Parkside Kits O Gauge PS626 GWR DC Brake Fittings Including Vacuum Cylinder and Pipes

This set can also be used with other kits to model vacuum braked versions of wagons fitted with the Morton clutch hand brake levers, adding the vacuum brake cylinder, connecting arm and train brake connection pipes. The steam heat hoses should be kept in a safe place, these can be used to detail coaches, wagons fitted with through steam heating connections (eg fruit vans) and may prove suitable to add train air brake hoses on wagons running in the diesel era.

The Dean-Churchward brake was developed from several patented ideas for an 'either-side' hand brake mechanisms, principally the 'Thomas' brake. 'Either-side' meant a brake mechanism which could be operated from either side of a wagon, not just on the side actually fitted with the wheel brakes. This was intended to prevent accidents and injuries to shunters by eliminating the need to pass between wagons to apply or release the simple one-side lever brake.

The GWR-developed Dean-Churchward brake is, in action, like a spring-applied brake system requiring only a positive pull on short handle to activate. The brake force is supplied by the mechanism instead of relying on manual force/pressure on the brake lever to apply the brakes. Due to the use of a quadrant ratchet the system was self-adjusting and could be applied or released from either side of the wagon.
The brake mechanism was modified to meet the Board of Trade 'right hand' rule (meaning the brake handle would be at the right hand end of a wagon) and was adapted for use with the vacuum train brake.

However it was more expensive than the simple lever brake, causing it to be adopted by the GWR only and in the 1920s the Board of Trade ruled that wagons brakes should only be able to be released from the same side on which they were applied, effectively banning the DC brake for new wagon construction. It is believed this new ruling was based around ensuring that a brake could not be released from one side while staff could be working unobserved on the other side of the train. A curious decision given that shunters should walk both sides of the train before moving it and the intent of the either-side brake was to prevent the accidents which occurred because they didn't!
The GWR did lobby for and were granted an exemption for the DC brake as an 'approved brake', allowing existing wagons to continue in service, well into the British Railways era and many specialist wagons (eg. well wagons & bogie bolsters) continued to be built with DC brakes. However during WW1 the 'common user' system for wagon utilisation had been a success and from the 1923 grouping the GWR chose to adopt RCH standards and use the more common Morton brake system for general service wagons.