I know we have discussed this before, but …well now I have lost my “train” of thought.
What are the duties of a brakeman and a switchman on whatever railroad still has them? And do class 1’s still have them both in the railyards?
Moo
Jen, Ed’s a switchman. I would be, too, if I were on one of the ground jobs. Actually, I’m a glorified (or vilified) switchman as a car retarder operator–I throw more switches in a day than most guys do in a week.
Basically, anyone who you find on a yard crew either riding the outside of a locomotive or tramping up and down the tracks is a switchman–if he’s the most senior (or most experienced) person on the crew he’s the conductor, or foreman, but he’s still a switchman. He may be controlling the locomotive, but whether he does it with a box, or with lamp or hand signals, he’s still a switchman. And, yes, “he” may be “she” these days.
There are also “utility men” who can assign themselves to various crews, road or yard, to assist as necessary. Yup–switchmen!
The brakeman performs pretty much the same function on road trains. Most of the crews have only an engineer and conductor only, but a brakeman is called for in many operations, because a conductor can’t be everywhere at once.
Hope this helps–BC
Originally, the brakesmans job was just what it sounds like, to tie hand brakes.
They rode the tops of the cars, and at a whistle signal from the engineer, would tie brakes to slow or stop the train.
With the advent of air brakes, the job became redundent, but, as air brakes also allowed longer trains, the brakemen became, as Mark and LC pointed out, switchmen.
Back in the days of the caboose, you often had a front end brakeman, and a rear brakeman.
The front man rode in the engine, along with the fireman and engineer, and lined switches ahead of the train, the rear guy would line back, (remember, the conductor is still in the caboose, not up front like today) as when you left a sideing that was not in CTC, and had no power switches controled by the dispatcher.
And if your train needed to make any kind of switching move en-route, beyond a simple cut and shove, haveing a guy on the rear along with the conductor makes sense.
As Mark’s chart show, the craft lines blurred, then merged, along with the unions representing them, until today, they isnt much difference.
Here is where it can get a little odd…
In the yard, my offical title is Engine foreman.
Yet, I belong to the group of T&E employees known as switchmen.
My helper’s offical title is Switchman helper.
Now, if we have to take a train into CTC, or onto tracks or to yards not our own, such as a yard to yard transfer to, say, Englewood, then I become a Conductor, and my helper is a brakeman.
The duties are pretty much the same, he lines switches for our move, as do I, protects shoves into tracks by riding the point, ties brakes, couples air hoses…my duties are pretty much the same also, I have to check the trains manifest against the train proper, check haz-mat placement in the train, ok, along with the engineer the air brake test, call signals, copy and repeat warrants, ect…
And a lot depends on which railroad
Ed shows just where the names come from – switchmen were originally switchtenders in exactly the manner Ed stipulates, and brakemen were the guys who tied the brakes and also flagged the train – brakeman/flagman.
Out where I worked, when I hired out we had 5 man crews – Engr, Frmn, HBkmn, Swing Bkmn, Rear Bkmn, Condr. Head and Rear were the flagmen and the swing man would ride the caboose unless a lot of switching was necessary, and then he would ride the locomotive.