Я бы хотел увидеть хороший фильм для взрослых, снятый в таком домике. Очень тесно и очень возбуждающе! "Ja-ja, naturlich!" Это было бы очень по-немецки! Ритм стука колес! )
Whistle signals for brakemen in Germany: Zp1 (long tone): Attention Zp2 (short tone): apply brakes slightly Zp3 (three short tones): apply brakes fully Zp4 (two long tones): release brakes Zp5 (three short tones, repeated multiple times): emergency stop, apply brakes fully and give help where needed. With the universal introduction of airbrakes these became obsolete.
This is really interesting! Thank you for the list. I wonder if there is a larger list of German whistle codes for general use? I have not yet found conclusive documentation of stuff you would hear apart from brake signals
In Croatia when doing the air brake test on a train the guy doing the brake test would use a mouth whistle to signal to the engineer what to do. The codes are almost the same. The engineer would blow the horn: 3 long bursts, which means he wants the guy checking the brakes to come. Now the guy comes and uses his mouth whistle: 1 long: attention 1 short: apply brakes slightly 3 short: apply brakes fully 1 long 2 short: release brakes And if I'm not mistaking, 2 long whistles is that the brake check is complete.
@@armagonarmagon3980 de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signale_f%C3%BCr_das_Zugpersonal in addition: Zp11 (long short long): come Zp12 (short long short): "grenzzeichenfrei", that means the train is parked at sufficient distance from other tracks
@@armagonarmagon3980 Well there is the german signalbook (Rule 301) which lists all of them. Fun little Fact, Signals Zp 1 - Zp 5 are still officially in use on the german railway. Zp meaning signals given by train crew for information transmission purposes. There's also a few whistle signals which are shunting signals: Ra 1 (long tone): Drive away from me Ra 2 (two middle long tones): Drive towards me Ra 3 (two short tones): Press against the buffers for coupling Ra 4 (two middle long tones and a short one): Kick cars Ra 5 (3 short tones): Stop
Actually this is safer than the original US method of having one brakeman work back from the locomotive over the train using roofwalks on box/stock/refrigerator cars and over loads on open cars (flat/log and coal hopper cars) to tie down hand brakes, and one brakeman would work towards the front over the top of the train as well from the caboose on the rear of the train. My Great-grandfather told my grandfather about crawling over loaded coal hopper cars working coal trains down the mountains near Cumberland Maryland
Yeah, I don't know what this guy is complaining about. German brakeman got shelter and a seat, and they weren't responsible for more than two cars. That's pampered.
@@Hammerandhearth I remember hearing that in winter, the german brake van operators often froze to death due to the poor insulation. So while it's definitely better than the US brakeman's experience (which could probably also include freezing to death in winter) it still isn't pampered
Duh as a German Railway worker I can Tell our System is by far more Efficient then Ur Network. But Most of those boxes have got away but Most Hanbreaks are still in Same position
Oh I agree, even worse was coupling using the extremely hazardous link-and-pink system. Right around 1900, the US govt cracked down and forced adoption of air brakes and auto couplings on most trains.
Surprisingly, you didn't mention with single word the second and decisive reason for those break sheds: 200 years of thievery! There were entire gangs, or families busy for generations long with stilling the goods from trains. Thieves were boarding the carriages on stations, water stops or on slopes and curves where trains were going slower. Goods were dropped from the train and picked by another or by perpetrators walking back home along the track. Sometimes there was a time needed to force the locks, break few planks lose to get in or disassemble expensive parts of transported cars, tractors or military equipment. This solution was solving two problems at once: guarding transported goods (where thieves couldn't see is there anybody inside or not) and breaking.
Brakemen's jobs in America were crazy dangerous. They didn't have such a comfort. There are old films of railway workers here that would have had OSHA in an uproar if they existed then.
Apparently now configured through the train with the brake houses next to each other so one brakeman can run cars at once. I had always assumed it was at the end of the train like a caboose in the western trains.now I know
This feature was quite common throughout mainland Europe and Scandinavia at one time. Also, a well researched and presented video as usual. This was most enjoyable and informative. Whit regards from Stockholm 🇸🇪
@@rjohnson1690 The main term in Swedish was “bromshytt” but “bromshus” and “bromsbås” was also used occasionally. Air brakes became mandatory for the Swedish State Railway’s from 1919 and implemented during 1920-1927.
