Re: Rebuilt 1926

Clyde mentioned that he has worked with cars that have a hose connecting the brake cylinder to the reservoir. I imagine this is to alleviate a problem we once experienced under SVRy caboose 5. It had solid plumbing between the cyl. and reservoir with no swing joints. That is a nipple came out of the cylinder, next a 90deg. ell, pipe and a union, then a nipple, 90 deg ell and nipple into the reservoir. This might work find on an all steel car and if all mounting bolts are kept tight. In our case the cylinder worked loose so that each time there was a brake application it moved a little. Eventually one of the pipe threads broke off being the weak link. We replumbed it solid again and like wise on caboose 3, but added swing joints. That is two 90 deg ells at each end with a short nipple in between. This allows for the pipe fittings to twist in the treads just a bit between the two 90's if the cylinder works a little on it's mounting bolts. I imagine that hose would work fine in the location as long as it was a very heavy duty type.