Brake gear

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ge_rik
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Re: Brake gear

Post by ge_rik » Mon Sep 03, 2018 1:59 pm

Andrew wrote: Mon Sep 03, 2018 12:54 pm ......I'm amazed you consider making brake gear a way to relieve tedium - I think it's my least-favourite bit of a build!
All things are relative, I suppose. It was tedious because it was repetitive. I think I have a low boredom threshold..... :? I like starting new jobs, but get fed up finishing off the previous one(s) - so my wife tells me .... :lol:

Rik
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GTB
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Re: Brake gear

Post by GTB » Mon Sep 03, 2018 5:37 pm

ge_rik wrote: Mon Sep 03, 2018 12:44 pm Interestingly, the W&L levers don't lead to a central V hanger. Not clear from these pictures whether the gear extends to the other side.
UK std. gauge wagon brakes were primitive enough, but UK ng wagons (with the exception of the Irish ng lines), if they even had a brake fitted, were about the same level of technology as a horse cart. The double sided lever brake used on UK std gauge wagons had a cross shaft and some form of clutch or cam, so that either brake handle could operate all the brake shoes.

The W&L wagons seem to have the common ng arrangement of a lever, pivoted in a simple plummer block on the side sill and operating a single brake block. IP Engineering sell white metal castings for this arrangement.

The other GWR ng lines had similar arrangements. At least some W&L stock appears to have duplicate levers and blocks fitted on both sides, but not interconnected in any way.


In this part of the world, the govt. railways fitted some form of continuous automatic brake to all rollingstock from the 1880s. Hand operated brakes were just used for parking wagons in yards, so more than one hand lever was a waste of money.

VR practice tended towards the handbrake operating the auto brake shoes through a slotted linkage, either with a lever, or a geared brake wheel on bogie vehicles, so the TVT follows suit.

Although our industrial systems, such as timber trams, had brakes just as primitive as any UK ng line. The Qld. sugar trams now run very long and heavy trains, but still don't fit any form of brakes on the cane bins. They've gone high tech and use dedicated brake wagons at the rear of the train that are remotely controlled from the loco.

It occurs to me that the PLR has more in common with ng railways on the other side of the Irish sea than just the gauge......

Regards,
Graeme

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ge_rik
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Re: Brake gear

Post by ge_rik » Mon Sep 03, 2018 10:10 pm

GTB wrote: Mon Sep 03, 2018 5:37 pm The double sided lever brake used on UK std gauge wagons had a cross shaft and some form of clutch or cam, so that either brake handle could operate all the brake shoes.
Although there were no W&L wagons with brake gear available for photography, there was one wagon in the workshop - of unknown origin. It appears to have this form of double sided brake with a cam.
DSCI1528.JPG
DSCI1528.JPG (128.07 KiB) Viewed 2147 times
Rik
PS - Much too complicated for the PLR ..... :?
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