Re: Brake staff /cylinder confusion -- Hand brake failures

Posted by Jim Courtney on Feb 19, 2017; 7:52pm
URL: http://c-sng-discussion-forum.254.s1.nabble.com/Brake-staff-cylinder-confusion-and-mismatched-trucks-tp3464p7738.html

Yes, John, I've wondered as well whether the A end brake staff arrangement was prone to failures when backing up the air brake application. This might have been the impetus to move the hand brake to the B end of the car. There are quite a few anecdotal stories of set-out cars mysteriously breaking loose and running away, prior to 1900.

My favorite is the Charlie Squires tale of six loaded ore cars, "tied up at Breckenridge", somehow breaking loose and finding their way to the mainline. The six cars ran down the Blue River valley until they reached the Leadville switch at Dickey, where they derailed and demolished the south end of the Dickey depot. Squires reportedly ran in a new telegraph line, after the carpenters had repaired the depot.