‘Shenfield Shark’ scrapped on site
Legendary brake van broken up after no safe method found to remove it in one piece for preservation.
A BRAKE van abandoned at an Essex main line station for around 35 years has been broken up after attempts to save it failed on safety grounds, writes Owen Hayward.
The ‘Shenfield Shark’ will be familiar to many railway enthusiasts. No. DB993733, a ballast plough brake van known as a ‘Shark’ was failed with a hot box during a ballast trip working to Southend Victoria in the late 1980s and shunted into the siding that was to become its home for the next three decades.
Hopes of saving it for preservation over the years had often been set back by concerns of it not being structurally safe to move by rail. Its location between a thick treeline away from a road and overhead power cables on the adjacent Great Eastern Main Line also prevented it from being easily lifted out.
Ample interest
Recognising there was ample interest in the van, DB Cargo advised in November 2021 that the vehicle was officially up for disposal, with the proposed method of extraction being to crane it out while the line was under an engineering possession. However, safety concerns also resulted in this option not being viable.
In February this year, it was finally revealed that with no safe way of removing it, the van was to be cut up on site. During a possession over the weekend of February 17/18, the ‘Shark’ was pinch barred 100 yards up the siding to a headshunt adjacent to the station car park – the first time and furthest distance it had travelled in all its years there.
The following weekend, the van was cut up by contractors before being taken away in its component parts.
DBC statement
In a statement, DB Cargo said: “Our most recent plan was to find a way of lifting the van out whole from Shenfield station, working in collaboration with Network Rail.
“This is something we have looked at several times over the years, but we have never found a way of achieving this which met all the safety requirements.
“We had thought that moving the ‘Shark’ further away from the overhead lines would enable us to finally lift it out. However, Network Rail decided on safety grounds that the use of a crane is not possible, so we are unable to remove the van from site.
“Regrettably, we only have a narrow window to fulfil this operation while a possession is in place, so we have had to proceed with the revised plan to dismantle it on site.”