I'd often wondered about these, seeing them on LGB models. Here in the States, as other have mentioned, manual brakes would be activated from roof walks. All cars (and locomotives) still have handbrakes, but they are only used to hold them in place when parked for long periods without compressed air. There's also the issue of hump yards: Pushing cars up a hill, uncoupling them, letting them roll down the other side into classification tracks. Nowadays, the speed of the descending cars is controlled by retarders, which measure the weight of the car, how fast it is going, and grip the wheel rims to slow them as needed. But before those were invented, brakemen would ride cars down, slow them with the handbrake, then have to walk all the way back and up the hill to go again. Imagine doing that all day.
Interessant wäre noch der Farbcode der weißen Eckmarkierungen. Ab und zu sind die grün statt weiß, das hat wohl damit zu tun das die Wagen dann durchgehende Bremsleitungen hatten, wärend sie selbst ungebrenst oder nur mit Handbremse ausgestattet waren. Dann gab es im Schmalspurbereich Sachsens noch ein System das über Gewichte und Seile die den Zug überdpannten bremste, wäre schön dazu auch noch ein Video zu sehen.
Das Seilsystem war die Heberleinbremse. War das erste Bremssystem auf den Sächsischen Schmalspurbahnen. Dabei war das Seil von der Lok aus gespannt(keine Bremswirkung, die Bremsklötze wurden durch das Seil hoch gehalten) oder locker(Bremsklötze fallen herunter,Bremswirkung setzt ein) . Wenn das Seil riss oder im Winter einfror, gab es oft Katasthrophen wie den Robschützer Brückensturz 1949. Bei vielen zweitrangigen Schmalspurbahnen fuhren die Züge sogar bis zur Einstellung mit Heberleinbremse(So etwa im Mügelner Netz) . Erst in den 1980 er Jahren, als von der stillgelegten Preßnitztalbhan saugluftgebremste Wagen nach Mügeln kamen, fuhr dort 1986 der letzte seilgebremste Güterzug. Heute gibt es nur noch Druckluft- und vereinzelt die Saugluftbremse.
Not until 1937 were roofwalk-height brake wheels removed from interchanged freight cars when rebuilt. One big advantage, besides safety, was the increased capacity achieved by making freight cars two feet higher! The RR's are always thinking about maximizing earnings.
Thank you very much for this information. I wanted to know this for a very long time. How I came to know that German log carrying wagons havetiny cabins at one end: My grandfather worked in TELCO (currently Tata Motors) in the 50s and 60s, and they had collaboration with Mercedes Benz at that time. He was sent to Mercedes Benz headquarters in Germany for advanced training. When he went their he was interested in the small extremely detailed scale models of railway wagons and locomotives. He got a brochure (essentially a small book) of Trix Express showcasing their hoping to buy a set after he comes back to India (but he didn't buy). I got hold of that book when I was about 7 or 8 years old and treasured it till I was about 20. Over time I forgot everything about it. Since few days back I started reminicing about it and very conveniently I came across your video.
Air brakes started being used here in the US way early on. Patented in 1869 and in full use after 1872, those these early breaks were...problematic. Back around the turn of the century, cars were typically of a wood construction, and averaged around 36ft(10.9m) long, and we still had a caboose, and brakemen walking along the entire train, and to make things worse...we were at the tail end of the transition to knuckle couplers...so cars that had links were few & far between, but still posed an issue. Rolling stock in North America didn't have those cabins. We had at least at the end of the day at least 10 types of caboose(will be listed after this). By the 1950's the modern airbrake system was common-place, and cars averaged around 50ft(15m) long and 9-10ft2-3m) with SOME 12ft(3m) tall cars entering service. The walkways would begin to go out of practice with car height growing ever taller, and brake wheels being placed ever lower on the "B" end. Caboose types in North America: *Off-center caboose: the cupola or raised section is off set to one end *"Standard": traditional North American caboose, equipped with a cupola *Extended vision: Combining parts of the off-center caboose, and the bay-window caboose, the cupola is slightly off-set to one end and overhangs the car on each side, this is due to car heights. *Transfer: A 40-50ft(12-15m) flatcar with a cabin, maybe with a copula depending on who/what, typically used in transfer operations with other railroads. *Bay-Window: This car lacks a cupola, instead opting for out-cropping on each side. *Comboose: Narrow gauge fans, here y'all are! This car is a combination passenger car and caboose. Usually a baggage/coach with a cupola. *Bobber: A short, 4 wheeled caboose. Got it's name from how it "bobs" when a train starts or stops. These cars could have a cupola depending on the railroad. Found use on both narrow gauge, and standard gauge. *Computer: the modern caboose. Handheld with a flashing light, usually attached to the last car of the train, making that car the caboose. *Helpers/DPU: Locomotives at the very END of a train, either crewed as part of a "helper" job, or as one of a few positions for distributed power (DP) DPU. There are more, and they each do into there own sub-types. I'mma stop here 'cuz life calls. Gotta pay the bills somehow.
