https://www.therailwayhub.co.uk/72471/tunbridge-wells-west-as-a-railway-centre-january-1956/
Braked goods wagons were surprisingly slow to proliferate - not really until after WW2 did they start to become common, and even then they were vacuum braked, which wasn’t wildly efficient for obvious reasons, so the use of brake vans as ‘force multipliers’ continued well into the 1980s! They were also there to try to take-up some of the slack in long trains of wagons - you commonly had 30 to 50 wagons in a train during peak goods-by-rail, and they were all loose-coupled, so stopping and starting could cause an enormous amount of wear-and-tear on both the linkages, the rolling stock, and the goods carried, so a good guard would use the brake strategically to reduce the effect.
The guard himself was essential on these trains because most of the goods rolling stock was pretty ancient - at the start of the 1960s there were still some wagons in circulation that had been built in the 1870s, and plenty dated from the 1920s and 1930s - all were built as cheaply as possible, and so most featured plain wheel bearings running in grease-boxes. Since we’d killed-off a significant percentage of our workforce in two World Wars, there were never enough people, or enough money, to maintain all these labour intensive antiques, so “hot box” axle fires were pretty common events. A vital part of the guards job was to watch for these and bring the train to a standstill ASAP, get the fire hazard decoupled and try to get the rest of the train reassembled and moving again before the entire line came to a standstill!
The guard was also the security guy for the train while loaded - no shortage of people ready to pilfer during the often lengthy waits in sidings. The vans were glazed and heated inside with a small coal stove, and an official bucket was usually carried, plumber’s Transit style, but they were heavy (typically 20-30 tons), leaf-sprung, and unless the guard worked the brake constantly, the ride was hellish as starting and stopping would have a very jerky whiplash effect as all the wagons in the train responded to the slack between them. Once diesels proliferated, most with two cabs, guards mostly became second-men inside those instead.
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From the big to the small; bet they handle well:
Were it not for Dr Beeching…
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Been done already.
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Brilliant; difference is that in the Euronews article, the vehicles are able to be driven on the road and rail:
“The company’s solution to reactivating these lines is to launch vehicles adapted from a Peugeot e-Traveller and fitted with a technical system that allows them to switch smoothly from road to rail.”
Unfortunate Locomotive Names, vol. IV:
(ex-Turners Asbestos Cement, Trafford Park, built 1908, ret’d 1968)
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Memories of college, innit:
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Two things distinguish model railway people - one is that around 40% of them are heroically unconvincing elderly crossdressers/transexuals. No exaggeration. BIG crossover.
The other, is that they’re almost all massive bigoted gammons. Not a Venn diagram I’d have predicted. So there’s this:
Notwithstanding that it looks more like Keir Starmer than Our Nige, I’ve emailed the company that 3D print it with a picture of him at the aircraft crash to ask if they can do me a version like that. I said unpainted would be fine because I enjoy the painting bit. Plenty of red in the cupboard.
They’ll probably ignore me.
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Not even due to the cosplay nostalgia element?
Thought you were an N gauge guy? You could have him as a Colossus of Roads, either painted in the standard dictator wannabe blue suit and red tie, or marbelise him for full fascist kitsch effect.
Surely he would have to be a M, A or B gauge guy for that 
A stunted Colossus.
Tangent: I resisted the allure of O gauge for nearly a year… Then I spotted a bargain… 
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Glasgow Central Station fire, this looks horrendous/extrenly serious. Started in a fucking vape shop as well.
Photo from the Herald Scotland but the main article requires subscription.
BBC article.
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The latest pictures are horrendous - Glasgow Central Station in serious danger (the glass roof behind the flames)
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Hope you’re wrong, but do fear for the station. Visited for only second time last year including staying in the lovely hotel. It might be OK if the roof is supported as a separate structure to the buildings.