HR d.24 Klondike brake van.



HR d.24 brake van c.1900

Though these vans seem to have plenty of room inside for packages and consignments of small goods the single 2ft 3ins wide door seems unnecessarily restrictive, a comparable design of similar length belonging to the neighbouring GNoSR has double doors which must have made goods handling far easier.

The interior of this van was probably much the same as that of the restored Highland Passenger Brake Van No.5. I did not build an interior however as I thought it lacked the interest provided by my previous G &SW brake van project.

The roof can be removed to fix the glazing in place, it is screwed to a cross-member which is located just below the top of the side wall, the fixing screw is concealed inside the holder for the lamp hole bung, between the chimney and the lamp top.

Lamp irons are replacement brass castings from Slaters and will support a lamp, one of which can be seen on the step-end of the van.  I made the couplings, both hooks and links myself, the wide shank of the hook fits nicely in the deep slot in the buffer beam. The safety chains, which went out of use, about 1901, hang from slimmed down hand rail knobs mounted either side of the draw plate.

Highland Railway Klondike brake van.

The sole-bars are inset a few inches below the van sides, not flush with them, a feature which shows up on photos but is not allowed for by the kit. Narrowing the gap between the sole-bars to the correct width creates another problem...the rocking axle won't rock! A good deal of judicious filing is necessary to reinstate this feature. The buffer beam needs to be redesigned altogether both to fit the narrower gap between the sole-bars and to conform to the prototype drawing.
I replaced the cast white metal springs provided with ones of my own design which I originally modelled and cast for Lochgorm's earlier Open Carriage Truck kit, this allows more clearance between the bottom of the sole-bar, on which the springs are mounted, and the axle bearing, some modification of the axle-box castings was also needed to fit them into the space available.


 

The rocking-axle end of the van.

There appears to be no sign of a vaccum cylinder beneath the van on the photos that exist which simplifies matters below the sole-bar. The corners of the axle trays are cut away to make space for the buffers and similarly a central cut-out allows for the coupling spring. The couplings have been chemically blackened, the hook and its spring are retained by a transverse pin. The main advantage of a sprung coupling being that it facilitates removal when the van is being painted.

Pete's next brake van project will feature a fully detailed interior complete with a guard...so watch this space!