26118 DRG&W Spectrum Combine car

[ceastonoh]

Does anybody know the manufacturing time frame of this car? I saw a German passenger car turned into a yard shack from a 1948 photo, and thought if I did that, with an American made car, it would look great on my transitional layout. So I was thinking something from the 1890s to 1910s might be a suitable candidate. The German picture had what appears to be a doghouse added to the end. Or maybe that was where the conductor sat while underway, and this car was always at the end. Anyway, clerestories and all, it looked really neat, so I'm looking for a suitable donor to be saved from the scrapyard.
Charlie Easton

[the Bach-man]

Dear Charlie,
I'd say it would be from from the 1890s through the end of steam.
Have fun!
the Bach-man

[steinked]

Hello Charlie,

the doghouse you saw on the German Car housed the brake wheel and gave the brakemen some shelter. It was quite common on freight, but only in use on some very early passenger cars, as the hand brake wheel in passenger cars very soon got mounted inside. Passenger cars were also the first to be equipped with air brakes.

Regards Dieter

[ceastonoh]

Dear Bach-man and Dieter,

Thanks to both of you. You were a big help. Dieter, the info on the doghouse was quite a revelation to me. A friend from the Netherlands also provided the same information. Just for fun, you can go here: http://images.google.com/hosted/life then on the very bottom left, click on "railroads" and see lots of old pictures from LIFE magazine. The picture I saw is presently on page 9, although I understand Google is adding lots more pictures all the time.
If you see the picture, you might think that it is indeed a passenger car as it has an entry door that sure looks like a passenger car door. If you take a look I would appreciate your comments and observations.

Charlie

[steinked]

Hello Charlie,

I could not find that specific picture, but there are lots of them on the web. Just google for images using "Bremserhaus" (the German word for a brake-doghouse), and you will need some time for viewing.

Have fun, Dieter

[ceastonoh]

Hi Dieter,

Well, I've been busy with other stuff and just saw your reply. Thank you very much for the tip. I have discovered a wealth of pictures but most have added to my confusion. In my limited knowledge I am mainly aware of a doghouse on the tender of a steam engine. This was caused by a redesign that allowed room for the engineer and fireman, but not the brakeman. So he rode in a doghouse on the tender. I have also heard that the size of the tender, blocking the view of the train, was the purpose for the doghouse. As I understand it, some were heated and some were bitterly cold (and no doubt lonely).
This is where my questions come in. These German cars had a brake-doghouse on every car? Some cars? Few cars? Did a brakeman stay in there and then cover several cars when called upon? I don't see many roof walks on these cars and the sharply rounded or steeply pitched roofs apparently common to European rolling stock don't seem to lend themselves to traversing several cars by a brakeman. Maybe a mountain goat!
And why were some brakeman-doghouses perched high and some were lower than the roof line of the car itself?

Many questions, I know, but I can honestly say it's foreign to me.

Charlie

[steinked]

Hi Charlie,

attached please see a rear shot of 050237-6, a German lightweight decapod, some of which got doghouses for the conductor when German Federal Railways dropped the use of cabooses on freight trains (Don't wonder about the engine running in reverse; the class 50 was designed for running both directions at 50mph):

This pictures is dated to 1976, the last days of steam hauled branchline freight.

Freight cars: Some, but not all had brake-doghouses. As Central European cars don't have roofwalks, the brakemen stayed in their cabins to set the brake according to whistle signals. The rest of the train was unbraked. The required brake ratio depended on train length, weight and route gradients. Even when airbrakes were introduced to freight   services, at first not all cars were braked. Some of them just had brake pipes. Sorry, I can but assume the reason for the change in doghouse design from early high to later low. After WW I, railroad electrification started across Europe and the lowered brake cabins perhaps kept the brakemen away from the high voltage in the overhead catenary.

[ceastonoh]

Thanks again Dieter. You have really expanded my knowledge of European trains. As to the doghouse on the engine/tender, most of the American ones I'm familiar with had the doghouse somewhere toward the center of the tender.
Your explanation for the doghouse seems plausible to me. As to the job of the brakeman, what a boring job that must have been. Much safer than American brakemen, but I wonder if the engineer had a "wake up the brakemen" whistle followed by a "brake the car signal". :-)
I don't follow N or HO, but you are probably aware of a number of O manufacturers here introducing European steam engines for purchase. The ACE Trains incursion seems to be traceable to this recent phenomenon. I have always been a fan of certain European trains; examples being the Mallard and the the Swiss Crocodile, the latter of course being of American design, but much nicer than engines of similar function designed for use here. An example of pure ugly would be the Milwaukee Road EP-2. I have a picture of it pulling two steam engines at full throttle heading the opposite way.

Charlie

[Frisco]

An example of pure ugly would be the Milwaukee Road EP-2.

Well then I must like ugly locomotives because I think that it looks really cool.

[ceastonoh]

I'll grant you that. To each his own. Now if you also like the PRR DD-1, NYC T Motor, and the PC E44 we might need to get you into therapy