move you must apply "sufficiant" amount of handbrake to keep unmanned equipment from moving. (How the FRA rule is written for securing unmanned equipment)


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## SRV1 (Nov 14, 2010)

When is individual equipment considered unmanned? If a whole train is linked up and the train crew leaves it to sit for a few hours, what brakes get locked down while it's sitting there? Just on the locos? All the locos or one? Is there a specified amount of time before they are required to be applied? Does a car with the brake applied ever get overlooked when they go to take off? If so, what happens?

I don't know why I have all these questions about brakes today! lol But thanks for the info.


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## 64conv65hard (Dec 6, 2013)

UNATTENDED EQUIPMENT: Equipment left standing and unmanned in such a manner that would hinder immediate application of hand/parking brakes or air brakes by a qualified employee to prevent equipment from moving.
3.5.5 Locomotives Coupled to Cars Left Unattended:
A. Apply all hand brakes / parking brakes on all locomotives.
B. Two or more cars and/or locomotives – No less than a total of two hand/parking brakes must be applied. If two hand/parking are not sufficient, apply the necessary number of hand/parking brakes to prevent movement.
C. After t he required number of hand/parking brakesare applied, test the effectiveness as out linedin 3.5.5C.1.
Any handbrakes left applied during movement creates flatspots on wheels.


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## 64conv65hard (Dec 6, 2013)

Flatspots on loco with handbrake applied.


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## Southern (Nov 17, 2008)

Sometimes I hear those flat spot on car rolling by.


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## 64conv65hard (Dec 6, 2013)

Freight trains are great for flat spots.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

That is more then a flat spot! :laugh:

Someone got in trouble for that.


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## SRV1 (Nov 14, 2010)

Wow! Great pics. So you're saying it's not uncommon for them to be forgotten on? It doesn't surprise me. What happens to the employee that was responsible? Probably depends on the railroad. 

I found a good article about hand brakes over the years. The earliest vertical style, hand brakes showed up on the scene in the late 1920s FWIW. Similar to how they exist today. But apparently the tall shafts that stuck up with the horizontal hand brakes were around for a long time. 
There were many different spoke patterns developed in the 30s and 40s. It said by the rules they were not allowed to weld a broken hand brake so it was common practice to scavenge a good hand brake off of a car that was getting scrapped, to be put on a good car with a broken one. So it wasn't uncommon to see similar cars in a row with different styles of hand brakes. If the hand brake never got damaged though, it was also common for them to last the entire service life of the car.


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## 64conv65hard (Dec 6, 2013)

Responsible? Well on the RR it never seem to be transportation departments fault, they always manage to blame mechanical department. Boy I could tell you many stories on that topic. Watched an engineer drive a loco over a derail and they managed to put the blame on a Machinist. It's supposed to be the resposibility of the train crew to make sure all handbrakes and chocks are removed before movement but they still figure out ways to blame someone else. Isn't that the American way though nowadays, always someone elses fault?


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## timlange3 (Jan 16, 2013)

The horizontal brake wheel was popular at first, before air brakes, as the brakeman walked the roofs of the cars setting and releasing the brakes as needed. I would expect those with horizontal wheels to have a well defined walkway on top of the car. As air brakes came into being and brakeman no longer had to walk the roofs to brake a train the wheels were repositioned as vertical because now they were only used when the car sat unattended, so someone had to climb up the car, so the vertical wheels are easier to get to and operate when you have to climb up the car.

I believe air brakes are a FRA requirement on all trains now, but some still use the handbrake in addition to the air brakes. Riding the Cass Mountain Scenic Railway, they had a brakeman for every two cars, going up the switchbacks they loafed, but going down the 10% grade they worked hard! They were constantly setting and releasing the brakes as the grade varied.


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