Why Brake Vans Disappeared From Britain's Railways

0:00 Why brake vans disappeared 0:47 The guard and the handbrake 2:12 The disaster that changed railway braking 3:20 The law and continuous brakes 4:11 Freight trains catch up 5:36 The brake van leaves the tracks 6:29 The Rule Book is updated 7:22 How freight trains brake today Why did Britain keep brake vans in the rules long after freight trains had stopped using them? I trace the answer from handbrakes and whistles to trains that could brake themselves. I explain what the guard did in the van at the back, how the Armagh disaster led to continuous and automatic braking requirements, and why freight trains took much longer than passenger trains to adopt the technology. I also follow the gradual spread of vacuum and power brakes, the disappearance of loose-coupled freight, and the 2021 Rule Book update that finally removed the outdated requirement.