Daily AncestorBrakeman
A brakeman was a railroad worker who set the brakes on individual cars by hand and coupled and uncoupled cars.
Early freight cars had to be braked one by one. Brakemen ran along the tops of moving cars turning brake wheels, and stood between cars to couple them, losing fingers and lives at a terrible rate.
The federal Safety Appliance Act of 1893 required air brakes and automatic couplers, with full compliance due by 1900. The work became safer, but the job title continued.
As seen in a recordOccupation column of the 1880 to 1920 census
Chas. Burns, 25, Brakeman, R.R., Ohio
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Daily Ancestor. "Brakeman." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/brakeman. Last checked 2026-10-01.