# What did the head-end brakeman in the doghouse do?



## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

Once air brakes came into general use, what did the head-end brakeman--the guy sitting in the little doghouse on the back of some tenders--actually do? The brakes, both for the loco and for the cars, were usually controlled from the engineer's side of the cab, by the engineer. Why did they put that doghouse on the back of the tender? And what did that brakeman do?


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## Andre Anderson (Jan 3, 2008)

One of the main duties of the brakeman was to cut the cars and set the switches when switching out and picking up cars and once the train was reconnected he would hook all of the brake hoses back up. Do to the duties of the fireman he could not always be counted on to preform the switching duties and handle the fire and the boiler at the same time, the engineer was paying attention to the man on the ground. With the K's there was not enough room in the cab for the engine crew and the brakeman so they built the dog house on the tender. One other thing to remember was they were trying to save time when they could and having the brakeman walk the length of the train to set switches would have taken just to long, also in Colorado in the winter it was COLD. 


As an example a train has been told to take the siding so the engineer stops the train just clear of the switch, the headend brakeman drops of and throws the switch and signals the engineer to proceed which he will do at a slow crawl then as the loco passes the brakeman swings on board the tender as the caboose gets to the switch the rear end brakeman will drop off and throw the switch back to the main and by this time the engineer has stopped the train so the rearend brakeman only has to walk a little way to the caboose. The rearend brakeman will then signal the crew in the locomotive that he is on board either by lantern, flag or with the train air line by bleading some air off, with that signal the engineer will then move the train to the other end of the siding to wait for the train that he is waiting for, once the train stops at the end of the siding, when this happens two things usually will happen the first is the brakeman will walk their own train for any problems, then they both will usually end up in the caboose for a cup something they call coffee, the second thing is when the brakeman hear the train that they are meeting they will drop off and give the other train a rolling inspection as it goes by and if every thing is OK they will give a high ball signal to the crew in the other caboose. Once everything and every body is where they are supposed to be the headend brakeman will the throw the switch so the train can proceed and the whole process of getting into the siding is reversed and when done the train is on its way.

I hope this helps some


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

Makes sense--thanks.


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## jfrank (Jan 2, 2008)

Now they do all that with a two man crew, or one man with a remote control pack. The railroad unions insisted on keeping a 5 man crew for decades after steam was gone. In some states they had a so called 'full crew law' that mandated a six man crew. Then they had the 100 mile day, where a crew got paid a full days pay for running just 100 miles. For passenger trains the distance was 150 miles, something a fast train could do in less than three hours. Some long distance passenger trains went through 16 crews in a single trip. It was madness and it almost bankrupted the railroads. Trains now run hundreds of miles between crew changes.


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

I always wondered just what the head-end brakeman did to be in the doghouse too. Probably tic'd off the Engineer somehow. 

At any rate, he was also responsible to watch the train from the front end while underway, same as the workmen on the caboose did from the rear.


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## DKRickman (Mar 25, 2008)

Southern Ry. had a lot of engines with doghouses as well, even though the weather was generally rather mild. In addition to providing shelter from the cold and rain, it kept the head end brakeman from having to climb over a load of coal when there was a stoker in the tender. Stokers were designed to crush large lumps of coal, and would not have been bothered by crushing a man's foot either. 

For the same reason, tender decks on Southern's stoker equipped engines were painted red, while non-stoker engines had black decks.


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## rdamurphy (Jan 3, 2008)

Andre hit the nail on the head. In addition, the D&RGW had NO signals on the narrow gauge, NO automatic switches, and operated on "flimsies" or Train Orders ONLY! Not to mention the fact, that to my knowledge, no D&RGW narrow gauge car ever had roller bearings, and a "hotbox" or burning oil in the axle housing was a serious issue with wooden cars. Which explains why you see so many passenger trains with a caboose. 

For the narrow gauge guys, you can imagine how small and cramped those cabs were, and having three people in there must have been quite a tight fit. 

I'm rather curious as to what those "toolboxes" on top of the cabs of the D&RGW locomotives were for, they seemed pretty unaccessable, and tended to appear and disappear in various photos of various locomotives. You know, C&TS and D&S should sell tickets for a ride in the "doghouse." I'd imagine a lot of people would pay good money to ride up there! 

Thanks! Robert


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## Jerry McColgan (Feb 8, 2008)

Posted By lownote on 22 Mar 2011 03:57 AM 
Once air brakes came into general use, what did the head-end brakeman--the guy sitting in the little doghouse on the back of some tenders--actually do? The brakes, both for the loco and for the cars, were usually controlled from the engineer's side of the cab, by the engineer. Why did they put that doghouse on the back of the tender? And what did that brakeman do? 





