Hand brakes - brake wheels, "goosenecks" and pawls

All older types of trams were fitted with a hand brake which could be used to safely immobilise the tram when it was switched off, or when the power was disconnected from it for some other reason. Often this "park brake" took the form of a small, vertically mounted wheel, often with a handle. As the wheel was turned the braking mechanism forced brake shoes down onto the wheels.

When used as a service brake, the hand brake is typically connected to a gooseneck handle, which, like the controller's key and handle described above, rotates around a vertically mounted shaft and thus turns in the horizontal plane. It is normally operated with the right hand.

By turning the gooseneck handle clockwise the brake shoes are applied to the wheels. Brakes are released by operation of strong springs. To enable sufficient pressure to be applied to the brake shoes and also to overcome the resistance provided by the release springs, the base of the hand brake normally consists of a small gear under the floor of the tram, which is permanently meshed to a much larger gear which then connects to the rest of the braking mechanism. This means that the motorman must turn the brake handle many times to have any effect.

A major risk in operating the hand brake is the possibility of the handle slipping from the motorman's hand and the brake releasing uncontrollably. To minimise the possibility of this occurring, the motorman can knock a locking pawl into place using his right foot. With this in place the brake can be tightened but not released, until the motorman knocks the pawl out of the way.