Loose coupled freight.
 

In my mind, the unsung heros of the railway world were those who were involved with loose coupled freight workings.

The extraordinary skills used by footplatemen and guards, particularly on gradients where wagon brakes had to be manually applied, or released seem largely ignored.

It would be nice to hear a few more stories about the exploits of these heros.:D

When I went to HM in July 1982, nearly all the goods trains were loose coupled, as there was not many Air braked trains around.
The oil trains were AB such as 101ton TEA and 45 ton TTA wagons. These were Class 6 trains.
Most of the other trains were vacuum braked or loose coupled Class 9.
Most of the routine goods trains were those with a fitted head of brakes and a BV in the rear.
Most of the Satuday Night ballast jobs were loose coupled with a BV at either end.
All over the railways were trackside notices AWB, this meant the train had to stop and pin down brakes on the train.
Places that had AWB signs were going down from Miles Platting into Man Vic.
Some local AWB's were on the up road at Shepley Station on the Penistone line.
The train stopped in the station and the second man pinned down the brakes on about 10 waggons to help with the 1/50 gradient down to Springwood Junction at Huddersfield.
The first mile from Shepley was level through Stocksmoor Station upto Brockholes tunnel mouth.
The guard would apply the hand brake hard on the wheels, with just the BV wheels turning.
On arrival at Huddersfield the train would be signalled onto the Down Main Line to lift all the brakes.
By this time a few of the waggons wheels were red hot and giving off blue smoke.
When putting coal on the BV stove it was wise to get hold of something solid, cos when stopping a sudden loco brake application would set of all the trucks buffering up, and when it got to the BV it was like running into a brick wall at 20mph.
I have spent may happy hours at all times of the day and night in a BV in summer and in winter, all by myself with mi mashing can on a red hot stove, wearing my bullet proof BR issued black over coat.
Ask me owt you want regarding loose couple trains and I will seek to answer your questions.
I had ten good years riding the range in a BV, and my last journey was in a Shark BV from Turners Lane, Wakefield to Neville Hill Depot, at Leeds. This was Christmas Week 1991.
Send me my VC.


This link will lead to pictures on the up and down roads at Stocksmoor Station, showing the only level track between Springwood Junction, at Huddersfield and Clayton West Jct, near to Shelley., on the Penistone Line in West Yorkshire.

http://www.imagebam.com/image/39ff95122992745

Claas 9 Trains
 

In the 70s i was at the front end on the engine. I worked from Springs Branch at Wigan and most of our work was on Class 25/40s with coal trains from the local pits.Various places on the network were quite dangerous if you did not get it right.eg dropping down the bank past Vulcan Foundry there was nothing between you and the WCML. you only approached the signal before the junction at 5mph or less otherwise you could do a spad and be on the junction. Greasy or wet lines made it evan more difficult as with a class 25 it was easy to lock the wheels and slide. Anouther bad place was coming off the Bickershaw branch. The signal was on the down hill slope so you would stop at the top of the hill and off the slope untill the signal pulled off. The signal men at Warrington PSB used to be exellant and if you told them it was bad rail conditions they would give you a clear road if they could.

Vulcan, Warrington,& Bickershaw.
 

Good one Barry, spot on, your correct with what took place in those areas whilst you were at Springs Branch, my stomping ground. Torquay.

I have been over that railway many times with the Ellesmere Port Gas Tanks in both directions.
We came through Vic, over the Moss and made a left turn through Newton Le Willows Station down past the Vulcan foundry, as I recall there was a signal near the foundry that protected the WCML.
One of the HM Drivers had a SPAD going in the direction of Warrington.
The Gas Train was 12x101T Air Braked Tankers run at Class 6.
By the way did you know David Dean, he is the Branch Sec. of the Wigan RMT.

Winwick Junction
 

Yes that signal has allways been a bad one to stop at.It was moved back farther up the hill in the late 70s to give more overlap towards the junction.This was after various concerns raised about this signal.I personaly have never liked this junction as up trains from Earlstown have to run on the down fast line for about 75-100yrd before croossing back to the down lines.

It always amazed me when coming through the platfom at Newton Le Willows how tight it was with the loaded gas tanks screeching on the rails.
As we came back pass from Warrington BQ, we went via NLW's it also shocked me how many wooden rail chocks were missing on the track we had just come through.
A derailment with this train of LPG could be a bit hairy to say the least.

Pure nostalgia, although the BV that I remember had enough smoke from the stove for anyone.
The mention of a derailment/accident with the LPG tanks reminds me of the nuclear flasks that we worked on a regular basis.


