In the earliest days of railroading, the handbrake was the only way to stop a train; the brakemen had to walk from car to car and set the handbrakes. Then came the invention of airbrakes, where the engineer in the cab applies the brakes through his airbrake valve, and walking the roofs of boxcars and reefers to set handbrakes was no longer necessary. Today's long freight trains would be impossible if crews still had to operate brakes manually.

NARROW GAUGE BRAKE HARDWARE

Narrow gauge railroads followed the standard gauge roads in adding brake equipment, but with one main difference to the model railroader. The mainline roads installed a small platform on the brake end of the car. The brake shaft passed through a rachet and pawl on the platform, then down to a bracket on the end beam. The rachet and pawl controlled the direction the shaft turned and kept it from backing up. The brakeman used to stand on the platform to turn the brakewheel and kick the pawl with his foot either to maintain pressure on the brake chain or to release it.

From the beginning, with few exceptions, narrow gauge railroads omitted the brake platform. The brakemen still went from car to car but never had to find the end ladders to reach the brakewheel. It stood at a standard height, usually 30 inches above the roof, and the rachet and pawl mounted on the edge of the roof.

According to my reference library, the only narrow gauge lines to use brake platforms were Pennsylvania's East Broad Top and the Eastern Tennessee & Western North Carolina Railroad. [No model of an EBT boxcar is available in large scale; Bachmann's boxcars and gondolas represent ET&WNC prototypes and that accounts for their brake platforms. The platforms on USA Trains boxcars and reefers are technically incorrect because those cars derive from Southern Pacific Narrow Gauge and D&RGW prototypes.-Ed.]

The John W. Maxwell photograph clearly illustrates the brake end of most narrow gauge house cars. [A "house" car is any enclosed box-type car, such as a boxcar, reefer, or stock car.-Ed.] It shows Colorado & Southern boxcar number 8279 but also is representative of other roads. The roof end walk has a notch to clear the rachet and pawl assembly. The ubiquitous retainer valve is below, between the ladder and the brake shaft. Most model freight cars lack retainer valves, but they are easy to add. Detail manufacturers such as Ozark, Shortline Car & Foundry, and Precision Scale offer castings. The pipe extending from the retainer valve down to the brake cylinder under the car could be a length of .033-inch diameter brass wire.

OTHER FEATURES

You may be wondering about the metal brackets about halfway up each side of the car. At the end of the nineteenth century, when the new cars arrived from the shop, the brackets held a truss rod to keep the ends from spreading under a heavy load. In the 1920s, after a major rebuilding program, the C&S removed the rods but left the brackets. [Cars from the D&RGW, Rio Grande Southern, and other narrow gauge railroads retain similar brackets.-Ed.]

The photo also shows how low the cars sat over the trucks. Nearly all Colorado cars sat low, presumably for better balance. But, as you may have noticed, the couplers actually mount halfway into the car end beam in order to maintain a standard 26 inch centerline height above the top of the rail. It is difficult to lower the body of most mass-produced models enough to achieve such an appearance; the manufacturers deliberately build them to ride high to give enough truck clearance on very sharp curves. Unless you rebuild or heavily modify the underframes of your freight cars, you will have to live with the discrepancy.

Most narrow gauge roads outside Colorado mounted the couplers below the end beam so modeling such cars is a little easier. The best approach to accurate kitbashing or scratchbuilding is to obtain photographs of the car you want to model. Of course, that assumes photos are available.

Details such as retainer valves or brake platforms may seem minor in comparison to such factors as overall dimensions or paint schemes. But, collectively, they add a very important dimension of realism to any model.