Head end brakeman-steam era

[NW Mailing List]

Gordon,

That must have been such a great thrill.  Wonderful photos.  Thanks for
sharing.

Jim Brewer

On Wed, Apr 29, 2020 at 9:57 PM NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
wrote:

> Gordon, I hope the crew got a print of that mighty fine photo you took.
> Classic RR scene.  John Garner
>
>
>
> *From:* NW Mailing List [mailto:nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]
> *Sent:* Wednesday, April 29, 2020 3:51 PM
> *To:* NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
> *Subject:* Re: Head end brakeman-steam era
>
>
>
> Of course, some locomotives were designed with a large enough cab to
> accommodate two seats on the fireman's side of the cab.  When I rode the
> cab of an L&N Class M1 Berkshire No. 1960, several decades ago, from
> Corbin, KY, to De Coursey Yard, across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, I
> was able to rest in a seat behind the fireman's seat.
>
> I am attaching a couple of pictures from that L&N trip for no particular
> purpose to this N&W/VGN group than to commemorate a bygone era common to
> all steam railroads.  I'm afraid that the names of the L&N crew have long
> since been lost.  The photos came out surprisingly well considered that I
> took them with an old Kodak camera with a front that pivoted downward so
> that a bellows with the lens, shutter release, etc., could be pulled out, a
> camera that I borrowed from my grandmother to take to college with me.
>
> Gordon Hamilton
>
> On 4/29/2020 1:57 PM, NW Mailing List wrote:
>
> Jimmy Lisle gave a good explanation.  A number of states had full crew
> laws for freight trains: 5. The tender doghouse seemed to be most
> common for the headend brakeman.  PRR did it.  Interesting that SP did not
> have them, but their subsidiary T&NO which operated in Texas did.  That
> looked odd with a doghouse mounted off center on a Vanderbuilt tender.  B&O
> built an extension on the fireman's side of the engine cab for a brakeman's
> seat.
>
>  --Rick Morrison
>
>     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
>
> The message is ready to be sent with the following file or link
> attachments:
> B&O Q3010
> B&O T3011
>
> Note: To protect against computer viruses, e-mail programs may prevent
> sending or receiving certain types of file attachments.  Check your e-mail
> security settings to determine how attachments are handled.
>
> ________________________________________
>
> NW-Mailing-List at nwhs.org
>
> To change your subscription go to
>
> http://list.nwhs.org/mailman/options/nw-mailing-list
>
> Browse the NW-Mailing-List archives at
>
> http://list.nwhs.org/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> [image: Image removed by sender. Avast logo]
> <https://www.avast.com/antivirus>
>
> This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
> www.avast.com <https://www.avast.com/antivirus>
>
>
>
> ________________________________________
> NW-Mailing-List at nwhs.org
> To change your subscription go to
> http://list.nwhs.org/mailman/options/nw-mailing-list
> Browse the NW-Mailing-List archives at
> http://list.nwhs.org/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://pairlist6.pair.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20200430/a9589758/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: ~WRD000.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 823 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://pairlist6.pair.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20200430/a9589758/attachment-0001.jpg>