Thanks for asking the question. I too had wondered about that.

Presumably there was no heat or anything in the doghouse. Is that correct?

It does not sound like much fun - no wonder it was called the Doghouse.

Jerry


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## Tom Parkins (Jan 2, 2008)

_Presumably there was no heat in the doghouse...._ That's both good and bad. I suspect the fireman envied the brakeman being up there when it was 130 degrees in the cab on a hot summer day. Remember that 75 years ago or so, it was a lot harder work on the railroad than what happens now. No air conditioned cabs, no toilets, no radios. A lot more dangerous too.


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## Andre Anderson (Jan 3, 2008)

Presumably there was no heat or anything in the doghouse. Is that correct?

It does not sound like much fun - no wonder it was called the Doghouse.

Jerry

Jerry,

All of the Rio Grande's dog houses had steam heat, there was either a coil on one of the side walls or on the wall under the seat, The seats had padded cushions just like the locomotives. Remember that the temperature in the mountains could regularly get below 0 and many times below -20, a person will not last long in an exposed position like the dog house with out heat. The brake man could control the heat with a valve in the dog house. The one thing that I do remember reading was that it was not to effective of a system for heating, as one side froze and the other side roasted , The engine crew had he same problem, freezing on one side and roasted on the other side.


I am not sure but some where but seem to remember reading that most of the Rio Grande's tenders had a steam coil in the tender tank to keep the water from freezing. This was mainly for when they were stopped out on the line some where such as waiting for another train on a siding or such. If it was cold enough and it got cold enough every winter the water in the tank could freeze with the loco just siting still as there would not have been enough movement to keep the water from freezing. Once the water started to freeze the whole tank could freeze in just a couple of minutes due to having become what is called supper cooled water. you would loose some of the water that you could put in the boiler as water and you might not be able to make from water tank to water tank. Also one of the reasons that you would see a hose coiled around the steam dome was so that you could defrost the valve on the water tanks, the fire man would uncoil the hose and shove it up the tank's water spout till it almost touched the valve on the tank and then turn on the steam to defrost the valve.



Most of the Rio Grand and other Colorado railroads tried to set up their water tanks with a continuous flow of water in the winter so that the tank would not freeze, the Maine railroads either used water plugs with the tank in the engine house or a enclosed water tank with a stove under the tank and the stove pipe going up through the tank it self


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## rdamurphy (Jan 3, 2008)

Locomotive 258 had a suction pump and a long hose so she could suck water from the creek when the water tanks froze on her branch. There wasn't enough traffic to avoid the water tanks freezing in the Winter. It actually gets so cold in Colorado that it's almost impossible to get steam locomotives started in the morning, so that hose wrapped around the steam dome was used to connect steam from a "live" locomotive to a "dead" one to get it started steaming. 453 was the only K-27 equipped with a doghouse, the other ones never had one simply because they were "switchers" by the time the Rio Grande started installing them. 

My family and I went up Rollins pass two years ago, the first week of August, but we only made it up to Yankee Doodle Lake. The cut at the top of the lake leading to the Needle's Eye tunnel still had SEVERAL feet of snow in it.


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## Dave Ottney (Jan 2, 2008)

Hmmmmm, I always thought the guy riding up there was looking out for pirates. 
Dave


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## Dave Meashey (Jan 2, 2008)

Just as an interesting tidbit of railroad jargon trivia, I found out several years ago that the head brakemen on the N&W RY called that shelter a "monkey box" rather than a "doghouse." Don't know the reason why, but the oldtimer who told me also noted that there were steamlines into that little shelter for heating it in the winter. 

Yours, 
David Meashey


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Perhaps from the way he looked crawling/scampering on all fours over the coal pile to get to his box... 

Just a thought. 

John


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## Dave Meashey (Jan 2, 2008)

"Perhaps from the way he looked crawling/scampering on all fours over the coal pile to get to his box... " 

OR climbing the ladder at the back of the tender. Good idea John! 

Thanks, 
David Meashey


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Ah David, I think that's the kind of name the hogger and fireman would bestowe, probably what made it stick too! 

John


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Dave Ottney on 03 May 2011 11:50 AM 
Hmmmmm, I always thought the guy riding up there was looking out for pirates. 
Dave 
No, looking out for Lemurians.


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## Dr Rivet (Jan 5, 2008)

Torby 

Maybe looking for "Antlantians" as well!! Wow! You almost made my brain bust. 
LOL!


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