Swanage Railway General Discussion

It would be interesting to know how any of the systems actually worked in practice.

Of the three main controls for a driver, the brake is fairly easy to arrange to work remotely; indeed every guard already has access to a brake application valve.

The reverser I'd suggest is near impossible. Firstly because there are so many different types to worry about (lever, screw, steam-operated etc) each of which would require automating some different form of motion. That motion is actually complex: for example, on a lever reverser, you first have to disengage a catch handle, then move a lever which requires significantly more force to move in one direction than the other, and where the force required varies depending on the regulator opening; then reengage the catch with the position lined up with a slot in the reverser quadrant. And secondly, you are doing all of that without any visual feedback. So in practice, I'm sure that actually using the reverser to notch up was just left to the man on the footplate, whatever the official position was.

That leaves the regulator, and they are notoriously fickle beasts to move specially if you want to go into 2nd valve, and can be tricky to shut. You also want quick reactions if the loco slips or primes.

So I strongly suspect that more or less whatever the system, in practical terms, that when the carriage was leading the man in the driving trailer sounded the whistle and controlled the brake, and the man on the footplate did the regulator (in practice if not in design), reverser (by design) and also fired the loco and looked after the water.

Tom

 

Scrapping 4EPB Trailer Second Open S15396 did indeed result in the recovery of quite a bit of 'period' items including seats, doors, etc. I've Googled the subject and come across a Facebook entry on 5th April: https://www.facebook.com/swanagerai...e-body-is-now-on-the-ground-/602576301913337/
The EPB trailer is now almost completely stripped. The body is now on the ground after our operations department couldn't move it, out of the siding to allow a loco to be delivered for the steam gala as by then it was an unfitted vehicle with no handbrake or buffers and only a 3 link coupling. The bogies have been put into storage for future use. A few items such as the number and data plates have been prepared for sale at our Rails to Rail event in late June.
With the work on 15396 almost complete we have continued our work on Bulleid composite 5761 and brake 4366 which is to be the recipient of many parts removed from 15396. Doors are being refurbished and a seat back has been stripped and the parts used to create one suitable for 4366.

 

You are right about the LNER. They inherited at least 3 different push-pull systems and developed a fourth system.

From about 1905, the NER fitted a number of BTP (LNER G6) 0-4-4Ts with an air-operated system, with some more fitted by LNER. The GER also fitted a handful of 2-4-2Ts (LNER F7) with air-operated push-pull gear.

Meanwhile, the GCR developed a mechanical system based on rods and pulleys, applied in the early 1920s to a few 2-4-0Ts and 2-4-2Ts (LNER Classes E8 & F1) and later by the LNER to some C13 4-4-2Ts. This system did not prove wholly satisfactory. Quoting from an RCTS booklet: "the mechanical gear needed a lot of maintenance as well as requiring considerable physical strength on the part of the driver to operate the regulator from the driving compartment of the trailer coach. One outcome of this was that it became common practice for drivers to disconnect the gear, operation of the engine when propelling being performed by the fireman in response to whistle codes from the driver."

The C13s with this gear had it replaced in the late 1930s with a vacuum operated push-pull system. This vacuum system appears to have been developed by the LNER, rather than being inherited from any of its constituents. Perhaps they were influenced by the LMS? It was subsequently fitted (by LNER and BR) to engines from a number of other classes, including ex-GN C12 4-4-2Ts, ex-NB C15 4-4-2Ts, ex-NE G5 0-4-4Ts and GE/LNE N7 0-6-2Ts. But the overall numbers of LNER auto-fitted locos look small in comparison with GWR and SR.

When the railway preservation movement began to take-off, some GWR auto-fitted engines and trailers were acquired and taken into use, particularly on the Dart Valley (now South Devon) Rly, which relied for some time on this mode of operation due to an initial lack of a run-round loop at the Totnes end of the line. So operating knowledge of the GWR system transferred into the preservation era. But I don't think any heritage railway has used the SR air-operated or LMS and LNER vacuum-operated push-pull systems, so operating knowledge has been lost and would have to be rebuilt from scratch if these systems were to be brought back into operation. Certainly would be a "nice to have", but I don't think the heritage movement at present can expend too much money and effort on the non-essential.

One final aside. The BR Standard 2MT 2-6-2Ts were fitted with vacuum-operated push-pull equipment as standard, presumably based on the LMS design. That included Nos 84020-9, which were built for the SR and operated on the SECR section - where of course they could not work the SR air-operated push-pull sets!