>>1326340>I never understood why you guys used vacuum brakes instead of the airbrakes like US and AUS. I guess the tonnage and grades aren't that severe in Limeyland?Yup.
Another reason we switched from vacuum to air brakes is because diesels don't have a ready supply of steam to drive a vacuum ejector (far cheaper), which means a pump has to be used. If you've stumping up the cash for a pump then you might as well go with air brakes to get better performance.
"It was cheaper" explains an awful lot about railways in britain, as everyone tried to save money (small wagons, loose-coupled trains, small loading gauge and locomotives). This ended up hamstringing everything as the slowest trains barely went above 25mph and had to stop before each hill to apply handbrakes on the wagons, wasting time and filling up space on an already crowded system
