Despite the inclement weather continuing, we have had a busy weekend tidying & sorting the theatrical vans in preparation for the upcoming Railways at Work Gala, doing some housekeeping, attending to gutters and a sticky wagon door, progressed the Pipe wagon and we also managed a bit of work on tank 3777.
We’re very much looking forward to the Railways at Work Gala which this year will (amongst many other attractions) feature two Pick-up-Goods trains operating in and out of the yard at Quorn.
It’s therefore important that the we get the right goods in the right places before we start.
Thanks to Jack and Andrew (the phantom box juggler) for their help too.
At our Open Weekend in July, Kiki took part adorned with our friends’ West Hill Wagon Works logos; however in preparation for the Railways at Work event Kiki will receive a more appropriate livery. The first step was to carefully remove the temporary vinyl lettering and clean the paintwork. Kiki‘s new livery will be revealed at the Railways at Work Gala on the 19th August.
The heavy rain on Saturday highlighted to us that some of the gutters on Test Car 2 and the Mess coach had become clogged with muck and debris. These were cleared out allowing the rainwater to flow along the gutters rather than overflowing down the coach sides.
Sunday and the weather improved allowing us to work on the Pipe wagon B740654; after a couple of weeks for the planks to settle we tightened all the door bolts on the west side & south end, and trimmed a couple of slightly long ones.
A final bit of scraping of door furniture then we set about applying some red-oxide primer to the door furniture and stanchions.
Whilst checking the wagons in preparation for railways at work, we came across a very reluctant drop-side door on steel high ADB280364. The cause was a lipped top latch post which was dressed lightly with a grinder and some red-oxide paint applied. This will make the door much easier to open and shut during the loading/unloading demonstrations.
Following the removal of the air driven pump from Tank wagon 3777 last week, the remaining section of pipework was removed. The brackets on the underframe were ground off and red-oxide primer applied.
So despite the weather we’re a lot closer to being ready for Railways at Work Gala, and we’ve made some good progress on the Pipe and Tank.
A quick reminder that our new Pocket Stockbooks are available from the team, pop down and see us at the south end of Quorn & Woodhouse yard at the weekend.
120 Pages with colour pictures and details of all the Quorn Wagon & Wagon group’s rolling stock in a handy A6 pocket sized ring bound booklet.
The Stockbooks are also available from our friends at West Hill Wagon Works and on eBay here.
Lastly pop a date in your diary, 19th & 20th August for the GCRs 2023 Railways at Work Gala, full details are on the GCR WebPage here.
All the best, Dave
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