idler car hassles

I note that the 6700 series idler cars had their brake wheels/staffs nailed to the deck with the brake wheel hanging over the side to prevent them from interfering with the load of pipe on the adjacent car. There must have been situations where it was necessary to set a hand brake on one of the idlers. This must have been a hassle. Did the brakeman just stick the brake staff upright into the clevis on the end of the car, pin on the brake chain and wind away or am I missing something? Seems simpler to rearrange the brake chain and hardware similar to what was done on the pipe gons converted from high side gons.