Brake van Help

[sebring115]

Hi

Can anyone identify this brake van used at Baggeridge on the Earl of Dudleys railways, Somthing said GWR Toad to me but im not so sure?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/60790501@N04/5685047256



Cheers

Mark

[Tim V]

Looks more Midland Road van to me.

Curved spoke wheels, RCH axleboxes, earlier round RCH buffers, interesting vehicle.

[sebring115]

Its quite unusual given that it must be fairly old but still in use in the late 50s and into the 60s until the pitt closure (circa 1968 I think). Im assuming it would have come from a pre-group company?

Mark

[Alan Turner]

There is a possibility that this is not Baggeridge Colliery.

From memory (OK 50 years ago now) I only remember one J94 at Baggeridge, not two and the engine shed I am sure was only a single road shed.

The number on the loco is No.9 not 8 as per the caption.

regards

Alan

[Noel]

Somthing said GWR Toad to me but im not so sure?

The van appears to have a wooden underframe, and the GW changed to iron, and later steel, underframes for brake vans quite early. The body doesn't look right for GWR to me, either. My thought was early LNWR rather than Midland, but some private lines did have their own brake vans, and might therefore have taken whatever design their preferred wagon builder had available. Tim has pointed out that the wheels and buffers are early, and the axleboxes probably rather later, but with a vehicle that old none of these are reliable guides to its origins, as repairs and replacements could have come from anywhere. Even the bodywork could have been altered.

[billbedford]

I'm pretty sure that it was a brake van built for a colliery company rather than a railway, and the horizontal planking suggest something built in the late 19th century rather than later.

[sebring115]

Thanks everyone. There are some more distant photos in the book on the earl of Dudleys railways book by Ned Williams so will see what I can maybe make out from them and build an approximation

http://www.nedwilliams.co.uk/books5.html
Cheers

Mark