Yes, I did often wonder how these were used! I’m currently making a Marklin-style tinplate covered wagon with one on- very characteristic of European practice, but I knew nothing about them..
I did wonder about this! I still have a German-made Faller "eTrain" set, which I've had since my childhood in the 1980's. It includes a flat car with a brake cab just like yours.
Yes the brakeman shed is a historic relic but its cousin the park/emergency brake platform lives on in Europe. The UIC demands that a certain percentage of every class/type of goodswagons has a park/emergency brake platform. There is one class of railway goodswagon were every wagon has mandetory by law a park/emergency brake platform. Stoneballast wagons for railroad construction worktrains have a work platform were 4 levers for the inner en outer doors are manhandeled to pour fresh ballast on the tracks. Railroad (re)construction sites are a very hazerdous place. The allignment of the sleepers on the trackbed can only happens after the ballast has been poured. All or a batch of those cars are staffed with operators during work so a the additional brake is a safety measure.
Great info! My old Marklin HO set I got in 1956 had a car with that cabin on it. I wonder about it being from the US and familiar with cabooses, the little cabin was odd to me, but as a kid it was cool. 😊
The locomotive being an open cabin build on a large boiler, covered with coal dust, and using a 110dB whistle, I am not sure "iconically uncomfortable" is fitting for the breakmans cabins.
Interestingly, I've noticed that there are also the raised brakeman's cabins on all of the old wooden passenger carriages used during the Deutsche Reichsbahn era apart from goods wagons.
@cdev2117 with a man on each vehicle instead of one man at the rear of the train. Not an efficient use of manpower. At the marshalling yards in the UK, the brake vans would be shunted to a specific siding, often known as the brake kip, close to the departure lines of the goods yard. The wagons would have never actuated handbrakes on both sides of the wagon (evening only working on that side of the wagon), meaning no need to climb onto a wagon to apply the brakes. It was ev3n easier 2hen hump shunting was introduced prior to the introduction of mechanical retarders as the shunters would uncoupl cuts of wagons and another shunter woulddatch them and apply the brakes, and the brake vans would roll into their own siding under the control of the guard, if they went over the hump.
@cdev2117 in the UK, they weren't state owned until 1948. In the earliest days of the railways, freight trains were limited in length to what the locomotive could stop. Around 1840, the break van (latercrenamed the brake van) was introduced. This allowed long trains to be hauled as the rear end of the train had its own brakes. Speeds were limited to 25mph (40km/h), and until the end of unfitted (i.e., trains with no automatic brakes) this was their speed limit. On passenger trains, each coach had its own brake man until the introduction of thecsimple vacuum brake, which used a vacuum to apply the brakes and vented to the air to release them. Can you see the flaw in this system? The automatic vacuum brake (AVB) then came along. This used a vacuum to release the brakes and venting to the air to apply the brakes, making it failsafe. It took legislation after the Armagh rail crash to force the railway companies to adopt the AVB or the alternative Westinghouse air brake for passenger coaches and other vehicles intended to run in passenger trains.
@@cdev2117 Adding a brake van to the end is just one step to be taken at the end. Surely that's easier than making sure that the whole train has enough brake cabin wagons on it.
I remember as a kid seeing a model train expo with multiple sets set up. One had black/red steam engines pulling flatcars with what looked like outhouses on every second car. The little men inside had hand painted faces looking miserable. Didn't know why but just thought they were neat.
Can you go through how the early refrigerator cars worked in Germany and if the brakeman on those cars had other roles like loading the ice? Also since you have some tank car models now the type and capacity of older German tank cars?
Sehr schönes Video. Kleine Holzhäuschen haben echt etwas Deutsches an sich und die Geschichte hinter ihnen ist auch unspektakulär, aber toll. Von mir aus könnten diese Dinger an Wagons bleiben. Sie machen 'was her. Ganz besonders die angehobenden sind, wie Wachtürme auf einem fahrenden Güterzug.
Even after the advent of the air brake here in the U.S.(why did it take so long in Germany?) we retained brakemen to set brakes on stationary trains, but mostly for observation duties. This could be accomplished from the rear of the train from the cupolo on the caboose(brake wagon, work car, or other regional name). In severe climes like the rocky mountains a bake cabin known as a shack was placed on the rear of the locomotives tender. This gave rise to the american railroad slang of calling a brake man a "Shack" and differentiated as 'Head Shack " and "Rear Shack".
