Someone was too lazy to fully release the handbrake.
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First: Tony King - how could you possibly know the hand brake wasn't released? I'm sure the crew would feel the drag of the wheels if it weren't, and would have released it shortly after starting the run. Second - David, this is a beautiful photo of a former Southern Pacific unit. I love how locomotives look brand new when they are washed and properly painted. However - it's also a little sad to finally see the Southern Pacific "bloody noses" falling and now fading into history and disappearing from the railroad landscape like so many other railroads before them. I will state that I'm glad that Southern Pacific units were kept longer than the Western Pacific - since UP no sooner merged them into the fold, within 8 months EVERYTHING Western Pacific was either painted or scrapped, and Western Pacific was a memory. Yet WP rolling stock that was stuck East of the Mississippi River on Eastern roads due to transfer and through shipping, escaped the paint and scrappers torch and there are a couple of RARE WP boxcars still roaming around out there.
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Well, Dana M. - The big indicator is the handbrake chain is TIGHT, no slack in it. I will give you the benefit of the doubt that you don't know where the handbrake is located. If you count the axles from left to right, the handbrake wheel is above axle number 5. In between axle #5 and the handbrake wheel, you will see the chain. The chain should be drooping dramatically, but as you can see, it is not. Therefore, the handbrake, while not totally tight, is still applied. If the top snubber bracket wasn't in the way, you could see the piston on the L-3 cylinder extended, also indicating that the handbrake was applied. A handbrake is only intended to keep the locomotive from rolling away as it only applies the brake on the L-4 wheel. With multiple locomotives in the consist on line, one handbrake isn't noticeable when it's applied. Newer locomotives with an electric parking brake will give you an alarm bell and a warning light when it isn't fully released. On older units like this, the only way you notice it is if you smell the smoke from the burning brake shoe, or see the smoke off of the burning brake shoe. I've released and applied a BUNCH of handbrakes in my 23 year (and counting) career as a locomotive engineer....so THAT'S how I can possibly know that the handbrake is indeed applied in this picture.
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