Wagon Tests

[52D]

I was going to put this link in photography and video section but thought that modellers may like the details in close up. http://player.bfi.org.uk/film/watch-buf ... ford-1945/

[drmditch]

Thank you. Fascinating. Interesting that they didn't state the number,tare, and load of the wagons used in each test.

[52D]

Yes i noted that, did you like the lettering on the wagon sides something like condemmed wagon on loan to the district engineer.

[drmditch]

Just watched this again with morning coffee (any excuse to avoid starting work!).

In the first 'York Straight Rail' type, when the buffer stop didn't move and the wagon rebounded, it was interesting to note the brake lever dropping down.

I wonder whether a rough shunt, or even the kind of jerk that must have happened quite often at a change of gradient or a sudden stop, could have had the same effect. Did the train crew have to check for this?

[1H was 2E]

Responding to drmditch; one of the regular sights and sounds in watching passing freight trains was the bouncing brake handle. I can also remember that, on a few occasions, the handle bounced up and sideways, back on to the rest, as the train went past.
Never really understood the mechanics of this phenomenon but the brake shoe hitting the tyre seemed to react back through the (sloppy) linkage and spring the handle up again, then dropping down to repeat the process. There certainly seemed to be some high forces involved.
Bouncing brake handles; smoking bearings; severe wheel flats; red hot wheels; hoppers slowly discharging their load; the stretching of coupling springs and the clash of buffers... All part of the everyday scene of watching goods and coal trains go by in the country, gone now but not forgotten.

[All thumbs]

Is it just me - I keep expecting Alec Guinness to appear!