Early wagon brakes were operated by a simple lever and acted on only a single wheel, however from the 1880s the handbrake design by Morton that we see on many of our wagons was developed.

The brake lever extended upwards from a centrally mounted ‘V hanger’ and brake blocks were pressed against the wheels by push-rods which passed through metal supporting loops called ‘brake hangers’. The long brake lever allowed the shunter to exert a considerable force on the brakes. Levers generally extended up towards the right hand end of the body and the handle on the end of the brake lever was usually painted white to make it more visible.

Whilst early wagons had single push blocks on one side of the wagon only, as the weight of wagons and their loads increased so did the amount of braking effort required. Greater braking effort came from using brake blocks on both sides of the wagon and later by using clasp brakes which have two blocks per wheel.

Various designs evolved to transmit and multiply the applied lever effort to the brake blocks to ensure that sufficient brake force could be easily applied to hold a loaded wagon on a gradient. A cam or slotted link arrangement is used so that the handbrake on either side of the wagon operates the brakes on both sides via the transverse shaft.

Handbrakes can also be used during the operation of partially fitted or unfitted freight trains which have no means for the driver to brake the unfitted wagons when he needed to slow down or stop the train. The guard ‘Pins Down’ the handbrakes at ‘Stop and pin down wagon brakes’ locations (usually prior to a severe downhill section of track and known by train crew as part of their route knowledge) so that the handbrakes help ensure that the driver retains control of the train on the downhill section. The train then stops again at the bottom of the incline to allow the guard to ‘take up’ the handbrakes (release them).

The effectiveness of the handbrake on a new design of railway vehicle is established by conducting a static test, whereby the force needed to move a vehicle along the rails, with its handbrake applied, is measured. This resulting force is used to determine the gradient on which the handbrake will hold the vehicle.

In order to move the test vehicle along the rails, a hydraulic ram fitted with a calibrated ‘Load Cell’ is installed between the drawgear of the vehicle under test and an anchor vehicle on the same line. The anchor vehicle was parked with its brakes fully applied and chocks placed tightly under each wheel.

A test is not valid if the wheels slide along the rails, therefore it is important to carry out a test within a workshop, where the rails are clean, dry and preferably level. To ensure a consistent and representative application of the handbrake lever, weights are attached the lever that are equivalent to the standard level of effort that could normally be applied at the lever end by the average person weighing about 60kg applying the handbrake. The test is always repeated to assess the performance of the handbrake when applied from both sides of the vehicle.

The acceptability of the performance of a parking brake was assessed by establishing the gradient on which the vehicle under test could be held without rolling away. The British Railways standard requirement for the design of freight wagon handbrakes is such that each wagon must be able to hold its fully laden weight stationary on a gradient of 1 in 40.

The hydraulic ram is operated either by a hand pump or by an electrically powered hydraulic pump in order to haul the vehicle under test for a distance of between 8and10inches along the rails. The measurements taken from the load cell of the peak value of resisting force are used to calculate the equivalent holding gradient result as follows:-

Where:-       

After each test is completed it is necessary to return the vehicle back to its original position ready to start the next test.

Many locomotives, coaching stock vehicles and newer designs of wagons are fitted with a handwheel & screw type method of applying the handbrake.

The principle and method of testing is very similar however instead of using weights applied to the handbrake lever, a specified level of torque is used when applying the handwheel. This is calculated and applied with a calibrated torque wrench based on the diameter of the handwheel and the standard level of effort of 500Newtons applied at the handwheel rim.

An example of the table of results produced during a handbrake test on a wagon fitted with a handwheel type handbrake.

In general the handbrakes fitted to freight wagons are more than sufficient to hold a loaded wagon on a steep gradient when applied fully; therefore when they are applied to an empty wagon their effectiveness is significantly increased. As such, if an empty wagon is moved with its handbrake ‘ON’ then the effectiveness of the brake will cause the wheels to lock and slide; this can very quickly cause significant damage to the wheelsets in the form of wheel-flats and cavities that are costly to rectify.

This is an example of wheel tread damage caused by operating a vehicle with a handbrake on.

Thank you to Matt for the articles on signwriting. A very useful reference for those of us looking after and modelling heritage rolling stock. For this weeks update, I’ve gone back to the Vehicle in Profile series to look at what is the longest wagon in our fleet – a Salmon.

Built to an LMS design, the Salmon was built between 1949 and 1961 to 15 different lots. In that time many sites and companies built them including Head Wrightson Ltd, G R Turner and British Railways at Derby and Wolverton. The designs started with diagram 1/640, which had LMS style bogies with an independant ratchet handbrake on each bogie (shown in the picture below). There was a wooden floor down the 62ft length of the wagon with 5 bolsters. Early on Salmon were found unfitted or fitted with a vacuum through pipe.

