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How Railroad Freight Car Brakes Work

HO Scale Rio Grande in the San Luis Valley

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IMAGINE YOU’RE THE BRAKEMAN on a westbound D&RGW freight train hauling an 88 car consist to Ogden, Utah (The D&RGW calls you a “Trainman”, not a Brakeman.) It is January 13, 1955, and your train has stopped at the top of Tennessee Pass (elevation: 10,212 feet) to allow the helper locomotive to uncouple for its return to Salida, Colorado. Ahead of you is a 21 mile descent to Minturn, with an average downgrade of 2.2% and a maximum grade of just over 3%.
The time is 1:27 AM, the temperature is 11 degrees F, and snow is falling. Operating rules require you to set the retainer valves on every third car in the consist to MP, leaving the others set to EX. This means you must walk the entire train - almost 4,000 feet long - and climb to the top of 29 cars to set their retainer valves. And the entire time you’re doing this, you know that in Minturn, you’ll get to do this all over again to reset those retainer valves to EX...
I have no idea what princely wage you are earning, but surely it is not enough!
For more information on George Westinghouse’s first air brake patent, see US Patent 144,006 “Improvement in Steam and Air Brakes”, October 28, 1873. AB valves have gotten more sophisticated in the last century and a half, but they all build on Westinghouse’s original concept.
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This video was edited using Shotcut for Linux. Video footage and still images were recorded using a Galaxy A10e phone and a Nikon D7100 camera.

Опубликовано:

26 авг 2024

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Комментарии : 11

@Mascot467 6 месяцев назад

clear and concise. Thank you.

@pacificrailproductions5281 Месяц назад

Great information! Also passenger equipment air brakes are operated at a higher pounds per square inch than freight. Automatic Brakes are charged up to 90 lbs sq/in on freight and 100 lbs or greater on passenger. This can be adjusted on the locomotive.

@rwissbaum9849 Месяц назад

I didn't know that! How do they handle air pressure on mixed consists?

@duanewhite3275 Год назад

Excellent description. Thank you.

@ricsrails 10 месяцев назад

Excellent description.I love the detail.

@whiteknightcat 10 месяцев назад

Once the high-mount brake wheels were replaced with today's low mount ones, I believe the retainer valves were moved to the same location as the AB valve. I just checked some pics of some Greenville gondolas I took last month, and the retainers appear to be mounted just to the left of the AB valve, with the release rod just under the right side of the valve and extending to both sides of the car.

@rwissbaum9849 10 месяцев назад

I did not know that - thanks. I had read that, on passenger cars with brake wheels on both ends of the car, the B end of the car is the end with the retainer valve. With the retainer valve mounted underneath the car (if indeed they are mounted underneath passenger cars) how does one determine the B end?

@whiteknightcat 10 месяцев назад

@@rwissbaum9849 I was not aware of passenger cars with dual brake wheels, but in that case I believe the B end was designated as the one towards which the brake piston pointed.

@jackberlien8916 11 месяцев назад

Hi, and thanks for the education and good view of the braking system! I am confused about how the levers are mounted, or how they swivel. I see that the cylinder moves the lever, and the rod connected to the bolster (truck) activates the brakes. What's not clear is how that "floating" lever moves. It appears to be linked to the other lever in the center point, thus having little or no movement. Also, where is the pivot point of that "floating" lever? at the top-most end? Thanks!

@rwissbaum9849 11 месяцев назад

As I understand it, the pivot points for the brake lever and the floating lever are offset from center and on opposite sides. For purposes of understanding you can assume that the pivots are built onto the mounting brackets - and that might even be the case. So the brake lever pivots around the mount closest to the brake cylinder. This provides the best multiplying effect to the brake rod attached to the opposite end of the brake lever. The connection to the floating lever is in the center, but the floating lever pivots on the other side - the side away from the brake rod. I fear this is a confusing explanation, but once you realize that the pivots are off-center and on opposite sides of the centerline, the action should make more sense.

@jackberlien8916 11 месяцев назад

@@rwissbaum9849 Thanks for taking the time to answer! And yes, that makes perfect sense! For whatever reason I was assuming center pivots, which of course didn't make sense with what I was seeing.