Braking place
A brakeman`s place , depending on the design also Bremserhaus , brakeman`s cabin , brakeman`s state , Bremserbühne or brakeman`s seat called, is a job at the end of a railway car , the control means at the for a manually operated brake is located. The originally unprotected workplaces were later supplemented by weather protection, which was installed on passenger cars from 1880 to around 1910 and on freight wagons until around 1950.
Depending on the conditions of the route and the speed of the train, before the introduction of the compressed air brake, individual or all of the brakeman's positions within a train were occupied by a brakeman . The communication between the engine driver and the brakeman took place by whistling signals , which required a partial openness of the construction. For a good hearing connection and a certain view, the brakeman's cabs were originally located at roof height like the previously open brakeman's seats. With the advent of the first catenary operators at the beginning of the 20th century, it was necessary to lower the brakeman's positions to the level of the car floors to ensure the necessary safety distance. The service of the brakeman was particularly dangerous in winter , as the mobility-impaired staff often suffered frostbite and sometimes death from frostbite even in the closed, but unheated and drafty cabins . In extreme cases, the braking safety of the train was also endangered.
Brakeman's cabs became in some cases superfluous with the introduction of continuous compressed air brakes . The air brake was introduced in Germany in fast-moving passenger trains at the end of the 19th century, in passenger trains at the beginning of the 20th century and in freight trains from around 1925. Passenger cars with inter-car transitions could not be equipped with brakeman's cabs for reasons of space. A certain proportion of wagons with brakeman's cabs had to be retained to allow the train safety officers to ride along at the end of the train until this function could be abolished in the 1950s. As a result, the brakeman's cabs were dismantled, leaving open brakeman's platforms on the affected wagons. Wagons with brakeman's platforms were still being built into the 1980s, and European tank wagons and self-unloading wagons are still equipped with them today. Cars that are only allowed to run as a precautionary car and are therefore hand-braked continue to require a handbrake that can be operated from the car .
Freight wagons with brakeman's cabs were still regularly seen in Germany until the mid-1970s, especially among Italian freight wagons. With some railway companies, such as the Italian FS and the Swiss SBB, they sometimes even held up into the 1990s.
See also
- Support car for brakemen and other railway employees
- Presentation car
