Special Brake pins.

A colleague on the NYMR PW has asked this question.
Does anyone know of any other locations were "Special Brake pins" were used?


When we took over the line in 1969, I noticed a line of brake pins on chains suspended below the down platform. At Goathland.

On subsequently acquiring copy of BR (NER) York G1/283 ' Working of freight trains down steep gradients' it lists , in respect of the Goathland - Grosmont section, that 'special brake pins are provided, after they have been used, they must be returned to Goathland from Grosmont by first available means.'

My question is simple - as all wagons have brake pins anyway, why did they need 'special' ones? To this untrained teenager at the time, the ones under the platform looked no different to the ones on the wagons anyway!

 

The word 'special' intrigues me. If they were just ordinary brake pins but just loose, the word would be unnecessary. Were they latch pins, I wonder? I've never known a brake pin come out but with a moving vehicle you can't pin it down hard and brakes often chatter in such circumstances and, in such a case it is always possible. A latch pin would prevent that happening. Just a thought.

 

If there was a need for special pins it would be the Lickey and videos show conventional pins. Latching pins would be problematicas more fiddly to fit and certanly a pain to release. Dont forget that pinning down was often done on the move

 

Might it be a stop and examine measure for freight wagons, to ensure that the brakes were pinned,before continuing, and if they couldn't be spare pins were available to replace missing ones?