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Question? What is the orthodox form of brakes used on US Steam locos, are they Vac or Air?
George Harris Member # 2077
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Air.
So far as I know vacuum brakes were never used in North America.
Earliest brakes were a hand applied mechanical linkage.
Legal requirement for trainlined air brakes began with the Railway Safety Applkiance Act of 1895. I believe that it required all trains to be so equipped by 1913. There may have been extensions, but so far as I know by end of WWI there was no unbraked stock in service except on non-ICC regulated lumber lines and such like.
George
pjb Member # 2671
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Vacuum brakes were used primarily on industrial railroads and on mass transit operations primarily in North America. However, many commuter operators ran locos equipped with both forms of brakes.
They are not mutually exclusive, so the Reading for example, would make use of the quick acting vacuum ejector to increase braking efficiency on trains required to make many stops while running rapidly over a transit district. To my knowledge, and it may not be complete, there were not trainsets equipped with both types of brakes. In other words, you either had dual systems only on the prime mover, or not at all-I ken. Electric elevated lines were earliest wide scale users of vacuum brakes. Good-Luck, Peter Boylan
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