The Rail Fan Net for June 29th 2006

As promised here is the answer to last weeks trivia question from the Pittsburgh Rail Fan Net and a new question posed this week.

First the question from this weeks net.

What was a boiler wash and why was it done?

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Now last weeks question.

At one point in time on the railroads there was a whistle signal given by the engineer for the command “down brake”. Why was this signal given and what happened when it was?

At that time there were a number of men on the train assigned the job of “break man” and each car had a mechanical brake system activated by hand. When the “down brake” signal was given they would turn a wheel in a clockwise or “down” direction applying the brakes.