European Railroad Discussion > What am I seeing?

From across the Atlantic, what is this wheel I see on th efrieght cars?

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Could it be something to do with the breakers.. To engage or disengage the brake?
Just a idea.
Robert in Lawrenceville Georgia

santafedan Wrote:
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> From across the Atlantic, what is this wheel I see
> on the freight cars?


That is the Hand Brake.

Yup the hand brake wheel for the rail car.
It took forever to move the hand brakes from the top of the box cars
to the ends and then they were still mounted up high and the cars had
VERY small platforms to stand on to either tighten the hand brakes or
to release them and people were still getting hurt by falling off the platforms
and now the brake wheels are at ground level for most all the rail cars by now.
I hope someday they will move them to one side or the other away from the flange way.

Thank you very much. I was guessing that might be the case. The history is also helpful.
Santafedan

leonz Wrote:
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> It took forever to move the hand brakes . . .

And why, I've often wondered, can't they do this in North America? It would be safer for the employes and cut the time required to set/release hand brakes in half. Given the number of rollaway accidents caused by failure to set sufficient handbrakes, I'd think making the train/yard crews' jobs easier in this regard would be good for safety.

I thought it was the steering wheel.....

Posted from iPhone

illini73 Wrote:
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> leonz Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> > It took forever to move the hand brakes . . .
>
> And why, I've often wondered, can't they do this
> in North America? It would be safer for the
> employes and cut the time required to set/release
> hand brakes in half. Given the number of rollaway
> accidents caused by failure to set sufficient
> handbrakes, I'd think making the train/yard crews'
> jobs easier in this regard would be good for
> safety.

FRA Safety Appliance Standards say that the hand brake must be capable of being operated by someone riding on the car.

With the old platforms yes, but the great majority of
the rail cars are now equipped with brake wheels that are
tensioned and released from the ground.

If I remember correctly most or all the class ones no longer permit
dismounting a moving locomotive too.

Moving the brake wheels to the sides would involve welding brake wheel
mounting plates to the closest car weldment that would be easily serviced
and usable and perhaps adding more chain to the linkages controlling the
brake pads.

My thoughts anyway.

1019X Wrote:
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> FRA Safety Appliance Standards say that the hand
> brake must be capable of being operated by someone
> riding on the car.

Another case of government regulation inhibiting innovation. Why not drop the rule and let the railroads and their employes figure out what's best, all things considered. I know riding kicked or dropped cars to rest, controlling speed with the handbrake, is a longstanding practice in North America, but even so the majority of handbrake applications/releases occur when the car is standing still.

illini73 Wrote:
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> 1019X Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> > FRA Safety Appliance Standards say that the
> hand
> > brake must be capable of being operated by
> someone
> > riding on the car.
>
> Another case of government regulation inhibiting
> innovation. Why not drop the rule and let the
> railroads and their employes figure out what's
> best, all things considered. I know riding kicked
> or dropped cars to rest, controlling speed with
> the handbrake, is a longstanding practice in North
> America, but even so the majority of handbrake
> applications/releases occur when the car is
> standing still.


Perhaps a better solution might be to outlaw the practice of controlling loose shunted wagons with a handbrake. This sounds like an archaic way of carrying on. I wish I had faith in the industry to regulate itself - the question must be asked as to why was this ever thought to be needed? Interestingly here in the UK hand brakes have always been accessible from the trackside. When I was a kid most freights were un-braked as well as loose coupled, so trains would often have to stop at the top of gradients for the guard (whose van was not called a "brake van" for nothing) to "pin down" a number of handbrakes using a simple lever on the side. Now, of course, in the UK freight trains are hardly ever broken up from their fixed formations.

Interesting discussion on brake wheels but I'm gonna go out on a limb, that I don't think any North American brake wheels are ever tensioned/released from the ground, right? They are lower on the ends of the cars than they used to be, but I don't think they can be reached from the ground and still require using the little platform that is provided. Am I right or wrong, a pro would be able to confirm either way?

As to Europe, I think (on the mainland at least) the brake wheels have been side mounted for a relatively long time already, I'm guessing maybe since cars built in the 1970's? At least I've seen some that old with side mounted brake wheels. Latest thing is some are now being built with the brake wheel right on the truck, which would make access even simpler I would think. Here is a photo, not mine, but from the internet showing that setup:

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It takes a long while to bring revenue cars in for rebuilds over here unless they are damaged. Many older box cars are owned by short line railroads which also affects the timeline as to how soon they are repaired or upgraded too.
The discontinued Somersett Railroads 286,000+ gross weight open top gondolas with rotary knuckles had ground accessed brake wheels which made them very easy to access and take up the brake tension or release it. The old Conrail open top hopper cars and other lines from the period of 1987 forward did not have ground actuated brake wheels

leonz Wrote:
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> It takes a long while to bring revenue cars in for
> rebuilds over here unless they are damaged. Many
> older box cars are owned by short line railroads
> which also affects the timeline as to how soon
> they are repaired or upgraded too.
> The discontinued Somersett Railroads 286,000+
> gross weight open top gondolas with rotary
> knuckles had ground accessed brake wheels which
> made them very easy to access and take up the
> brake tension or release it. The old Conrail open
> top hopper cars and other lines from the period of
> 1987 forward did not have ground actuated brake
> wheels


The FRA could require ground accessible brake wheels, if there was a need. But there doesn't seem to be a need.

Bunny218 Wrote:
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> Interesting discussion on brake wheels but I'm gonna go out on a limb, that I don't think any
> North American brake wheels are ever tensioned/released from the ground, right? They
> are lower on the ends of the cars than they used to be, but I don't think they can be reached from
> the ground and still require using the little platform that is provided. Am I right or wrong, . . .

That's correct, unless you use a brake stick to reach them from the ground. Long-standing practice calcified into government regulation will make it very difficult to change this system. We've become so dependent on the FRA and NTSB in the U.S. that the possibility of making a change other than by having the government mandate it no longer occurs to anyone. I still think the European system is better for safety, all things considered.

There's a "Norfolk Southern brake stick training" video out on youtube, in case you're not familiar with that product. Runs about 9 minutes. A search for the quoted text above will find it easily.