Thanks to mary/the teach for keeping this site going. Click on http://workofthepoet.blogspot.com/ to see lots more Red shots.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Ruby Tuesday
This is a brake wheel on an old railroad car. In the days before air brakes, the brakeman would have to turn this wheel in hopes to stop this car. It took a very strong person to operate this method. The brakeman would have to run from car to car ( on top of the car ) turning each wheel as he went along. Fortunately the trains of yester-year weren't as long as they are today.The trains now have air brakes that when the air pressure is applied the brakes open up and allow the train to move. If the air is cut off as in a broken brake line or a car that comes loose, the brakes will close and the train will come to a stop. The man who invented this air brake system was George Westinghouse patented on March 5, 1872.
Thanks to mary/the teach for keeping this site going. Click on http://workofthepoet.blogspot.com/ to see lots more Red shots.
Thanks to mary/the teach for keeping this site going. Click on http://workofthepoet.blogspot.com/ to see lots more Red shots.
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8 comments:
No wonder they had train crashes in the olden days. I read about the son of a President who is killed in a train crash.
It's a lovely artifact, if I weren't worried about the braking.
Great photo. I photographed one of these last year for a Ruby Tuesday. Great minds and love of trains think a like. Well done. Happy RT.
A patent in 1872! That's amazing! :D
Old trains are certainly a lot more romantic looking, but they must have been awfully hard work in real life.
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Summer Stock Sunday starts May 31st - come check it out!
Nice Post.Happy RT
Love the old trains... and my, being brakeman was a very dangerous job!
interesting piece of machinery! love the red coloring.
Wow, Becky and Gary, two Ruby Tuesday posts! Thanks so much for participating and making this meme so successful! :)
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