Freight car hand brakes - 7
27
28
Standardization of Vertical Brake Wheels
Industry discussions favoring a standardized brake wheel began
in the early 1950s. The movement was prompted by pressure
to improve the safety of trainmen through the elimination of
design variables, as well as a desire to reduce the variety of
replacement parts repair facilities needed to keep on hand. After
nearly a decade of talk, a standard design for a pressed steel
wheel emerged in 1959. Despite the general agreement, imple-
mentation of the new standard wheel on newly built equipment
was not immediately mandatory. As a result, wheels of pre-stan-
dard design continued to be applied on some new cars well into
the 1960s.
Attempting to identify different brands of standardized pro-
totype wheels produced after 1960 is difficult. Identifying the
maker of a standardized wheel in HO scale is 87 times harder.
The most significant difference in various post-1960 hand brakes
are the housings for the gear mechanism and the position of the
release or trip lever. Modern hand brake wheels manufactured
by Ajax (27), Equipco (28), Miner (29), and Peacock (30) are rep-
resentative of all standardized wheels currently available.
27. Ajax model IP80 with release lever at the lower left.
28. Equipco model 4000 with release lever at the center left.
29
30
29. Miner model 6600 with a long release lever at the
bottom.
30. Peacock model 1600 with release lever at upper left.
31. “Stem-winder” drop-shaft hand brake manufactured
by National early in the 20th century.
31
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MRH-Nov 2013