First factor: the coupling. As of today, no automatic (or at least, rigid) coupling has been adopted in Europe. The old fashioned hook/screw coupling has a lot inherent play in it, which leads to really bad effects when breaking long trains with pneumatic brakes; the first cars release earlier then the after cars, i.e. the after ones brake longer. So the train gets stretched, the springs in the coupling get stretched. Essentially, the train becomes one large spring, and when the last cars at the end release their brakes, this large spring contracts in one fast motion. All the energy stored in the springs concentrates at one point: in the buffers of the cars in the middle. When you have a bad day, they snap over each other and you have a perfect derailment. If you have a less bad day, the buffers expand again in one swift motion, the coupling brakes and the train splits in two or more parts. It took a lot of time to takle this problem. Essentially, the release time of the brakes was extended. Second: the first air brake systems were not inexhaustible. That was no problem for light passenger trains (if needed, the loco could do all the brake work), but for cargo trains, this was not acceptable, especially during long downgrades. It took quite some time to develop a brake that was inexhaustible. Third: WWI. The Kunze-Knorr-Bremse went in experimental state 1910, the official acceptance trials started in 1914. Then the war came and stalled everything. It took until 1918 to get the paperwork in order, and then another problem came up: the newfounded Deutsche Reichsbahn had no money. It had to pay the war reparations, then came the inflation, the Black Friday...it's hard to believe, but there were still hand-braked trains in Germany when WWII broke out. Officially, the section for hand-braked trains in the regulations was finally deleted in the 1960's, over 50 years after the introduction of the Kkg.
@@miriamn1075 Thank you for the explanation, The length and conciseness helped me to visualize the situation, also the historical information was just fascinating. Thanks again for taking so much time to explain this.
People have mentioned the States in comparison, but what was then the busiest railroad in the USA, the Pennsylvania, equipped many freight locomotive tenders with a "head-end brakeman's cabin," a feature often called "the doghouse." Although they were steel, I can't imagine many less-comfortable places to ride a coal-fired steam-powered freight train than the top of the water tank.
@@alexhajnal107 Oh, that's right. Perhaps it was because a narrow gauge engine cab is smaller than that of a standard gauge loco? With so many tunnels, the narrow gauge engines had to be particularly narrow.
@@pacificostudios I doubt lack of space in the cab was a consideration since the brakemen wouldn't normally be there on any railroad. I think it was due to the weather being harsher in the Rockies that led the D&RGW to adopt them. Hyce went into detail on it in _Why is there a HOUSE on the TENDER? - D&RGW K-37 491_
@@alexhajnal107 - Since I wasn't around in the days of steam, and I've only worked on historic electric (streetcar) equipment, I just Googled "where did the head-end brakeman ride a train?" As I suspected, the answer was the locomotive cab. Remember that many states in the steam era required two and even three brakemen on a train, along with the conductor, engineer, and fireman. Pennsylvania R.R., in particular, operated in many states with "full crew laws," so adding a "doghouse" to a freight engine made a lot of sense. The rear brakie rode in the cabin car (Pennsy-speak for "caboose"). Having the head-end brakie in the cabin car defeated the purpose of having a head-end man. I guess that adding a second cabin car behind the tender of a loco was deemed an extravagance, since cabin cars were expensive to buy and maintain. Of course, the replacement of hand brakes with air brakes operated by the engineer greatly reduced the need to have men standing on roofwalks turning brake wheels. Still, having a rear brakeman riding with the conductor in the caboose, along with a head end brakeman meant the brakemen had a lot shorter walk when switching a long train. Furthermore, before handheld radios, extra brakemen could relay hand signals between the conductor on one end of a train and the engineer on the other end. Back to the narrow gauge, the first source I found confirmed my suspicions. The reasons Colorado narrow gauge lines installed doghouses were that the cabs were too small for three men to work around each other--especially the hard-shoveling fireman--and the weather was too cold for the brakeman to ride without shelter. www.mylargescale.com/threads/what-did-the-head-end-brakeman-in-the-doghouse-do.18037/ Remember that the old narrow gauge freight trains were much shorter than standard gauge drags by the 1920s. Also, the steep grades and frail construction of narrow gauge freight cars militated against putting too much tractive effort on the drawbar.
@alexhajnal107 - Also, the "doghouse" didn't need a stove like a caboose because it had a steam heating coil. Moreover, at least on the western narrow gauge lines, a steam heating system was often installed in the water tank to keep the boiler water from freezing up. So those doghouses must have been a lot more comfortable on a winter day than we might otherwise imagine. As for the PRR, many mainline tracks had "track pans" from which engines scooped up the water as the train passed over them, usually overflowing out of the vent pipe. My guess is that the brakie often had to close the windows in a hurry to keep from getting drenched by all the spray when his train took on water that way. Reportedly, getting drenched during the winter while passing over track pans could be fatal to a rail-riding hobo.
