My 20T British Rail Brake Van - Brake Van Diaries #1 

I would start the restoration with fixing the roof to stop the leaking. That way damp weather won’t undo your work.

Honestly brakevans look like such cozy places, imagine sitting beside the stove with a nice warm fire on a cold winter night

I'm jealous I would love my own Brakevan. If I had one I'd do it up like a camper van and sleep in it.

This man went from models, to miniature, and now to full scale. I envy you so much! Great videos as always and keep up the great work!

You have some job on there my friend. I have lost count of how many times I have fired up one of those Stoves. It is the perfect tool for helping to dry the Van out, when they get going the whole stove gets really hot, I have seen them glowing before today but if you keep it going for as long as you can, it will do the job of drying out. The Buffers are the old Spindle type and what you need to check is that the Rubber Baffle system behind the solebar is still intact, they have a tendency to break down with age. It will be a great project to get your teeth into though, I wish you luck with it 🚂.

GREAT LAYOUT UPDATE THANKS LEE

Great project. Looking forward to seeing it being done. The hangers above the fire are to dry your wet clothes

Inspired by yours and Eric’s adventures I have become a member of the Bluebell railway and am loving every minute of it

Interesting.... I shall never complain about the old VR Z brakevans again!

Excellent work.

I have a hunch about the * concrete slab*, in that it may not be solid. I would suggest it is poured cement to add ballast to the BV. Just a hunch. Slab concrete in a vehicle doesn’t sound right.

Used to see these all over Sodor back in the day…

How interesting I am too a member of the CVR I didn’t know the brake van was forsale ,great news that it’s getting some TLC and good luck with this project I look forward to the updates

Great Start, may well be worth putting a tarpoulin on the roof to prevent any further rot until you can begin to dry it out

Great video. So glad i found it as i will be doing the airfix model soon and want to detail and weather it. Brilliant to see inside one as well. I never knew they were concrete slabs. For weight to aid braking i guess. Superb project.

Nice Ollie...looking forward to seeing the diaries. All the best.

Are your buffers sprung? Asking on behalf of Sam…

Good luck with the restoration. Not been too long since the ESR where I’m at restores a 20T breakvan. Should look great when complete.

That's an amazing project. Can't wait to see more

Excellent project that I shall be following .................Next stop a loco !!!! Cheers Kev

Awesome stuff Ollie

Congratulations and good luck with the job!

Great to see !! Can’t wait to watch the development of the brake van

I went to colne valley once. It’s great! The travelling post office is a great part.-Das Mann

found the channel via Dave at Bunters Yard, cannot wait to follow along with the project!

Originally those break vans were painted according to whether they were fully fitted brakes or not. The brown ones were fully fitted and grey were none fitted. I have no idea how or why the colour schemes were chosen after BR days though.

the couplings fitted to the Van are not 3 link couplings but are Instanter couplings

What a fantastic project! If it's the Wet Rot Wood Hardener you have, I would put it to one side and look into getting a product called Git Rot. Its more expensive but works far better - its used for repairing vintage wooden boats and is a slow setting resin which penetrates deep into the wood before going hard.

Wow... definitely not N-gauge. An awesome project that will be very cool to work on and accomplish! Best wishes and looking forward to the updates.

Looks like a decent project. Subscribed. Has got me thinking about a possible internal conversion for a home. Either way I'll be following your progress with interest.

Great video, can’t wait to visit and stay over when it’s finished 🤣

I would Recommend using PT Blaster for the hand brake motion. spray it down and let it sit for a few days.

Good luck with your new project, as a suggestion, instead of WR on the side ducts, How about painting Return to Wardle Road. I was a former member of the Colne Valley from 1979 to 2019, James Messer is a ideal chap to talk to down there.

That brake van looks just like the ones in Thomas and friends

when you have finished restoring the brake van maybe you can buy the class 312 parked next to it and restore it to mainline running condition!

How Cool & great to see that the Brake Van will get some much needed TLC. Hope you do put it back in to Dutch Engineering livery, will look ace. Do you have Help with this or doing on your own...? Look forward to the updates.

Great video welcome to the CVR family! Looking forward to seeing this project develop 👍

This brake van doesn’t look so “spiteful”

Exciting stuff

Just cos I'm curious would love to see how much it was bought for and for each update after a cost of spends for repair as I feel it would be beneficial to all watching not just to see the costs but to see how much actually goes into keeping the heritage railways going. On another note a suggestion for the WR logo placement. The duckets is a good location but would make small ones that fit the lamp irons from a side view sort of like the not to move signs locos have when in for repair or getting ready to steam

And the other thing is its hard to find the replacement stoves for these brake vans

awesome video

Do you mind me asking how much it cost you?

Wow

9:50 For hanging spare lamps?

Hi there, how much does a 1:1 scale brake van cost these days? Great video can't wait for more, cheers.

Where do you even start looking for one wouldn’t mind one myself

Hello

Any news on the restoration of merchant navey blue star