Re: J&S brake rigging drawing request

I wouldn't bother looking for 1880 drawings - all you will likely find is hand brakes and Miller couplers (if RGS used them).

Automatic couplers and air brakes showed up circa 1900. IIRC - air brakes were actually a few years earlier, but again I am in no way familiar as to when RGS switched over to air, and they may have originally had a straight air system before using triples.

The brake rigging and resulting braking ratio is based on the size of brake shoe, loaded and light weight of car and brake cylinder diameter.

Best suggestion I can make is to find a car that you are reasonably sure has a fairly common arrangement and should be about the same weight, then backwards engineer it from there if you don't have drawings. There is actually a substantial amount of engineering involved - get it wrong and you end up with flat wheels, a car that won't stop or brake rigging that fouls. Don't forget to include adjustment clevises in the rigging to take into account wheel and brake shoe wear.

Dan