Locomotive Engine Running and Management

by Angus Sinclair

FIRST RAILROADS THAT ADOPTED THE WESTINGHOUSE AUTOMATIC AIR-BRAKE.

Patents for the Westinghouse automatic air-brake were granted in March, 1872. During the succeeding winter, trials of the brake were made by the Pennsylvania Railroad; and it was shortly afterwards adopted by the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company as their standard brake for passenger trains. The example of that company was soon followed by the St. Louis, Kansas City and Northern, the Chicago and Alton, the Toledo, Wabash and Western, and the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railroads, all of which companies equipped their passenger rolling stock with the automatic air-brake within a few months.