Arresting Runaway Wagons

[rogerfarnworth]

British Railways Illustrated Volume 5 No. 5 of February 1996 included an article about the LNWR goods yard at Edge Hill, Liverpool.

In 1850, the Edge Hill yards occupied 40 acres, with room for 1,782 wagons. By 1873, the yards spread over 104 acres and could accommodate 3,215 wagons. In 1894, they were 200 acres in size, with 60 miles of lines with a capacity of 6,828 wagons. At the turn of the 20th century there was still space on the site for further expansion, if required.

The gradient across the site meant that wagons moved around the site under their own weight. To prevent dangerous runaways a system of hooks attached to heavy chains was employed at key locations across the site.

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2025/04/06/arresting-runaway-wagons/

[nkalanaga]

My father worked as retarder operator in the NP/BN Pasco yard, with the clasp-type retarders.  I noticed one line in your post:

"Retarders, generally, are some form of mechanical brakes, often pneumatic, hydraulic, or spring-driven, which are strategically placed to control the speed of rolling wagons as they descend through a yard."

Pasco originally used "skates" to stop cars from rolling out of the bowl.  They had to placed on the track manually, and the car(s) had to be pulled back before they could be removed.

Around 1970, not sure of exactly when, they were replaced with automatic clasp retarders, spring-loaded.  Those would grab any car trying to leave the bowl, but the car(s) in the track could be pulled through them by the switch engines, without their having to be released.  Basically the same idea as the arresting hook/chain, but these didn't have to be removed or reset.

[rogerfarnworth]

Thank you for the reply, nkalanaga.