Davat

Having a good week in Belgium.

A point that was very important, was you could not go slow enough at the top of a steep incline. Drivers would bring the speed down to sometimes as low as 5 mph even under clear signals to control the train down the banks. If the train started pushing the engine then you had no chance of stopping in difficult areas. Some notable problem areas were Billericay - Shenfield, Shenfield - Harold Wood and Haringay - South Tottenham. Cross London was always difficult and I remember the Southern being the first region to abolish loose coupled trains. For me as a Secondman I remember driving a Cambridge - Temple Mills loose coupled train. On arrival at Temple Mills the elderly and very experienced Guard enquired who was driving. When the Driver informed him it was I he complimented me on a very good journey. I always remember that small gesture with pride.

THE SHUNT POLE
The first thing I learned to do when going out of the yard loose coupled, was to learn how to use a shunt pole
It was my job to couple all the trucks up and make sure they were all fit for going.
As these wagons came over the hump at HM, they would have been cut on the hump top in blocks of 3.
This meant coupling up every 3rd truck. To do this you had to go under the buffers to lift the coupling onto the other truck.
As railwaymen were a bit lazy someone invented a shunt pole.
This shunt pole speeded up the process of preparing a loose coupled train.
In expert hands you could hook 2 trucks together in a very quick minute.
This saved going inbetween the trucks and the effort that it took.
Some guards used the shunt pole under the buffers, and throwing the shackle onto the hook by manual strength.
My way was to hook on was place the shunt pole on the buffer casing and use that as a pivot to lift the shackle and place it on the hook of the other vehicle
Then with a quick flick of your arm deposit the shackle on to the other hook.
The SP was used for hooking off as well, also you could lengthen and shorten instanter couplings with the SP.
If you look at buffers you will see on the buffer casing a raised lip at the end where the actual buffer comes out of the casing. This lip is used to stop the SP from slipping onto buffer assembly, on some of the newer OLEO buffers there is a pin at the end of the casing which stops the SP sliding onto the buffer.
You see a lot of old steam engines with a shunt pole over the front buffer.
All the 08 350 shunters had a place for the shunter to ride on and a place to stand a shunt pole upright.
All brakevans had to have a shunt pole, a brake stick 3 tail lamps and 2 sets of Track Safety Operarting Clips(TCOC's) and enough coal and paraffin for the journey.
I carried at tin of detonators for years in my guards bag.
They came in handy for clearing the ash and soot out of the BV fire.

Coming down the Lickey was always a nightmare. We would stop at the top and the guard would walk up the train to speak to the brakesman who was stationed in his cabin at the top of the bank.As he walked along the train he would drop all the brake handles ready to be pinned down. The brakesman would normally say "every 3rd wagon",and with that we would pull away as slowly as possible. The guard and brakesman would then pin down as hard as possible every 3rd wagon brake. This involved holding the brake arm down as hard as he could,whilst putting the holding pin in place. Together the two men would do the whole train - whilst we on the front kept the speed down as best we could - on a falling gradient of 1 in 37,with possibly over 1000 tons of train pushing us !!
When the guard reached the rear of the train he would jump on the brake van (handbrake screwed on as hard as possible),give us a signal (flag or handlamp) and we would fight the train for the next two miles downhill. 9 times out of 10 the signalman would put you into the down goods loop at Bromsgrove,where you would stop (if possible) and the guard would walk along the train picking up the brakes.
Quite often this was done during the hours of darkness,in pouring rain,fog,snow - whatever.
Imagine Health and Safety getting involved with that !!

By the way,if I remember correctly,the speed into the goods loop at the bottom of the Lickey was 25 m.p.h. I can testify that it could handle speeds a little higher than that.

No doubt a few of the ex Saltley men on here have a few tales to tell.

If I remember correctly the speed onto the "Down Goods Line" at Bromsgrove Station was 15mph,and the maximum speed for a freight train descending the "Lickey" from Blackwell to Bromsgrove was shown in the sectional appendix as 12mph,which was virtually impossible to keep to even with every other wagon brake applied.:)

Just the same in Devon and Cornwall with their steep banks quite scary today but back then you just did it as part of your job.

ccmmick.

Yes,now that you mention it 15 m.p.h. does ring a bell. Thanks.

The 12 m.p.h. was probably established many many years before the heavier trains of the 1970s/80s. I really don't think too many drivers managed to run at that speed all the way down to Bromsgrove.

