Rolling Stock Movements

RB004, one of the prototypes for the Pacers has moved from Whitrope to the Shed 47 group based at Lathalmond outside of Dunfermline. Making this the second item of rolling to move or be in the process of being moved out of Whitrope this year.

 

What is the significance of that part of your post? Is there a back story here?

 

26040 has moved on as well, to somewhere near Preston I believe. Closer to the owner's home, and not in the back end of beyond like before.

 

The 26 was announced to be leaving for somewhere near Carlisle and was loaded last night according to its Facebook. RB004 was the just about the only piece of stock that moved under its own power. Feels like a slow, quiet wrap up of the whole operation up there.

 

Multiple items of rolling stock get moved from railway sites all the time. I was just wondering why the OP thought it necessary to mention that this was the second item to move this year.

 

Not even this year, this week as it turns out. It was announced a few months back that the 26 would be leaving for another pastures anew but I wasn't following for an exit date.

 

Great Western Railway "Toad"
20 Ton Goods Brake Van No. 17908 (built in 1913) has been sold and - according to a comment on Facebook - left the Bluebell Railway today for pastures new (but unknown to me).

https://www.bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/wagon/17908.html

Tom

 

According to the Bluebell website, disposed off because it was deemed ‘too off region’.

So, Earl of Berkeley………

 

Nice try - but no. That loco was gifted to the Bluebell many years ago (it has been owned by the railway for far longer than any previous owner) on the condition that it normally remained there.

As for the GWR brake van - the railway has I believe 6 goods brakes that cover a range of pre-grouping and grouping designs used in Southern England. As such, the Toad was unlikely ever to rise to the top of a restoration queue, so the responsible thing was to make it available to another location where it would be more likely to see service, though ideally that needs to be somewhere that operates unfitted goods trains, since it is an unfitted van.

Tom

 

Were there any fitted heavy brake vans? I’m not a wagon expert so don’t know. If you have a fully fitted train you don’t exactly need a 20 ton van on the rear to provide braking. If the train isn’t fully fitted you don’t need a fitted van. I think there were some through piped ones but I can’t think of seeing any with brake cylinders.

 

I recalled one at Quainton Rd . .

A quick google and ere it is with brake cyls. on full display!

https://www.brc-stockbook.co.uk/sr_brake_1.htm

ps built for the army so perhaps is a special case and does not count?!

 

You might not need it for brakeing but the poor guard has to go somewhere, and in steam days that would not have been on the loco. I'm sure that trains of tank cars for fuel oil and petroleum had fitted brakevans, often one at each end. Did they not have a patch of yellow on the body side to indicate a fitted brake?

Peter

 

Those SR Pillbox vans fitted with vacuum cylinders are actually Army vans built to nominally SR design.
BR did fit some of their standard brake vans with vacuum cylinders (GCR has one - B954546), but not many.
It's a pretty daft idea really. Lock up the brakes on one wagon - shunt out one wagon and carry on. Lock up the brakes on the brake van - whole train stopped.

The yellow patch actually indicates that the van can work air-braked trains. But they were only air piped, with a valve for the guard.

 

All of the Queen Mary bogie brake vans were fully fitted, and some toads were fitted as built, a few more were retro-fitted by BR. Really only for if the whole train was fully fitted - no you don't need a 20T van at the back for braking but as Peter says the guard still has to go somewhere, and if the whole train was fully fitted it's probably running at an enhanced speed, at which point you probably want the van at the back fitted too. Be interested to see any BR (or earlier) regs on this though!

 

The really daft idea is that for well over a century the best way of stopping hundreds of tons of unbraked freight from crashing was to rely on a man sitting in a little shed at the back of the train operating a handbrake correctly!

 

There are six goods brake vans on the Bluebell (after the departure of this GWR Toad).

Two of them are vacuum fitted: the 25T "Queen Mary" bogie brake and the Ministry of Supply 25T brake (based on an SR "Pillbox" design).

Tom

 

Speaking of brake vans, BR Shark DB993757 has moved from GCR to NVR following its purchase by a member of the NVR Wagon Group. It will be restored by the Wagon Group for use as part of the demonstration freight fleet (currently intended to be departmental black) and for the railway to use for it's intended purpose as a ballast plough.

 

Eek! I think that leaves the GCR short of a ballast plough...
Will be good to see it getting some TLC though. According to my notes, one of the ploughs is seized, but spare parts to enable it to be repaired were on site somewhere (last seen in the corner of Rothley shed, but that was many years ago). I assume those spares went with it?

 

Ballast ploughing can be carried out by other means, nothing to panic over.
The easiest method is to use a Road Railer and profile bucket.
Might cost a bit though.

 

According to RHRP wagon database DB 993874 is on the GCR northern but the last update was 2020