Re: Question for Chris Walker or any other citizen of a former British colony

I'll defer to Chris on the details, but brake vans were aptly named. Loose coupled goods wagons in the UK had no air or vacuum brakes, so the guard's van was equipped with a hand brake and called a brake van. My understanding is they were weighted for more effective braking power. BTW, cabooses on the Canadian National were called vans. In South Africa, where they used vacuum brakes they were called guard's vans. The guard being somewhat analogous to a conductor.

Anyone that has read Alistair MacLean's "Breakhart Pass" will have noted that the author apparently used British railway sources for his descriptions of US railroading, as he included a fairly accurate description of a brake van, among many other mistakes!

Michael Allen



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/14/2018 11:49AM by trainrider47.