Nostalgia & History > Why is the air hose so high?

The following pictures are from the calisphere website. 
 
Picture 1 is an enlargement of a portion of picture 2. 
 

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Picture 2, “Title: Train with passengers traveling downhill, crossing a trestle on the Mount Tamalpais & Muir Woods Railroad.  Creator/Contributor: unknown.  Date: circa 1915.  Contributing Institution: Mill Valley Public Library.   
 

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Picture 3, “Title: Workers tearing up the tracks of the Mount Tamalpais & Muir Woods Railroad.  Creator/Contributor: unknown.  Date: 1930.  Contributing Institution: Mill Valley Public Library. 
 

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Connection for a whistle to be used during reverse moves?

Brian Ehni

Perhaps to keep them up where they can't be knocked apart by anything they might run over?  I think the Uintah Railway did this.  (possibly a European design influence?)
SR

Could have to do with safety and the link and pin drawbar.

Dick Samuels

I think you have it Dick.


Nudge

Perhaps, it's a DM&IR subsidiary?

Nahhh.  Maybe, not.

-John

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It also allows for a longer hose without worrying about it dragging on the rails (also a deal with the Unitah -  they had extra long hoses because of the insanely sharp curves).

Flynn, thanks for posting that #3 photo, worth a thousand words.

I live in San Rafael is there any remenents of that railroad left?

Posted from iPhone

This was a narrow gauge railroad (3 ft, if I remember correctly), and consequently the cars were low-slung, with smaller wheels than standard, and lower-mounted couplers; so a standard air brake hose mounted in the normal position would drag along the ties and suffer severe damage. In most cases, fitting a shorter hose is not an option because it would be stretched too tight on sharp curves. Coupler heights on narrow-gauge railroads are not as standardized as on standard-gauge lines, so some can use a normal brake hose location below the coupler (for example, the meter-gauge RRs in Argentina, Brazil and Chile), while the meter-gauge RRs of East Africa (Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania) and the 3 ft gauge Colombian National RRs use low-mounted couplers (hung below the center sill instead of being mounted within it), so need to have the brake hose mounted above the coupler, as on the Mt. Tamalpais and Muir Woods car pictured.

Hope this helps.

Roger Lewis (airbrakegeezer)  

Another reason for the high hoses on the Utinah is it keep the bottom of the hoses further way from snow on the ground to help prevent freeze up.

I'm pretty sure the MT&MW was standard gauge.

The Colorado Midland used high air brake hoses because of moisture freezing in them if mounted low.

flynn Wrote:

> Picture 2, “Title: Train with passengers
> traveling downhill, crossing a trestle on the
> Mount Tamalpais & Muir Woods Railroad. 
> Creator/Contributor: unknown.  Date: circa
> 1915. 

If somebody out there has Graves & Wurm's book Crookedest Railroad in the World handy, look up when the railroad converted from wood to oil firing.  Heisler #2 got a shotgun stack at that point, replacing the balloon seen here.  In any event, it was well before 1915.  I'm pretty sure the engine was off the roster entirely by 1915.