Larry Jackman wrote:
"In TKM #33 they show a PRR box car and it says the car has two hand
brakes. A regular staff brake on the B end and a tunnel brake on the
A end. They do not show the tunnel brake. Any one on the list know
what they are talking about and does any one have a photo of it?"

Larry, I'm the "they" who wrote the article in question. The tunnel
brake was a second hand brake mounted on the A end of the car,
analagous to later power hand brakes, so that a brakeman could use
use a hand brake without having to stand on the roof of the car. I
couldn't find a prototype photo to run with the article before the
deadline for the April issue, which is why there isn't one with the
article. Here's a link to a Westerfield PRR Class XL model photo of
the tunnel brake:
http://www.westerfield.biz/it070002.htm

The tunnel brake was omitted from cars built after 1908.


Ben Hom