K2 126 with doghouse

[NW Mailing List]

On 4/29/2020 10:29 AM, NW Mailing List wrote:

> What was the purpose of having someone sitting in the doghouse? What 
> was he supposed to do that required him to be in that exact place?
>
> Rob Doorack
>
> North Andover, MA
>
Rob,
     To add to what Ken has said, the head end brakeman's job was to cut 
the engine or engine and cars away from the train when having to do 
switching or yarding the train. He would handle what switches needed to 
be thrown and relay hand signals while the rear brakeman handled 
coupling/uncoupling cars. He may also be the one to go to the phone box 
when the train was stopped at a signal to get instructions from the 
dispatcher. So, the head end brakeman needed to be...on the head ed of 
the train.

     Now, if you have never been in the cab of an N&W locomotive, there, 
for all intents and purposes, is no where for anyone but the engineer 
and fireman to sit. So, the doghouse is where the head brakeman rode, 
unless he wanted to stand up, sit on some hard steel or help the fireman 
out if the coal needed to cut down to the stoker auger in the tender.

Jimmy Lisle

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