Hand brake

Railroad hand brakes

Virtually all railroadrolling stock is equipped with manually operated mechanical hand brake devices that set and release the brakes. Most of these involve a chain linked to the brake rigging, most often at the brake cylinder, that when tightened pull the piston out against the releasing springs, thus applying the brakes on the car (if there is only one brake cylinder per car) or bogie (if there is more than one cylinder per car). Newer locomotives have electric systems that simply place an electric motor in place of the chain winding mechanism. This brake acts independently of the action of the automatic air brakes, which function collectively when coupled in a train and are under the control of the locomotive driver / engineer.