NSA 80390 "Ernie Gosling" on display at Doncaster Works open day on 27 July 2003. This vehicle was operated by EWS country-wide in the consist of TPO mail trains
A Post Office sorting van is a type of rail vehicle built for use in a Travelling Post Office.
British Rail built ninety-six of these vehicles between 1959 and 1977, to several similar designs, all based on the Mark 1 coach design. They were numbered in the range 80300–80395. The earliest vehicles built featured catching nets and collection arms, to allow mail bags to be exchanged without the train needing to stop, a practice which continued until 1971. Following the Great Train Robbery, vehicles from 80319 onwards featured a revised design with smaller windows.
In the early 1970s, British Rail introduced the TOPS classification system. Vehicles were given the TOPS code NS, followed by an A if they were air-braked, V if vacuum-braked, or an X if they had both air and vacuum brakes.
Preservation
Several sorting vehicles have been preserved, including examples from most of the big four companies, as well as some from even earlier. There are also several BR Mark 1 vehicles in preservation, including the first-built vehicle, no. 80300; the last vehicle built with large windows, no. 80318; and the final vehicle overhauled by EWS, no. 80382. The complete list is shown below:
The vacuum brake is a braking system employed on trains and introduced in the mid-1860s. A variant, the automatic vacuum brake system, became almost universal in British train equipment and in countries influenced by British practice. Vacuum brakes also enjoyed a brief period of adoption in the United States, primarily on narrow-gauge railroads. Their limitations caused them to be progressively superseded by compressed air systems starting in the United Kingdom from the 1970s onward. The vacuum brake system is now obsolete; it is not in large-scale usage anywhere in the world, other than in South Africa, largely supplanted by air brakes.
The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) inherited several styles of coaching stock from its constituents. Stock built by the LMS itself can be categorised into three separate periods, numbered I to III.
The British Rail Class 05 is a class of 0-6-0 diesel-mechanical shunters built by Hunslet Engine Company from 1955 to 1961. They were used on the Eastern and Scottish Regions of British Railways. The first two batches were delivered as 11136-11143 and 11161-11176. Subsequent locomotives were delivered, new, as D2574-D2618.
The British Rail Class 07 diesel locomotive is an off-centre cab 0-6-0 diesel-electric shunter type built by Ruston & Hornsby in 1962 for the Southern Region of British Railways. The 14 members of the class were primarily used at Southampton Docks and later also at Eastleigh Works.
A railway brake is a type of brake used on the cars of railway trains to enable deceleration, control acceleration (downhill) or to keep them immobile when parked. While the basic principle is similar to that on road vehicle usage, operational features are more complex because of the need to control multiple linked carriages and to be effective on vehicles left without a prime mover. Clasp brakes are one type of brakes historically used on trains.
British Rail Mark 1 is the family designation for the first standardised designs of railway carriages built by British Railways (BR) from 1951 until 1974, now used only for charter services on the main lines or on preserved railways.
The Mark 2 family of railway carriages are British Rail's second design of carriages. They were built by British Rail workshops between 1964 and 1975 and were of steel construction.
A wide variety of hauled coaches have been used on the railways of Ireland. This page lists all those since 1945.
A Travelling Post Office (TPO) was a type of mail train used in Great Britain and Ireland where the post was sorted en route, used from 1830 to 1996, with non-TPO mail trains ending in 2024.
The British Rail Class 307 electric multiple units were built by BR at Eastleigh Works from 1954 to 1956. They were initially classified as AM7 before the introduction of TOPS.
The British RailClass 303 electric multiple units, also known as "Blue Train" units, were introduced in 1960 for the electrification of the North Clyde and the Cathcart Circle lines in Strathclyde. They were initially classified as AM3 units before the introduction of the TOPS classification system, and were the dominant EMU on the Glasgow suburban railway network for over 25years before being progressively phased out by newer rolling stock. The final units were withdrawn from service in 2002. The fleet's lifespan was 42years.
A Post Office stowage van is a type of rail vehicle built for use in a travelling post office (TPO). Several of these have passed into preservation as they are very useful for storage on the railways.
A brake Post Office stowage van is a type of rail vehicle built for use in a travelling post office.
The British Rail Class 25, also known as the Sulzer Type 2, is a class of 327 diesel locomotives built between 1961 and 1967 for British Rail. They were numbered in two series, D5151–D5299 and D7500–D7677.
The British Rail Class 76, also known as Class EM1, is a class of 1.5 kV DC, Bo+Bo electric locomotive designed for use on the now-closed Woodhead Line in northern England.
The British Rail Class 304 were AC electric multiple units designed and produced at British Rail's (BR) Wolverton Works.
A merry-go-round train, often abbreviated to MGR, is a block train of hopper wagons which both loads and unloads its cargo while moving. In the United Kingdom, they are most commonly coal trains delivering to power stations. These trains were introduced in the 1960s, and were one of the few innovations of the Beeching cuts, along with investment from the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) and the NCB into new power stations and loading facilities.
The Y class is a class of diesel locomotives built by the Tasmanian Government Railways between 1961 and 1971.
The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) inherited several styles of coaching stock from its constituents. Sir Nigel Gresley continued the styles that he had established pre-grouping at the Great Northern Railway (GNR) and for the East Coast Joint Stock.
The Southern Railway Maunsell carriage was the first design family of railway carriages built by Richard Maunsell for the Southern Railway (SR) in the United Kingdom. Following grouping in 1923, SR had continued to build carriages to the designs of the previous three main companies, and the Maunsell carriage was intended to be the standard carriage design for use across the Southern Railway lines, incorporating the best features of each of the former companies' designs.
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