What is the purpose of the tender doghouse

I really love steam engines that pull tenders with a doghouse on them. But what is their purpose? Why do only a few tenders have them and most importantly, what's inside the doghouse? Just wondering.

I have head manny reasons for the dog house. My uncle (employed by the B&O) told me that in certain counties in a regime of the country requires them on the tender for a brakeman to use while going threw their counties, that what he heard. He also said that is where they would send the crewman who had a odor or gas problem. Not sure that is all true or part off.

One I heard was that it was for the conductor to ride in when a helper was pushing on the caboose. I know that some roads had rules against pushing on a caboose at all and the caboose was actually cut loose and coupled behind the pusher for the trip up grade.

On the N&W, it was to provide shelter for the Brakeman. To my knowledge, there was never any hesitation about pushing on a caboose.

As for what's inside; a seat, probably a hand tool or two, and maybe a lunch pail. They were used on all N&W "A's" and "Y's". At the very end of the steam era, the J's (even the 611; I have a picture) had a dog house.

I can tell you from experience, there ain't nuthin' inside 1630's doghouse but a small bench seat.

It's cramped, a rough and sometimes dirty ride.

The view's pretty nice, though.

Rusty

A  semi-comfortable spot for the head-end brakeman, I'm guessing, to watch the train. Some of the older European train cars seemed to have brakeman doghouses everywhere.

On the helper/caboose subject, I think there were rules for older wood-underframed cabooses. The helpers had to cut in ahead of them for obvious reasons.

No problem with the steel-underframe ones, although thinking about all that power squashing your ride would still be intimidating Ah reckon.

Brakeman's Doghouse on the N&W's "Water Buffalo" Mountain type[3rd Rail model].

I don’t recall where I read it, but the doghouse was a regulation/requirement to protect the brakeman from the weather.

The doghouse...

That's where my wife sends me when I play with trains for too long

Hi Folks,

    I read, somewhere, that it was a special place for Snoopy to ride!!

Take care, Joe.

That may have depended on the particular state involved. Also, some states, back in the day, had a more aggressive "full crew law", which required an additional Brakeman (sometimes positioned on the headend and sometimes in the caboose). Also, many Head Brakemen preferred to ride in the "Dog House" as it was much quieter and cleaner with less vibration. Many railroads had heat in the "dog House" for winter months, such as PRR.

I really love steam engines that pull tenders with a doghouse on them. But what is their purpose?

The purpose of a dog house was to provide a seat an shelter from the weather when a third seat was not available inside a locomotives cab.

Why do only a few tenders have them

Most road locomotives had a seat in the cab for the head end brakeman.

most importantly, what's inside the doghouse?

A seat for the head end brakeman. 

Hot Water pointed out that

Some states, back in the day, had a more aggressive "full crew law", which required an additional Brakeman (sometimes positioned on the headend and sometimes in the caboose).

Here is Washington State law from the 1950s.

It shall be unlawful for any . . . corporation . . . operating any railroad . . . in the State of Washington . . . to operate over its road or any part thereof, or suffer or permit to be run over its road outside of the yard limits, any freight train consisting of twenty-five or more cars exclusive of engine and caboose, with less than a full train crew consisting of six men, to wit: one engineer, one fireman, one conductor, two brakemen and one flagman .  - See more at: http://www.atg.wa.gov/ago-opin...sthash.pzPznNgD.dpuf

And here is where each crew member would normally ride on the train:

Engineer:  Locomotive Cab

Fireman:  Locomotive Cab

Head Brakeman:  Locomotive Cab or Doghouse

Conductor:  Caboose

Rear Brakeman:  Caboose

Flagman:  Caboose

Before radios the head brakeman and the flagman had the critical duty of walking ahead of and behind the train with their flag, fusees or lantern and track torpedos to protect their train if it was stopped on a main track that it did not have authority by time table or train order to occupy.  This could happen for any number of reasons.

If an air hose failed, sending the brakes into emergency and stopping the train, it could cause a delay in clearing the main line for a superior train.  The head brakeman and flagman would head out to protect the train as the rear brakeman and conductor fixed the problem.  When the conductor notified the engineer that the problem was fixed the engineer would whistle in the flagman.

All of the men in train service might also be needed to pass hand signals to the engineer if the train was long enough to prevent the engineer from directly seeing a brakeman who was coupling or uncoupling cars away from the locomotive.  Curves and line side trees or buildings often made this necessary.  Standing on car top running boards to pass signals was common.

Radios, especially transistorized portable radios, have made railroading more efficient and much safer.

Very interesting tidbit of info, I grew up next to a SP&S brakeman, but never really knew much about what he did other than he liked to fish and sort of adopted me as his fishing partner when I had permission to go.

Ron

If your neighbor worked in the steam era on the SP&P he likely spent some time in a doghouse.

On the NP, the doghouse was for the forward brakeman when one was required. It provided better visibility of the train.  The NP doghouses were equipped with a heater (i.e. radiator) that was supplied with steam from the locomotive.  (I would also think there was a brake valve to dump the air and set emergency brakes, similar to that in a caboose cupola, but I do not know that for a fact...) 

Eminent NP conductor Mr. Warren McGee once remarked to us at an NPRHA convention that the doghouses on the W-3 class tenders "were a pretty good place to take a nap..." 

By the way, Warren is still with us and in assisted-living in Livingston, MT. He turns 101 years old on September 7.  

when there wasnt room in the cab for a head brakeman to sit some railroads provided a doghouse for him to sit. it also provided a observation post to view the train. on the prr the smaller doghse had a seat and on the long distance tenders their longer doghse had a bench seat you could stretch out on usually with a caboose cushion. An engineer of the time spoke of while scooping water on the fly..if they didnt like the guy they would make sure the tank over flowed giving the guy some real wet shoes !! they were heated by a steam pipe heat from the engine. again the crew in the eng could make life miserable by shutting it off or turning it up. My source told of having to climb over the coal load to .......discuss the matter !  john

The A was designed, built, and run by the N&W. It is a 2-6-6-4 and arguably the finest steam engine ever built! It ran fast freight, heavy passenger, and double headed on drags.

The sole remaining example is the 1218 currently at the Va Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, Va.

Here's a great picture of the Lionel 1218 A. You can see the doghouse on the tender.

The KCS also used them, and in a less-common position on the side of the tender,

against the fuel bunker.

KCS Bull Moose (2-8-8-0, that is); this is one seriously good-looking steamer, BTW: