Freight
British Railways inherited approx. 1,250,000 freight wagons from the 'Big Four', and a further 500,000 Private Owner wagons. Only a fraction of these wagons were fitted with continuous vacuum brakes, and many were limited to a speed of 45 mph.
The Ideal Stocks Committee recommended that British Railways adopt the vacuum brake as standard for new construction, and whilst this recommendation was adopted it was not fully implemented. They further advised the continued building and use of short wheelbase four wheeled wagons with capacity's of 10-16T. The new standard wagons incorporated the best practices from existing rolling stock and the major designs were for the guards van, cattle wagon, insulated meat van, mineral wagon, plate wagon, container flats, ironstone hopper and covered van. Also, bogie bolster wagons of 30 and 42 Tons capacity.
The introduction of the 'Condor' by the London Midland Region was a milestone in freight trains, and was further developed into the Freightliner container service during the 1960's.
The 1955 Modernisation Plan did not foresee a major change in rolling stock policy, other than the fitting of automatic vacuum brakes (AVB). It was the 1963 Beeching report which recognised the change in freight handling from wagon load to block load trains in response to competition from road transport and the development of the motorway system. The introduction of the merry-go-round (MGR) system for delivering coal to power stations was a Beeching recommendation.
British Railways inherited approx. 1,250,000 freight wagons from the 'Big Four', and a further 500,000 Private Owner wagons. Only a fraction of these wagons were fitted with continuous vacuum brakes, and many were limited to a speed of 45 mph.
The Ideal Stocks Committee recommended that British Railways adopt the vacuum brake as standard for new construction, and whilst this recommendation was adopted it was not fully implemented. They further advised the continued building and use of short wheelbase four wheeled wagons with capacity's of 10-16T. The new standard wagons incorporated the best practices from existing rolling stock and the major designs were for the guards van, cattle wagon, insulated meat van, mineral wagon, plate wagon, container flats, ironstone hopper and covered van. Also, bogie bolster wagons of 30 and 42 Tons capacity.
The introduction of the 'Condor' by the London Midland Region was a milestone in freight trains, and was further developed into the Freightliner container service during the 1960's.
The 1955 Modernisation Plan did not foresee a major change in rolling stock policy, other than the fitting of automatic vacuum brakes (AVB). It was the 1963 Beeching report which recognised the change in freight handling from wagon load to block load trains in response to competition from road transport and the development of the motorway system. The introduction of the merry-go-round (MGR) system for delivering coal to power stations was a Beeching recommendation.