The compressed air brake which replaced the brake men was the Kunze-Knorr-Bremse manufactured by the company Knorr Bremse. The company used to have a holiday home for employees (or possibly their children, not sure) in Glashof, a part of the small city of St. Blasien in the Black Forest, Germany. While disused the building still had a sign Ferienheim Knorr-Bremse over the entrance until at least the 1990 or so. This is slightly ironical as St. Blasien itself has no rail connection. One was promised in the 90s - the 1890s, that is - by the Grand Duke of Baden but never built. I guess it was the fresh air then as opposed to Berlin where Knorr Bremse was headquartered at the time. Btw, great blender modeling! Are your .blend files available?
Just today I was watching The Pianist and noticed that cabin in one of the trains the germans used to transport jews, I thought it was for a soldier to watch over any escape.
Con la nascita della DR nel 1921 queste cabine avevano anche un senso politico e sociale: posti di lavoro. Fu tacito compito della DR assorbire quanti più reduci possibile smobilitati e disoccupati. Inoltre si dovette procedere al riordino e classificazione di lovomotive ( a vapore) e vagoni confluite nella DR dalle ferrovie bavaresi, prussiane, Baden Wüttenberg.
Goods trains from ninteenth century until the early Bundesbahn-epoch normally had 'Dienstwagen' (staff wagons) or 'Gütrzug-Packwagen' (goods train parcel wagons) which had a small wood stove and facilities for the personel so that they could warm themselves and eat during long shifts, however on the latter these compartements were quite crammed because they would split the wagon in two areas with the second part dedicated for small goods and parcels akin to 'Personenzug-Packwagen' (passenger train baggage wagons). Those wagons could be coupled at the end of he train or right behind the locomotive as they normally wouldnt be switched when the train turned directions at a stop. They didn't provide enough additional breaking power for the whole train either so the men had to go on their platforms anyway. But normally goods trains in Europe made rather short runs with many stops at factory branch connections and shunting yards where the single wagons were allocated to different destinations as mixed good trains were most common. So the men normally wouldn't have to be in these cabins the whole shift without breaks. . There were sometimes dedicated breaking cabs as well on mountain lines, for example Royal Bavarian State Railway had them frequently as I remember correctly.
Bare minimum and even that is exaggerated. It's technically a simple outhouse attached to a wagon. I heard stories of brakeman freezing to death in them in winter.
which rendered the brakemen's cabins for the most part redundant. "Redundant" means someone or something (air brakes) else is already doing the work; "obsolete" means the job no longer needs to be done. The braking still need to be done.
they said that they would often couple the cars so that one operator could operate two brakes. I assume that'd mean that the brake vans would generally point in either direction. about 50% point one way, 50% the other and I can't imagine that orientation would affect anything, except maybe if you're the first few cars behind a locomotive (being as far from the hot cinders as possible sounds like a smart idea)
@@briannem.6787 Hmmm, well, I was thinking being able to see the axle boxes to watch for overheating like how cupolas were used on cabooses, but I'm probably overthinking it.
So... why didn't they tie the brakes into the couplers or the buffers? If the train is stretched, the brakes are loose. When the couplers compress, have them push on the brakes. Simple, automatic.
one thing that's incredibly hard to explain to people who aren't German is German people's obsession with miniature trains and Industrial Equipment I don't know why we do what we do I just know that we do what we do
Trust me when I say, "You have kin in Britain and the US of A." Every place I have lived had at least one train or miniature train museum, association, or club.
Damnit I saw this and instantly thought "cute tiny train that can deliver small cute loads" but I am now disappointed in the Germans once inefficient mechanical engineering.
It's not really like a brake van or caboose. The point of a brake van/caboose is that there's only one of them (occasionally two) at the end of the train. These were spread through the train.
European train cars can also have more than 4 wheels. It's about the weight that the wagon can transport. European Wagons (both old and recent) also came in the variants of: 2 four wheeled trucks - 2 six wheeled trucks and even 2 eight wheeled trucks (the latter 2 mostly used in iron refineries and low bed Wagons for large and heavy cargo, and the infamous rail cannon) If it's possible to transport what they intend for the wagon with only 4 wheels then that does mean less drag resistance on the track and ultimately less coal used, so those 4 wheeled wagons were very common back then. Nowadays most wagons use 2 four wheeled trucks that are necessary with the heavier loads and containers. The only Wagons with 4 wheels that are used today are in work trains for as far as I know.
