Guard’s Compartment

What did a guard do? The guard was in charge of the train – not the driver. It was he who waved the green flag to authorise the train to leave and who protected the train in case of emergency. He sat in a special compartment with a large hand brake and other braking equipment to control the train. Guards’ compartments generally had a a projection from each side, where the guard could sit safe and protected but with a view all along the train; most also included space for luggage. In early days some had a ‘dog box’, recognisable by the ventilation slats on the sides, low down at one end.

The guard was equipped with red and green flags and detonators . Should the train stop in section between signals or become parted if couplings broke, the Rules told the guard to walk back and place detonators (explosive caps) on the line to protect the rear of the train. Any following train would explode the caps and could make an emergency stop.

A peculiarity of some LNWR designs was the centre-brake configuration, where the guard’s compartment was in the centre of the coach and the compartments were at either end. If the guard’s and luggage compartment were at one end, some diagrams for carriage workings (for example, Crewe–Carlisle–Liverpool Lime Street–Crewe) resulted in the guard’s and luggage compartment changing ends before its next journey unless the carriage were turned and remarshalled, whereas centre-brakes could never be the ‘wrong way round’.

But most railways continued to build their carriages with the guards / luggage compartment at one end, and the LNW fell into line after about 1900.