I am curious about whether there were ever three seats in the cab of a steam locomotive. I know that some brakemen were relegated to a doghouse on the tender, but that seems to be the exception more than the rule.
During my recent in-cab experience on the Strasburg, I was so engrossed in my own role (guest engineer) that I never went over to really inspect the fireman’s side; but I think there was only one seat there. On our run, the guest fireman, I think (I was concentrating, listening to the road foreman, and trying hard not to screw up), was standing the whole time, shoveling coal or taking a brief rest on his feet. What I would call the fireman’s seat was occupied by the gentleman who had signed on as guest brakeman. And that got me to wondering where he would be if the poor fireman needed some actual sit-down rest.
In the book Set Up Running, there was usually a brakeman in the cab. Did the fireman and brakeman have to take turns sitting in the single left-side seat?
I was lucky enough to ride in a couple of different MLW (Alco) passenger A-units on VIA trains. IIRC, there was a third seat in the cabs of those diesels.
But I have never seen a photo showing three seats in a steam engine cab.
A few more questions:
In the book, the engineer would frequently take a turn shoveling, as sometimes would the brakeman. How common was that? And if the brakeman helped, was that technically a craft violation? (This was in the early 1900s.)
Back in the days of hand brakes only, how many brakemen would there be on a long train? Seems like they would need quite a few!
Finally: When I worked for GARR (diesel era), there were five-man crews. Engineer, fireman, head brakeman, conductor and flagman. The term “head brakeman” implies that there is also a “rear brakeman.” But on the Georgia and A&WP, the trainman in the caboose was always known as a flagman. Was that typical? Or did some roads designate th