Heywood Brake Van in 1:24… Part 1

The Sir Arthur Heywood 15″ gauge Brake Van built for the Eaton Hall Railway is one of the current model projects I’m working on in 1:24 scale. My primary sources for reference material on the van come from Mike Decker (Deckers Trains) and his excellent drawings from 1997, published originally in issue 32 of the Narrow Gauge & Industrial Railway Modelling Review and currently available on CD through his web site. The excerpted text below comes from the article that accompanied Mike’s drawings.

… getting a train stopped is at least as important as getting it moving. Sir Arthur Heywood’s first solution to the problem on the Eaton Railway was this four-wheel brake. The brake weighed 14 cwt. with two men and a boy. This proved to be insufficient weight to provide adequate stopping power.

Delivered in 1895, the brake was equipped with canvas curtains which rolled down from the sides and ends of the roof for weather protection. They don’t seem to have lasted too long as they only appear in early photos. The car remained at the ER until the closing in 1947. After that, it was purchased with the rest of the stock by the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Rly. As with the rest of the roofed ER stock, it had to be lowered to the RH&DR’s 5ft.-3in. loading gauge. The roof posts were cut off flush with the sides. It didn’t see much use at Romney and in the middle 1960s, was sold to Michel Jacot for his railway at Birmingham, which is where I had the pleasure of a ride on it. While Michel owned the brake, he fitted it with vacuum-hydraulic brakes using an automotive power brake unit and brake cylinder… The van was later sold back to the RH&DR and the roof restored for the Minimum Gauge Exhibition at the National Railway Museum in 1981.

The van’s colour was probably as I saw it, black frame and flooring, including the crosspiece to which the end doors are hinged, and medium chocolate brown above that. The roof was black canvas.

The first picture below shows the van in use in 1899. The rolled canvas curtains are just visible along the roof. The photo comes from Sir Arthur Heywood and the Fifteen Inch Gauge Railway by Mark Smithers, published by Plateway Press in 1995.

The following three photos show the van in its current condition. The photos were taken at last year’s annual Eaton Hall steam-up in July.

Using Mike Decker’s excellent drawings as a starting point, I’ve completed redrawing the primary frame components in Cobalt (3d CAD application). The initial drawing shows the joinery between all the components.

Below is a preliminary rendering of the assembled frame above.

This next drawing and rendering show the tongue-and-groove floor boards in place on the frame.

The individual frame members and floor boards will be machined from Swiss Pear. The plan is to replicate the prototype joinery work as closely as possible on the 1:24 model.

The next post will present drawings of the superstructure components.

Tags: 15" gauge, 1:24, Brake Van, Cobalt, Eaton Hall Railway, Model-making, Romney Hythe & Dymchurch Rly, Sir Arthur Heywood