There's no rigging, its all in Blender 3d physics. The brakes (PURPLE CURVED OBJECTS near wheels) are sent against the locomotive driving wheels by way of a linear motor constraint (plus slider constraint) . the only keyframing is enabling the linear motor, and reversing speed to release brake (and camera location is keyframed of course) ..and the train motor speed is keyframed to zero when the brake is applied. and then back to normal speed when the brake is released. Some more fine tuning is needed there .. And tests slowing the train instead of stopping it, that is, using brakes at higher speeds

This brake is based on an illustration in a book ..

As to tutorials, I'm just not equipped to do a proper one. Best I could do, I guess, is a slideshow of some sort ... Not sure of the interest, anyway, it might be quite tiny! I know a handful of people might be very interested tho ..

Next: track switching