More brake info please

[Keith S]

I was wondering if anyone has a picture of the brake gear on a typical four-wheeled brake van?

I am finishing up an IP engineering goods/brake van, and I would like to fit some dummy brake shoes and associated bits to the bottom of it. The trouble is, I don't seem to be able to find a picture of a van in which the brakes are actually visible, so I have no idea how they wold look. Are they similar to the handle-operated brake on a four-wheeled goods wagon? How was the rotational movement of the brake handle transferred to a fore-and-aft movement to pull on the brake shoes?

If anyone has some advice I would appreciate it. Some of my other rolling stock has brake gear detail, so it would look funny if the "brake" wagon didn't!

[Marquis DeCarabas]

Yes, broadly similar to a braked wagon.

Brakes would be actuated by a lead nut attached to the brakes with a bell crank: the lead nut would go up and down the ACME threaded rod pulling the brakes on.

If there were continuous brakes the bell crank would be slotted to allow the brakes on without affecting the handbrake column. The old Van 11 on the FR had a nasty habit of the column going up and down with the vacuum leading to some very tight clearances for fingers.

Another serving suggestion is Innisfail Tramway Van LINK - the brake is applied by the tumbler lever in the van with the rod in the centre of the underframe plan pulling the brakes on.

[Keith S]

Thanks, M.deC. , that is helpful. I've already built the wagon, and put the crank-like brake handle on the verandah at the end of it, so I will pursue your first suggestion. Luckily the wagon itself is a freelance design (I'm assuming) so any little brake-like bits I stick on only ned to be "plausible" and not "accurate".

If anyone has any pictures of their brake wagons' brakes, I would still like to see them.