The enclosed pictures are of a loose coupled train from HM to Park Mill Pit.
This train originated at Healey Mills to Huddersfield then Sprinwood Jct upto Clayton West Jct, on the single line down to Clayton West.
The line to CW was single, and was subject to a Tylers Tablet obtained from Clayton West Junction Box.
The maximum load was 28 loaded wagons, which went to Elland Power Station.
This branch line was 1/50 going down to the pit.
On arrival at CW Station the whole train went down the Station loop, then RR through a GF on the Sation Platform. The light engine ran upto a sub on the Wakefield Road Railway Bridge, then came back on the loop road to attach onto the BV.
You can see on the BV that it was made on the Southern region in 1926.
In the pics you see Danny Danniels who is the guard waving from the BV, and a pic where he is talking to the shunter/number taker a Mr Stangroom who had a BR honda 50 for this job.
The whole load of ETY wagons was drawn up onto the bank, behind a sub to propel the train onto the pit sidings.
All these wagons were swingers, with just the engine/ BVs brake and some trucks with pinned down brakes.
The ETY wagons were put in the next road to the full trucks.
Once the empties were stood, the train was secured with hand brakes, the guard then shunted the loaded trucks from the next road, on to the BV.
He prepared the loaded and coupled the BV onto the loaded ready for departure.
28 wagons was the maximum load for a Class37. The driver would be given the single line token, and off they went up the 1/50 bank back to the Mill
The empty wagons were then shunted internally with a small Diesel Shunter.
The description I have given you is taken from the actual method of working for this branch. The pics were taken one summer Saturday in 1978.
I learned this road in 1981, and it shut in January 1983, and the track was taken up in 1984. If it was wet the whole of the area could hear the engine slipping and sliding on its way back to HM.
This has been written from memory.

http://www.imagebam.com/image/aa77d4123146384

Interesting read there guys.......

http://www.imagebam.com/image/5a47de123789464

Pic. 1.
Class 9 shunting on the Wakefield Road bridge at Clayton West.
The class 47 is pulling out the empty coal trucks to go behind a sub on the grey bridge to propel them into the screens.
The guard will be stood by the sub signal to call the train back into the pit sidings.
This is where both driver and guard need a clear understanding of what they are doing, otherwise chaos would be imminent.
This pic was taken in March 1980.

PIC2.
This shows the last passenger train to leave Clayton West, bound for Huddersfield.
As you can see from the pic the date is Saturday 22nd of January 1983.
The Staff are from Left to right;
Mark Helliwell the train guard.

John Mitchell, Huddersfield driver, of the last train.

Steve Johnson, Huddersfield Guard, out for the occasion.

(Smoothy) John Wright, Guard, out for the occasion,

PIC3.

Mark with his trusty Almex Ticket Machine, with the pay train fivers in his hand.

I recall the train left at 18:40 hrs back to Huddersfield..
This line was closed for passengers.

Good stuff....

Recall about 1980 the booking clerk at Harlseden had to call for assistance as a delivery of a wired bale of new shunting poles for Willesden Brent had obstructed the booking office door such that he could not move them to clear the doorway against which they had been left - no-one's going to have that problem again!

In 1979-80 remember a string of unfitted and part-fitted freights each night for such destinations as Mold Junction, Dewsnap, Northampton, Bescot. The fitted sand train from Redhill to St Helens was still a problem to regulate as it was only 35mph max. Trips from Sudbury yard to Neasden had to propel all the way round to Acton canal Wharf, mainly hauled by the ubiquitous class 25's. What a hive of activity from evening through to the early hours, a short lull and then all the southbound arrivals at Sudbury receptions and frantic activity over the hump at Sudbury middle to make up the morning southbound departures. Dizzy days!

Bloody Healey Mills men would go anywhere and often did!

Great stories gents and I really enjoy reading your tales. Its a good thread Philip and thanks to all you old hands for sharing your experiences. I can just imagine the lone guard with his mash can being jossled about! Good stuff.
All the best
Phil
p.s. anyone got anymore stories like this?

when i first started it was all loose coupled and it took great skill on the drivers part to handle and control them.i once tried to persuade driver and guard in dodworth coll yard to couple the vacuum bags up on about 15 21t coal wagons so we didnt need to pin down brakes.no way would they do it,scared them witless that we wouold have no brakes pinned down even though the brake force would have been greater with the wagons piped up.

