Brake van

Railways were a formalised development of industrial tramways, which had found need on occasions to add additional braking capacity by adding an empty truck to the rear of a group of tramcars.

This allowed the "locomotive" — often a cableway powered by a steam engine at the surface — to operate both safely and, more importantly, at higher speed.

To allow for longer trains, early railway companies from the 1840s onwards began replicating industrial tramway practises, by adding "break vans".

The term was derived from their name on the industrial tramways, in which they controlled the (residual) train if there was a "break" in the linkage to the locomotive.

Because of the combined risks of shortage of brake power and breaking couplings, the speed of freight trains was initially restricted to 25 mph (40 km/h).

The front-facing lamps were an indication to the locomotive crew that the train was still complete, whilst the provision of extra red lights to the rear was an additional safety measure.

Because the red indication was provided by a removable filter, a white light could be shown to the rear of the train when needed.

The term brake van began to be adopted from the 1870s onwards, when bespoke designed vehicles had a specific hut added to house the guard away from the weather.

In keeping with tradition, most brake vans had an open area, but from the 1870s onwards this "veranda" became in part enclosed through the addition of a roof.

Some vans became fully enclosed, but were equipped at each end with windows to allow the guard to view the entire train.

The design covered the entire chassis length, with two extended verandas on either side of a cabin equipped with twin duckets.

Almost all War Department brake vans were fitted with vacuum cylinders, as they were exclusively used on ammunition trains.

[2] Designed for high speed operation on milk and parcels trains rather than stopping power, they had a lengthened cabin, but did not cover the entire twin-bogie chassis.

It was common for guards to carry old newspapers with which to stop up any draughts that made their presence felt at speed; partly fitted freight trains might run up to 60 mph (97 km/h).

Other features of the van's interior would be a coal stove for the guard's heating and cooking needs, above which was a rail with hooks on for the purpose of drying wet clothing.

A further padded seat was provided at the end of this bench locker where there was a small desk for the guard to perform whatever written work was necessary.

The guard was therefore allowed to ride in the rearmost locomotive cab, which gave a good view of the whole train.

The guard generally remains responsible for the water and pet food while the train is moving, and there are features to the dog box to allow the same.

The brake van also contains a stretcher, an emergency train lighting box, and a stand to hold the lamp signal during the night.

The vacuum or air pressure gauge is hosted in front of the guard's seat with a lever to operate it in case of emergency.