Great Western Coffee Shop

This was triggered my my son thumbing through a "well loved" copy of the Hornby catalogue and asked me what a brake coach was. Now I have all sorts of theories about this but I can't find an actual explanation.

Traditionally was a break coach located at the rear end of a train from the engine?

Thanks

Dave

You've used too different breaks there, 'brake' and 'break'. Two very different things...


I don't know, but my guess is a brake coach has brakes operated by the guard so that if a coupling snaps the guard can stop one end of a train using the brake coach and the loco can stop the other end. Consequentially, when possible I marshal a brake coach at both ends of my model trains so that there's always one on the back (so no carriages would be lost if one coupling gives way if it was a real train) when the loco runs round.

However, I'm probably wrong since the WAG Express (back when it included 3 mrk2s) had only one brake coach, so it was at the front (behind the loco) in one direction and on the back in the other.

Many thanks - the spelling I should have used was "brake"...

Yes, I get your meaning...

Thanks again

You haven't used too many different brake / break spellings - both have been used at different times to describe the same vehicle.

In the olden days, yes, a brake coach or more commonly brake van was situated at the back of (especially) a goods train. There was no continuous braking on goods wagons, and the brake van was equipped with a wheel handbrake. The guard was therefore able to stop his bit of the train should a break in coupling occur. For this reason, the term "break van" was used in English railways until the 1870, when "Brake van" took over. The van was usually heavily ballasted to add to the braking power. Initially, they were open, then had a hut built to protect the guard from the elements, but with a veranda, to aid visibility.

The guard was not there just to act in the event of a break. He was active in applying the brake on downward gradients and when slowing to stop, to add additional braking effort to what was fitted to the locomotive - Victorian brakes were less than superb, and every little helped. Considerable route learning was needed for the brakeman or guard. As well as brake vans, there were also passenger brake carriages, having both passenger accommodation and a separate bit at the back, equipped with a wheel handbrake, for the guard. This was mainly for use in emergency, or if the rake of carriages was parked without a loco.

The big move away began post-Beeching. Modern diesel locos and new rolling stock allowed for continuous or part-continuous vaccuum braking. Fully fitted goods trains were no longer required to end with a brake van, and the guard could now sit in the rearmost driving cab, as a sort of safety supervisor. By 1985, there was agreement that most goods trains did not need a guard, but anything hazardous still ended with a brake van until around 1990. You can still see them on heritage railways, such as the East Somerset (http://www.eastsomersetrailway.com/stock.php?num=35413).

Many thanks FTN - that is an excellent explanation.

Just to add ... in the early days of the railway, brake vehicles with guards were vital in bringing passenger trains to a stop too;  incredibly, there were no "normal" brakes at all on some locomotives ...


From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbots_Ripton_rail_accident

Yes .....................

And the came alone George Westinghouse and the automatic break air break which negated the need to have a guard travelling at the rear of the train.  Break vans morphed into carriage where the guard worked from and where parcels, mail, light goods etc could be put

Did the Westinghouse  break brake break the mould? We think so!

Give us a, er.... break

Interesting that Westinghouse is remembered for his air brake whilst the inventor of the vacuum brake which was more universially used in this country up until comparatively recently and is still in use on preserved lines, remains anonomous.

Wonder if the fact that vacuum was more popular as it was easy to create a vacuum on a steam loco with an ejector (steam passed through cones used to create a vacuum)   with no moving parts rather than compressed air at pressure with quite a compicated steam pump.

On a diesel or electric it tends to be easier to create compresed air rather than a vacuum.  Also brake cylinders tend to be much smaller with air brakes so the brake rigging is easier.

Also the GWR and the WR even in BR days used 27"Hg all the others used 25"Hg which meant that when a non WR loco was put on a train that had been hauled by a WR loco the foreigner could not get the brakes off the only way was to release the vacuum from the brake cylinders along the train.

This WR practice kept going until the late 70's / early 80's when the last of the vacuum only locos got scrapped or dual braked.

Not quite right 25" Western 21" rest but the problems the same. I work on  railway with an Western 03 (even Swindon built) which still exhausts to 25". if you go below 20" the wheels on the train lock.

I stand corrected  ;D ............. was a long time ago and was only an apprentice and not really interested in the mechanical stuff like brakes  :D