GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

Warwick Station: gwrw384

WD 2-8-0 8F Austerity No 77497, loaned to the GWR by the Railway Operating Department, is seen at the head of an express goods train as it passes Cape Yard sidings circa 1947. WD 77497 was built by the Vulcan Foundry company circa 1944 and was renumbered by British Railways as No 90627 lasting in service until almost the end of steam being withdrawn in September 1967 from West Hartlepool shed before being scrapped in October 1967 by Hughes of Bolckow near North Blyth. With the outbreak of World War 2, Riddles of the LMS was appointed as the Director of Transport Equipment at the Ministry of Supply. He quickly adopted the Stanier 8F 2-8-0 as the standard military goods engine. In 1941 he was appointed to the post of Deputy Director-General of Royal Engineer Equipment, and by 1942 had started work on a new 'Austerity' 2-8-0 that took into account the lack of material and manpower and the fact it was to be used on the Continent when the Allies invaded occupied Europe. Construction started in January 1943, and a total of 935 locomotives would be built by May 1945 by the North British Locomotive Company and Vulcan Works. Courtesy of the LNER Encylopedia.

On the left of the smoke box can be seen a Westinghouse compressor which allowed the locomotive to be used on trains with air brakes, as was common practice on the Continent. The UK however used the vacuum brake which was introduced around the early 1870s, the same time as the air brake. As with the air brake, the vacuum brake system is controlled through a brake pipe connecting a brake valve in the driver's cab with braking equipment on the vehicles attached to the locomotive (except on loose fitted goods trains as was the norm in the UK). The operation of the brake equipment on each vehicle depends on the condition of a vacuum created in the pipe by an ejector or exhauster. The ejector, using steam on a steam locomotive, or an exhauster, using electric power on other types of train, removes atmospheric pressure from the brake pipe to create the vacuum. With a full vacuum, the brake is released. With no vacuum, i.e. normal atmospheric pressure in the brake pipe, the brake is fully applied. The vast majority of the world's trains are equipped with braking systems which use compressed air as the force used to push blocks on to wheels or pads on to discs. These systems are known as "air brakes" or "pneumatic brakes". The compressed air is transmitted along the train through a "brake pipe". Changing the level of air pressure in the pipe causes a change in the state of the brake on each vehicle. It can apply the brake, release it or hold it "on" after a partial application. Courtesy of Railway Technical.

back