Re: South Park Mason Bogies - Eames Brakes Question

John - thanks for the heads up, I did indeed see that article over the course of my many searches online for information on these engines... I wish that article or others out there had a sketch of the actual system of links and levers as they were used to actually connect to the brake cylinder... Going back through my books yet again I did notice one photo I didn't fully appreciate before which does give a bit of a clue as to how the links were connected and routed, though it doesn't give the whole answer. Here's a portion of the picture I'm referring to, which is the builder photo of the "Breckenridge" appearing on page 39 of Mallory Hope Ferrell's book "The South Park Line". The first clue I hadn't seen illustrated anywhere is the rod connected to the brake cylinder appears to be bowed upward to clear the front of the truck frame. Continuing to trace the rod backwards from there, it almost has the appearance of being a chain (?) rather than a solid rod... It then appears to proceed to the rear of the truck running under the frame until finally attaching to the rear of the truck.

What puzzles me is by most everything I've seen, the brake cylinder was located off center toward the Engineer side of the engines - but the attachment point to the lever at the rear of the truck is on the fireman side. So, somewhere the rod must have crossed from the Engineer side of the engine to the Fireman side... but how exactly? Was it through a one piece rod simply bent to cross over and go around the truck pivot? This would seem to be a rather odd and clumsy way to transmit the braking force from the cylinder to the rear of the truck... So again I have to wonder if any intermediate levers were involved...