I have a few questions about this subject. how long did they have to remain on the top of the freight when it was traveling?did one brakeman have a given amount of cars to brake, and after braking them did he have to walk back on the cars and reverse the procedure? did he have any protection from inclement weather, or did he have to stay up on the cars the entire trip.? sorry for all of the questions, but this is a subject that fascinates me, and I cannot find out any of the information that relates to this verry dangerous job. thanking you. toot.

Air brakes eliminated the need for a third brakeman. Railroad power brakes became available in the 1860's and mandatory in 1900. Most roads used compressed air but some narrow-gauge lines used vacuum brakes.

Brakemen needed an enclosed space; it gets too cold to be on top of a moving train for any length of time.

Brakemen were in the caboose or the engine cab until the engineer blew "down brakes." The brakemen would go to preassgned cars in the train and start manually applying brakes.

Remember, winter temperatures in North America can go below -50C.

Phil Mulligan

Phil Mulligan, thank you so much sir for the quick answer to my question. now I understand the history of the top side brack man. I thought that they walked on the top side up into the early 1900's.makes sense that a man would freeze in no time on the top of the train in sub temperatures, not to say walking on the frozen / iced up walk way. again I thank you so much. toot..

There was another reason for brakies to ride the tops and that was to turn up retainers. I witnessed this a number of times in Guatemala on the former IRCA 3 ft. gauge line.

Down there, they seldom had to worry about abnormally cold temperatures.

Even on my last trip in 1977, the Road Foreman would turn and make a signal to the forward brakeman to turn up retainers when we were coming to a downgrade. This was on the Pacific Division. The train was a 4 car charter with Mike 204 as power. It sure made getting over the road less of a worry

Tom Moungovan, thank you so much for the reply to my question. forgive me for asking you what is - turn up retainers? is that when the forward brake man has to go top side and turn the metal wheels that were at the front of the box cars that activated the brakes, and release them when they were down past the grade? I guess that the hand wheels were applied one at a time then walk back and release them again. as I stated I am new to the site & am a person seeking knowledge on the subjects. and thank you for taking the time to explain the subjects & terms to me. toot.

Retainers are part of the cars piping and served to retard the release of brakes. This gave more time for the compressor to restore the normal brake pipe pressure. I think that they had two positions to chose from besides down (off).

You can find complete explanations I'm sure, if you google it.

The retainer is part of the automatic air brake system. It solves a serious safety concern.

Components on the car are a triple valve, air reservoir and the brake cylinder. Air brakes on a US RR train are applied by REDUCING the air pressure in the trainline from the engine to the cars. Let's say we have a passenger train using 110 psi in the trainline.

You charge the trainline from the engine. The triple valve sees the trainline pressure is more than the air in the reservoir and admits train air in the reservoir up to the trainline pressure. To apply ("set") the brakes the engineer reduces the pressure in the trainline. The triple valve senses the trainline presure is less than the reservoir pressure and sends air from the reservoir to the cylinder. This applies the brakes. When you release the brakes, the engineer sends air back to the train. The triple valve again sees that the trainlinee pressure is more than the reservoir pressure and both routes air into the reservoir and releases the air in the cylinder. Sounds complicated but if you lose your air, the train stops.

So what does a retainer do? Going down a long grade, the air in the cylinder will leak, reducing the effectiveness. recharges the trainlineThat's where the retainers come in. You can turn up the retainer on a car to the half or full position. When the engineer recharges the trainline, it releases the brakes except on the cars with the retainers turned up.

50 years ago, there were walkways on the roofs of the cars and the handbrakes were near the tops of the end ladders just below the roof. Both the head end and rear brakemen set retainers as necessary. In NY State, the swing brakeman helped as well.

Phil Mulligan

Phil, WOW! thank you for taking the time to answer my question. I got a great history lesson! it is a fascinating subject.

Tom, thanks for the answer to my question, what are retainers. this site has the greatest bunch of members helping others,with questions that they are seeking information on. thanks' guys.