Re: High speed thrill
Author: Dr Zarkoff
Date: 12-04-2017 - 18:53
Back in the 70s, the track brakes were made at Elkton Shop out of clear, straight grain Douglas fir, which isn't botanically a variety of pine tree, but I'm not sure how readily available this stuff is these days.
In the Powell-Hyde cars, the gripman's pedal operated the wheel brakes on the front truck, while the conductor used the ratchet lever to operate the wheel brakes on the rear truck. When the car is almost perfectly quiet going down a hill (no wheel rubmling), it's riding on only the track brake shoes, not its wheels.
The Cal cars have only one grip, and upon changing ends, the set of levers at that other end operates the same grip via a set of levers and rods.