Changing a simple coach

[modelsof1900]

Galen, thanks for your commendation.

Getting correct information about brakes for a specific car is a heavy problem. You are right.
I own a few books with general information about brakes; in most cases there are pictured brakes of freight cars. Because I model in 1900 era the K-brake is the typical brake of that time – as freight as passenger cars. This arrangement is that what I realize in most cases and also the most brake detail sets (Tichy and others) contain a drawing of this brake system.
The most information which I have read are printed in John H. White's books “The American Railroad freight car” and “The American Railroad passenger car” and a few other old books and reprints of railroad car architecture. Because I do not know the specific construction of one of the specific car that I model I try to find a typical brake construction fitting the car type that I model in that specific time. So I did never built a 100 percent exact model however I “constructed” my own model adding details which could use in similarly manner to this model.
In case of this passenger car I must find a brake system including a handbrake which contains two brake end stands and that will work also in times after 1900. I found a few solutions in my books and somewhere I found in a book also this brake system that I realized. That what I nowhere found is the solution with the release spring for handbrake however I know also that such a spring must exist. I know also that most sketches of brakes are simplified working depictions. I have seen very seldom good pictures of a complete brake system and I know also that the internet does not deliver good information of American rail car brakes and it does not deliver infos about different mechanical brake systems or I can not find these dates – and so, Galen, we have the same problem. The internet gives millions and millions of information however specific information are heavily to found. So I try to build my models with a healthy mind and a bit physical know about mechanic. And I'm a critic model builder against my own ideas and constructions thinking again and again what could be the sense of this and that and how could been the construction of specific parts and systems - before the modern times. However physics did never changed.

Here also a more addition, especially for Michales’ (nkp_174) modeling jobs.
I made a small sketch of these truss rod anchor which you could use and where the fixing points for nbw castings are positioned behind to the body bolsters and where the body bolster works as additional fixing block for these anchors.



The sketch is drawn after suggestions from the book “the Railroad Car Builder’s Pictorial Dictionary of Matthias N. Forney, a 1974 reprint after the originally publishing 1879 by The Railroad Gazette. I hope that this can be a help for you.

Adding:
A more document of railway car construction is a reprint of "Railway Car Construction" by William Voss, origianally printed in 1892 with a few sketches about brakes, freight as passenger cars. However this book did not contain many aspects about so called "power brakes" or more modern air brakes. I know that "my construction" using this cross-lever connecting both hand brakes to one power point is a development after 1900 and so it is not documented in this book.