Nostalgia & History > The forgotten man on the train crew.

We are down to engineers and "conductors"  these days, and maybe soon just engineers. What has disappeared from the railroad lexicon is the brakeman. When there were four, and in some cases five man crews, there were usually two brakemen. On yard locals they worked together picking up and setting off cars. On road freights, there were front and rear brakemen, or on some roads the rear man was designated the traditional flagman label. Thes guys were the workaday on the ground grunts who pulled the pins, set and released car brakes, repaired broken couplers and air hoses, and even road on tops of cars to relay signals between engine and others on the ground. It was dirty, it was dangerous, and it was tough. These images are just my small salute to a forgotten craft. All three shots taken around Baltimore in 1966. Bottom shot is a real conductor giving switching instructions to the brakeman.

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD

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One more of a brakeman at work...Baltimore 1966

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD

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Thanks for the great photos of railroading with the human touch.
Gary

great images of a GREAT job to have had........

66

NY state had a five man minimum "full crew" law for many years. The New Haven had a Maybrook to Danbury brakeman job to comply.

Travel to Danbury, hop off, wait for the next westbound, return to home terminal.

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I figure the lack of brakemen contributes to mainline trains taking 45 min to an hour to pick up or set out 1 car.

TJY

• Great Photos and great memories!

Ditto, 
Charlie Rice

Charles Rice
Saint Louis, MO

goneon66 Wrote:
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> great images of a GREAT job to have had........
>
> 66


Except when it's raining.

-LD

An old set of special instructions for the NP in the early 1900s stated each train on Mullan Pass would have one brakeman on the roof for every 5 cars in the train, all seasons, all weather, day or night. What were trains back then, 50-60 cars?

An old time engineer retiree I talked to who talked to old timers who were young back in those days said the helpers would go back up the mountain and pick up brakemen who had fallen off the roofs on the way down. Sometimes they weren't found until the Spring when the snow melted. Train airbrakes were a wondeful invention.

Last photo - Note the pants tied off at the ankles.  Keeps rats from running up inside your pantlegs.

Ahhhhh...  Part of the Romance of the Rails.

-LD

fbe Wrote:
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> An old set of special instructions for the NP in
> the early 1900s stated each train on Mullan Pass
> would have one brakeman on the roof for every 5
> cars in the train, all seasons, all weather, day
> or night. What were trains back then, 50-60 cars?

Check out this 1898 film by Thomas Edison showing Sp brakemen doing just that.

https://archive.org/details/EdisonMotionPicturesCollectionPartOne1891-1898/1898Freight_train.mpg

-LD

#3 is a solid winner!
SR

Photo 3...what's with the miniature basketball in his left hand?

HH

P.S. Your photos and stories are fantastic!  Please, keep 'em coming.

He found the ball on the ground. Nothing more exciting than that. Does look strange, I agree.

Bill Rettberg
Bel Air, MD

A ball on the ground in the yard is a 'tripping' hazard. Step on it, lose your balance and hit your head on a carside. Fall down with some body part beneath a moving train or cut of cars.

Seems harmless until you work the ground in a yard. It probably was hooped into an mty hopper for disposal.

Image #3:

"You make a cut at that gon. I'll fake a jumper and kick it to you for the slam dunk..."

LarryDoyle Wrote:

> Check out this 1898 film by Thomas Edison showing Sp brakemen doing just that.
> https://archive.org/details/EdisonMotionPicturesCollectionPartOne1891-1898/1898Freight_train.mpg

That scene was filmed just east of Tunnel 8 on the Tehachapi line.  It was a special train of hops grown by Horst Bros.  The same train can be seen between Woodford and Walong in a still photo on pg. 209 of Dunscomb's "A Century of Southern Pacific Steam Locomotives."
 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/14/18 13:14 by johnsweetser.

NP boxcar photo 3.

“ Back in the day”, as they say, I was switching in the various yard areas around Oakland, CA., where my longest point-to-point was maybe East Oakland yard to the Embarcadero area and/or San Leandro..... for me a good distance. This was in the late ‘60’s early ‘70’s as I recall when I was
a part of RL King’s management trainee program. I vividly recall observing the brakemen making up their train for their trip to perhaps Roseville or maybe San Jose, or even further, and so much wishing I was part of the rear end crew looking forward to a leisurely trip to their eventual destination. It wasn’t until several years later after I resigned and finished my college career that I started to understand what a challenge braking was.....inclement weather, working a pickup on a dark switch lead at night, being away from my home terminal and family for extended periods, etc....

Those times of reflection leaped into my mind looking at this post...... and being thankful for the short time that I considered myself a bit of a railroader.

BB in Spokane

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