Freight car hand brakes - 6
22
23
22. Universal “One-Hand”
brake wheel marketed
throughout the 1930s.
23. Universal model
M2049 – throughout the
1940s. Note how high it is
mounted on the car end.
Universal Railway Devices Co.
The five angled spokes on Universal’s model M1138 brake wheel
make it easy to identify (21).
Introduced in the late 1920s, the M1138 was replaced in the
early 1930s by Universal’s “One-Hand” brake that had five short
spokes and the outline of a human hand cast into center hub
(22). The long gear case extending below the wheel also helps
identify Universal hand brakes. The company’s principal brake
wheel during the 1940s was the model M2049 (23). Note the
similarity to the Jemco (10 prior pages) and Ureco (26) wheels.
MRH-Feb 2013