 

 

Later designs of Salmon had  Plateback bogies with a wheelbase of either 5ft. 6in. or 8ft. These still had oil axleboxes so were limited to 50mph. In the TOPS era these were classed ‘YMO’. In the 1980s some of the fleet of Salmon were overhauled and had air brakes fitted, with extra tie down points added for ratchet straps. These became YMA or YMB depending on whether they retained the vacuum through pipe or not. In the late 90s two wagons were fitted with roller bearing bogies. A further 125 wagons were converted. The conversion didn’t result in a speed increase for the wagon, but bought about reliability improvements. For those remaining in service further conversion work was undertaken in 2009 to add 3 bolsters to the wagons to simplify the loading of track panels. The bolsters would locate the track panel on the wagon laterally and longitudinally. These conversions received another TOPS code, YKA, and another fishkind name; Osprey.

Our Salmon is the sole survivor of the LMS designed batch. Numbered DB996000 is was the very first Salmon built by BR to the LMS design. It was built at Derby Litchurch Lane works in 1949. Not a lot is known about its service life, but this wagon ended up as an internal user with the number 024717. It served at the very works it was built at as a vehicle to move items around the works. We don’t know exactly when it was confined to the works, but the earliest sighting on departmentals.com puts it at Litchurch Lane in 1985. It served in this role until 2014, where it was donated to us by Bombardier Transportation.  Soon after it had arrived various accoutrements were ground off and a floor added using used sleepers cut in half down the length. With a pad exam and oil up of the brake gear it was released to traffic and has remained available ever since.

Thank you for reading! We hope everyone is keeping safe and healthy at this time.

 

To allow Ross at least a weekend to think about our next vehicle profile I am going to write about markings applied to BR Goods vehicles between 1948 – 1964 there meaning and the rules that I follow when applying them to our fleet. The period defined in this particular feature is pre-tops so applicable to the steam and early diesel eras, which is how we present the majority of our fleet.

To begin we have to go back to 1936 when the LMS made an economic decision to reduce the amount of paint used to letter Goods vehicles. Up until this point the big four and the preceding pre grouping railway companies painted large initials and numerals on their vehicles, anything from 6” to 24”.

In 1936 the LMS reduced the size of their lettering so that someone could reach all the markings on the vehicles without the use of a step ladder. The markings were concentrated in 2 areas, the extreme bottom right and left of each side of the vehicle. From 1937 this was adopted by the Railway Clearing House (RCH) as the standard for all goods vehicles and adhered to by the big four companies.

Located on the left side was the vehicles running number typically 5” tall, above this the vehicles gross weight when loaded typically 4” tall and then the company initials at 5”.

On the right hand side was the vehicles tare, the weight of the vehicle unloaded. Some vehicles also had the wheelbase added mainly those that were vacuum fitted or through piped but not suitable for operating within an express goods train. Those vehicles that could run in an express goods, trains running at an average speed of 35mph or over, were identified with the XP marking which was agreed by the big four companies replacing any older markings. All of these markings ranged from 3” to 6” and varied between the companies.

The following image details the precise layout as detailed by the Railway Executive (RE)  from 1948. This layout remained the same until 1964 with the introduction of a new standard which I will detail in a future feature.

The typeface used during those early years was a sans serif, a simple letterform which is void of the little flicks, curls and fancy bits typical of older lettering styles. It is impossible to state an accurate font as the lettering was all hand applied and was down to the individual sign writer. I have developed my own style of this typeface which is based on that applied by the  LNER sign writers. I have scanned in many images of LNER vehicles and picking my favourite style of each individual letter or numeral from the many available. Below is the style I have drawn and is essentially my own Grouping Typeface, which would have been in use until a new typeface detailed by the Railway Executive was issued to all the BR works in August 1948. M500954 carries this earlier style.

For the new typeface we must again go back but this time to 1929, Eric Gill had in 1926 developed a new letter style that was adopted by the LNER in 1929 for publicity material. The LNER produced a guide for its sign writers on how to apply this typeface. This was of cause Gill Sans and at this time it was not applied to rolling stock. BR adopted the letter style for all purposes and in 1948 produced its own guide.

This is when the waters start to muddy, and causes issues with trying to recreate accurately what had gone before. BR stated that Gill Sans was to be applied to Rolling stock as per the Railway Excecutive standard, although it omitted the requirement for company initials. As the lettering was still hand applied and the BR Gill Sans differed slightly from the LNER Gill Sans a lot of variation creept in especially when you look at the numeral styles.

So what do I do?  I vary the styles I apply.  My preference being the LNER style. To begin my first port of call is to find the exact livery applied to the vehicle.  This is done in two ways. First sanding down the vehicle to see what clues are underneath the layers of paint.  This was successfully done with B780282.  The lettering applied matches that found under the MODs layers of green applied, essentially preserving the BR layers for me to find.

The second option is to find a picture of the vehicle or one from the same batch. This was done with B850498 which was done using a reference image of B850333.  As you can imagine I have a lot of railway goods vehicle reference material.

Image: FREIGHT WAGONS AND LOADS IN SERVICE ON THE GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY AND BRITISH RAIL, WESTERN REGION
Author: J.H. Russell
ISBN: 0860931552

If all else fails we essentially make it up using the RE specification and discussion with the whole team, specifically Nick, as to what we feel will look best. Keeping the additional markings of Wheelbase and XP relevant to the vehicle the marking is being applied to, using B850498 again as an example, as built this was vacuum fitted and suitable for express goods, this, however being a rewheeled vehicle with an unfitted chassis, that we through piped, the XP marking would not be appropriate and is therefore not applied. Although the wheelbase and Western style non common user plates were applied to add interest.

