New sign, discovered today: “Welcome to XXXX yard. Brakestick use is mandatory”.
Sign is alongside track, near entrance to yard.
Question: What is “brakestick use”?
I believe it is a long pole that pulls on the wheel that sets the hand brake.Just seen it it on this forum.Brakeman does not have to climb up to set brakes.
I thought I saw one of those on a WSOR GP38-2 instead of a wheel. Could be wrong tho…
Yes,the brakestick is a retractable alumimium pole with a metal claw or hook type device on the longest end.
It is around 4ft tall when down and around 7ft tall when retracted outward.
You can grip a high brakewheel so much better and safely from the ground with one.
I’ve had to help some conductors get a brake off,that did’t have a brakestick,in getting a brake put on too tight with a brakestick.
Some places do require the use of brakesticks.But it’s not mandatory on the NS.
Brakesticks rock! Although, when they first came out, I was one of the few conductors to use one. Being basically, a 7 or 8 foot metal pole, the bracksticks are a tad on the heavy side. But you can…
- Operate all vertical wheel handbrakes from the ground. No climbing on cars (I hated that, especially the high brakes on the hoppers.)
- Operate vertical wheel handbrakes from the opposite side. No crossing over the car to be on the same side as the brake wheel.
- In some locations, you can use the brakestick to open knuckles and operate retaining valves.
As the company began enforcing certain rules more vigorously, the use of brakesticks became more widespread. And as more people used them, more people liked them.
Nick
Well, maybe you could send some of your western employees over with a couple. Not saying we don’t have them and use them elsewhere in our yard (it’s a big yard!), but I’ve never seen one.
NS started the whole brakestick thing in 1997. The originally had sticks that were made of a composite, but had problems with them breaking. They replaced them with metal. And yes, use of brakesticks are not mandatory.
Brakesticks have nothing to do with locomotive lever style handbrakes (which are also on some intermodal equipment).
LC
Here’s a link to a manufacturer of brakesticks, apparently known as the Omni “Sidekick” Brakestick:
I had some problems downloading the 2nd page of their brochure in PDF format, but I think the web page says and shows all that is necessary.
I first saw one of these about this past February when an eastbound NS local freight crew was switching a plastics factory (31st St. in Allentown, PA, for those who know it) during my lunch hour. I looked a little for them on the Internet, but no luck then, probably because I didn’t know the correct name for them.
This is one of those devices that are in the category of “Why didn’t I think of that ? (and make a $million with it)”. The crew I was watching was very adept at using them, including releasing the hand brake wheel way up on the end of the covered hopper cars. It was clear that they are great ergonomic injury-prevention tool - like the “harp”-type switchstand throwing levers adopted in the past 10 -15 years - to avoid strains, having to climb cars, go between or under cars, etc.
This would be a good little mini-article with photos for Trains.
- Paul North.
YES I agree with you. Brakesticks are awsome!! Of course when I hired out w/ CSX four weeks ago, the very first thing I looked for at my home yard was a brakestick. It makes taking on and off a vertical wheel hand brake so much easier. It is also safer, and a lot faster.
Well, I will say one thing. A brake stick is your best friend when you have 30 or more cars to tie down. It’s also your best friend when a handbrake is extreamly hard to get lose.
Actually, with CSX it is manditory to use brakesticks when they are avalible, if you don’t you can be written up for it!!! At least on the Louisville Division.
The latest issue of “Trains” has a picture of a brakestick in use.
Jack
There are locations on the NS, specifically the Dearborn Division, that require brakestick use.
I stand corrected. I shall now remove my foot from my mouth…
LC
Man- The brakeman/conductor job gets softer all the time. First the rule comes that the equipment must be stopped before you can climb on and now you aren’t even allowed to climb on the car. Next thing you know, you will be required to get inside a cab of a robot (air conditioned, of course) and make robot will do all the walking, bending, lifting or anything else (but the thinking?). Don’t complain then when a dress code is added to the rule book. LOL.
Aint that the truth.
It seems obvious that brake sticks offer advantages over setting and releasing brakes directly by the hands. Would any railroaders object to a company mandate that no brakes are to be operated without the use of a stick?
Thanks for all the answers!
/Lone
I think you need only look at Jay’s post to see some of the potential objections. I can see where such a tool would be useful for knocking off brakes or operating retaining valves (heck, C&O had poles for that back in the steam days–nothing new there!) But I sure don’t see how someone could tie a brake with this thing that would hold up as strongly as one applied with proper body mechanics. Show me somebody who can break a brake chain with that stick–we have guys in the yard who have done it before and could do it again!
Then there’s the thing about remote operators. They don’t have to carry a hand-held lamp any more, so their hands are free to operate the controls and maintain the proper three-point contact with the car. Where does a stick fit in here?
The part in the ad about using one to open knuckles is laughable at best, since after you get the knuckle open and the joint made, you still have to go between the cars to make the hoses.
So yes, I suspect there are cases such as our hump yard, where hand-brakes that hold are a vital part of the operation, where I’d feel a lot more confident in dealing with hand-applied hand brakes than something set from the ground by someone who was no longer allowed–or didn’t know how to–climb up on a car.
And, Jay, I hate to tell you this, but they already have dress codes of sorts. Not only the clothing that has to be worn, but stuff that cannot be worn.
(Hmmm…maybe I could put the pole into the brake wheel and club it tighter–naah, those things are probably expensive!)
I asked the question because I could see that the use of sticks might become a universal mandate i
I guess the direct answer to your question is that yes, in the interests of safety (which I don’t see 100 percent of the time), yes, they probably will someday be required. But I wouldn’t expect to see that to happen until most, if not all, of the brakemen are people who don’t know of any other way.
One of the articles in this month’s Trains mentioned “mindless edicts coing down from those who’ve never so much as thrown a switch, and [involve] little respect for the skills of an experienced railroader.” These things might improve the safety of an operation in the mind of someone who would really like trains and humans to not have any contact with each other, but doesn’t necessarily mean that people who’ve known what they’re doing for 15 or 35 years (more, in my own case) are all of a sudden being unsafe. Yes, I’m often–very often–made fo feel like Rodney Dangerfield by some people who ought to know better.
I’m sorry, but some of these arguments can only come from people who have never used a brakestik. Is it always helpful? No. But the first time you need to tie down some hoppers with high-mounted brakewheels you will thank your lucky Gevo you have one.
I bet when the railroads installed knuckle couplers to replace link and pin, the same arguments were used as we see in this thread.
(wah, wah, they’re not real RRers… we did it the stupid, dangerous way, so that makes us men and them wimps)