When Waff shut we learned all the pits that they would go into,
Dovecliffe had the worst hill to climb, and if the trucks ran away you would have to bail out.
We also did K22 from The Mill to Wath Yard, with 28 HTV fully fitted back to The Mill, over the S and K.
The route from the Mill was via Darton, Barnsley, Quarry Junction, Aldams Junction and propell into Wath.
Sometimes we had HKV's full of Sand for Beatson Clarked Glass Works,.
This job signed on at 09:00 and you were back on the receptions at Healey Mills, and going Home at 13:00hrs (8 hour diagram) done and dusted.

Interesting but can you explain please what happened when you had to bail out? I've got this vision of all the trucks piled up in a heap at the bottom?
Cheers
Phil

you jumped hopefully before they picked up speed.know half a dozen or so that bailed out at dovecliffe and pilley.

At Dovecliffe before a loose coupled train left the siding for Wath, I would pin down as many hand brakes as I thought would be needed for the trip down the bank.
In consutation with the driver, he would set off slowly having regard to the tonage on the train.
On departure the hand brake on the BV would be screwed down as required.
If the load was too much, and the train ran away(never happened to me)
The driver would sound a lot of noise from the horn, and that would be the signal to bail out.
Pining handbrakes down was called AWB(Asssit with Brakes).
As guard working over a route like this on a regular basis it became second nature to know the road, and ho many tons to take down the bank.

The best story that I ever heard was about a loaded cement train from Earles Sidings near Hope that was unintentionally run loose coupled due to there being two engines, the brake valve being left open on the rear engine, the cocks between the two engines having been left shut, and no brake test being carried out! You dropped like a stone towards Chinley Junction and it was 15 mph around the curve then. The driver managed to climb from one class 25 to the other class 25 and apply the brakes. I knew this driver and he was a typical old gimmer who got a sweat on just walking up stairs. I have no idea how he managed this amazing feat at speed AND in the confines of Cowburn Tunnel, but then it is amazing what fear can make us do.

On the subject of heroes though, I have a book about boiler explosions. I started reading it with no particular expectation of enjoying it much, but I was gripped by the tales of destruction and left if awe of the skill of the firemen who managed to keep the water level right on strange engines, sometimes on strange lines, often on heavy gradiants, where the water level indicated in the gauge had to be ignored in favour of gut instinct.

So imagine the full picture, a young fireman, a dark and freezing night with an open cab, exposed to all the elements, a miserable driver, a heavy loose coupled train, firing, looking for signals, checking the water level..... Awsome men!

Brian.

I was a secondman at Tinsley 1974-81/82... 50% of our work was local trip trains in and around Sheffield & Rotherham. Mostly coal, coke, steel, scrap and stone. They all ran as a class 9. All loose coupled with a tub at the back. There were lots of places where AWB was necessary - bringing loads of coal and coke from outlying areas. One I remember clearly was Smithywood nr Ecclesfield, NW of Sheffield. Single line leaving the coking plant with loaded HCO 21tonne wagons with 2xClass 20. I can't remember the actual maximum load but the gradient from there was fairly steep and we always set off with at least half a dozen wagon brakes pinned. It was a mile or two before we reached a small level crossing, operated by the traincrew and the trick was not to take out the gates.. I remember creeping down that incline, driving, and the pressure was palpable - especially on wet rails.. Once that was sorted it was an easy amble to Tinsley Jct West, hand back the staff and then charge at Tinsley Sth Jct and up the incline into Tinsley Yard, hoping that he would pull off the signal at the top of the climb... Of course in the BV it could be a bit of a rollercoaster for the poor guard.. Going through the hollow at Meadowhall and up the other side there would be the extended length of an 'instanter' between every wagon to take up.. Got to be careful not to divide the train by being rough but to get enough acceleration to climb the grade into Tinsley Yard.. Experienced guards would have the BV brake on going into the dip to take up some of the slack ready for the 20 foot lurch at the far end of all those loose couplers and they would wedge themselves into the seat so that they didn't land on their ar*es...
That was partly the reasoning behind being a secondman for so many years (apart from dead mens shoes).. It took years to learn and understand how different trains would behave on the many and varied grades and learning how to handle trains safely with regard for the welfare of the 3rd member of the team at the back..
Also a 'Good Guard' was worth his weight in gold to the footplate crew.. He could make all the difference, knowing when to help out with a bit of brake and knowing the routes and loading well enough to manage wagon braking when necessary too.
Working loose coupled trains was an art which took many years to master.

Interesting read - I love hearing tales about my local area.