Looking for assistance in identifying this interesting piece?

A guess, but I believe a Marklin gauge 1 wagon. The freight car with a doghouse looks German.

"Doghouse"?  Looks more like an OUThouse!  Lol

It held the "Guard" whose job was to watch the train and apply the brakes when called for by the engineer (or in case of an emergency). It is a guard house.

Yes, that's the Gebrueder Maerklin (Maerklin Brothers) mark on the bottom and the old German state of their location, Wuerttemberg.

In England (and former English dominions like Ireland, India, and Australia) they were called "brake vans."

Yes on both accounts.......it is a tinplate O gauge early Marklin (you can tell by the couplers), and we did call them "guards vans" and sometimes "brake vans" here in the "land down under".

Marklin is my "arch nemesis", as it is German, and I collect/run Buco, which is Swiss. Both were produced at around the same time, but in my humble opinion, Buco is much better made (mechanically), and more life-like to the prototypes......i.e., that monstrous looking guards cabin perched way up high???

Here is how Buco did it:

Peter.....Buco Australia

Many thanks to all for the information on this car. JBuettner, I tried to make out the mark on the bottom but had no idea -  Wuerttemberg.

Buco - never saw that manufacturer prior to your post. Very cool looking cars. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks again everyone.

Paul

Just to clarify a couple of the above items:

In the days before continuous automatic train braking there was often a need for braking effort, especially on descending gradients, to supplement the locomotive's brakes.  In Britain this was met by a Guards Van(s), which was a heavy vehicle manned by the Guard [ of course ! ].  On the Continent however brakemen were usually distributed throughout the train, and the shelter was provided for them.  In Germany this was called a Bremserhaus = Brakeman's House;  the elevated position, as on the OP's photograph, was originally standard pre WW I on 'house' cars, and often on others as well, of the various German state railways to have better observation forward to the locomotive and signals -- just as we had cupolas on cabooses here.   After the war, new build practice had lower brake huts, similar to the Buco cars, on those that received them;  fewer cars needed them as air braking was expanded. Cars with the high position hut could still be readily seen after WW II though.

The Swiss seem to have used the low position since before WW I, perhaps due to clearance or weather issues.

Note that German railways in the steam era did have on almost all freight trains a vehicle sometimes described in English as a brake van, but it was normally coupled directly behind the locomotive and served as, inter alia,  the location of the conductor and his paperwork -- just like a US conductor with his waybills, etc.

Does that help ?

Best, SZ

When I searched "brake van train car" it came up with images of what looks like a transfer caboose.

An 0 scale LMS brake can that I found at the Strasburg show a few years ago:

I originally got it to convert it to a trolley work motor but it is just too "cute" to modify!

Dave, that extended brake hose is cool. I agree -the car is fun just the way it is...

Paul