We have continued working on the Yellow Coach for a number of reasons, firstly we’d like it back at Quorn, and secondly we went off the weather forecast which said it would be raining and horrible for Saturday. Back to the Yellow Coach, and Saturday saw Jamie come in and finish up welding the southwesterly corner of the coach. This looks so much much better now than it did when it left Quorn.
Nick spent the day removing rust from under the south end vestibule floor which was sitting 1/2″ higher than normal and assisting Jamie where required. He then started removing the vinyl wrap from his latest road acquisition.
I spent the day playing with conduit again. Last time we worked on the coach, Matt and I managed to get all the sockets fitted, with conduit fitted to these and run through the floor. Today I fitted a short section of flexible conduit in the kitchen to substitute for a section in the kitchen cupboard. This time, with assistance from Jake, I extended the conduit to reach the main 240v trunking. Most conduits dropped through the floor required removing and trimming.
Matt fitted some of the flexible conduit I’d bought above the first class toilet door to run the wires for the thermostat. Once completed Matt used the unexpected good weather to begin signwriting Madge’s trailer, ready for a charter in April.
Sunday saw me continue on the coach electrics. Dave assisted me withdrawing the coach’s existing heater wires. We disconnected all of the heaters by cutting the cables and then pulled the redundant wiring out of the trunking. I’m quite glad that we opened up the heaters and removed the wiring, as one of the heaters under one of the two bunks had some very distressed wiring.
Matt spent the morning at Quorn, de-postering the van train and continuing to signwrite Madge’s trailer. Dave joined Matt around lunchtime to do some little bits and bobs and look around a second Scammell trailer bought by the owning group.
For once, I wasn’t happy with something I’d done. We’d run the conduit to the trunking, but for all but the kitchen socket, I hadn’t drilled them into the trunking, which gave me some leeway to change the conduit. To cut down on the wires running down the trunking. I’ve instead attached 2 junction boxes to the trunking to split down some of the wiring.
Nick continued stripping the vinyl wrap from his van, assisted by Harry. Eddy continued his cleaning spree, starting on the insulation material above the mess room heaters and the corridor ceiling. It may not seem it, but Eddy is cleaning 30 years of muck and cigarette staining and it is making such a difference to the interior of the coach.
Next week will be a smallish update, but for very good reason. Its the Heritage Railway Association Awards and we are picking up our one award, and will find out if our two nominations turn into awards. Join us then, thanks for reading!
Quorn Wagon & Wagon 