I stated above that the RE standard omitted the requirement for company initials although true what was added was a regional allocation, this was initially to be applied to all vehicles under the running number with a 2″ height, although this became very complicated as vehicles moved from region to region because they were all owned by the same nationalised company.  The regional requirement was altered and was applied to vehicles with regional specific branding or traffic, although this again changed from the full region name under the running number to regional initials as part of the branding.

Branding was applied to vehicles assigned to set traffic or those hired by companies, were known this has been reapplied accurately to our vehicles, however we do occasionally indulge ourselves. B786348 is branded Empty to Tinsley E.R. this was done as Nick was proud of this rewheeled former grounded body.

As the 50s rolled in to the 60s, In the same vane as branding, Circuit Markers began to be applied to special vehicles on set traffic, this was a yellow circle 10″ wide with an arrow pointing at the wagon label clip, directing shunting staff as to the vehicles set route. Examples being Vanwides with wider doors for palletised loads or the Shockhood B built specifically for South Wales tin traffic.

Also applied to vehicles were its telegraph code.  This was used to communicate the description of vehicles between stations and goods yards when running as part of a train or when a specific vehicle type was required.  Using the code was quicker than asking for a vehicle which had a capacity of “X”, dimensions of “X”, fitted, covered etc etc. The RCH were involved again, having the codes standardised in 1922 excluding the GWR who were then brought in to line in 1943.

There were two technical markings applied to vehicles, both relating to a vehicles braking system. First is the vacuum release cord star.  This identifies to shunters and wagon works staff how to release brakes for shunting or maintenance.  Then we have the brake change overtear drop this identifies the location of the change over leaver or Empty / Loaded lever this allows an additional brake cylinder to be in use when the vehicle is loaded to increase brake force.  The brake star measures 3″ and the tear drop 8″ although this does vary depending on the works applying.

Other instructions may also be added to the vehicle and these are 2″ tall, there were many possibilities.

Shock stripes, these were applied to shock absorbing vehicles. These are vehicles who’s body is designed to move separate of the chassis and is sprung to dampen the movement of the vehicle during shunting. These stripes would be the entire height of a open wagon and half the height of a van, with a width of 4″.

Finally, looking at the images of vehicles we have posted in the past and in this feature, you may have noticed a little symbol under or around the tare.  This was an LMS system adopted by BR, it identified when the vehicle was last painted.  Vehicles would be repainted usually every 6 years and the symbols was a quick reference for mainternance staff to work out when the next paint was due.  The symbols were a repeating sequence of 12 1.25″ high shapes, letters or images.  I have continued the sequence and those applied to our vehicles represent that specific year. 

In the next feature we shall look at how the markings changed from 1964 until the introduction of TOPS for goods vehicles in August 1973

Grampus are 20 ton multi-purpose engineering wagons, designed by British Railways and built between 1951 and 1961. The design is based heavily on the earlier GWR all steel Tunny (which we also have one of) and Starfish, with ends similar to the Southern region Lamprey. Grampus had a 20 ton capacity and as such had 10″x5″ axle boxes. Our fleet show a variety of variants of these. Most of these wagons were built unfitted, though few were vacuum braked. Our fleet, naturally follows this model, with six being unfitted, and one being vacuum fitted. Details of our fleet are below.

Number	Year Built	Allocated Region	Allocated Region
DB984642	1957	Eastern Region	Chesterton Junction Central Permanent Way Depot
DB984713	1957	Western Region	CO
DB985730	1954	North Eastern Region	Darlington Reclamation Depot
DB985884	1953	Scottish Region	Greenhill Creosoting Depot
DB985933	1954	Midland Region	Liverpool
DB990585	1952	Midland Region	North Wales
DB991408	1959	Eastern Region	District Engineer Ipswich

Grampus are built with three drop down doors and two removable cast iron stanchions per side. Across the end of the wagon there are two removable planks on the end, which can be stowed in pockets under the end of the wagon. The end of the wagon also has a drop down door to allow wheeled vehicles to roll from one wagon to another. These make the wagon very versatile, able to be loaded and unloaded by hand and able to take loads over the length of the wagon.

Being a truly versatile wagon, they could carry sleepers, ballast and chippings. In the era of the steam loco, it carried loco ash away from depots for re-use elsewhere. However in more modern times, with mechanised loading machinery, the wagon’s single skin steel doors, wooden floors and removable end planks made them susceptible to damage. The later Rudd and Clam wagons suffered with this less as they had much stronger doors (though Clams had no doors), solid ends and steel floors.

All but one of our fleet have had steel floors fitted in place of wood, and where doors have been damage, particularly at the top, we have tried to straighten them as best we can. Doing this means the doors shut correctly and can be retained by the pins. Ours stand ready to be used, receiving regular maintenance awaiting their turn in the paint queue. As they are all steel, they do stand the weather better than any of the wooden bodied wagons we have in the fleet which take the priority in the queue. Join us next time for a profile of their successor, the Rudd.