BR 993898 'Shark' Ballast Plough Brake
This Ballast Plough Brake, of type ‘Shark’, was built by BRCWBirmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon Company at Smethwick in 1957 to Diagram 1/597, Lot 3040.[1] The type was based on an LMSLondon Midland & Scottish Railway design, and had large metal ingots installed below the Guard’s floor to add extra weight. Fitted with a handbrake and stove, they were used in ballast train working; the ploughs being used to spread newly-dropped stone ballast.[2]
993898 in preservation
993898 arrived on the SVRSevern Valley Railway from Tinsley in 1990, and was later fitted with ploughs acquired from Duddeston Wagon Shops in Birmingham. It was used on engineers' P-Way trains until replaced by air braked Shark 993876 in 2017. The photograph shows it in a ballast train at Bewdley in April 2015. It was in the siding at Eardington on 1 June 2016.
The plough can be seen in use in this video taken at Trimpley in February 2017. Link to YouTube
In 2016 the then owners took the decision to donate 993898 to the SVR Charitable Trust, thus ensuring its long term place as part of the SVRSevern Valley Railway's wagon fleet