20/11/22 – A busy Hurrah!

Welcome to this weeks’ Last Hurrah update, Lilibet and two tanks get some attention.

So who guessed Yellow?
Matt would never be that predictable, for those who haven’t seen, Lilibet now carriers the 1963 Grey Railfreight livery trialed on a number of vehicles before the adoption of BR yellow.

Going back to Monday with Matt returning to Quorn once FedEx had paid him a visit. Two coats of BR Unfitted Grey were then applied. With assembly of the signwriting templates between coats.

Tuesday and on to the sign writing

Removed components were then refitted and bolt heads painted, as well as those on the rear number plate.

On to Wednesday and Matt joined by Ross removed the wiring loom.

Matt applied some tape and painted the parts of the rear wheels which were red.

Ross had to disappear with other commitments, so Matt made his way to Rothley to assist C&W adding the final details to BSO E9316, applying first coat of Guard, ELP and a vacuum release star to the east side.

Also on Wednesday after a chance conversation and a little bit of archeology, Matt discovered Lilibet’s in-service livery, that of the Mersey Docks & Harbour Board, a simple rendering below;

Thursday, and for Ross the wiring of a new loom, using copies of the original manufacturer’s wiring diagram.

Whilst Matt, second coated the already applied lettering as well as the first coat for the British Railways branding.

To complete the day Matt went back to Rothley to continue signwriting the BSO, second coat of Guard and the load detail added to the east side, as well as ELP and vacuum stars to the west.

Friday followed a similar pattern to Thursday, however Ross installed the loom and started wiring components up.

Matt, applied a second coat of paint to the BR branding, then went and woke Madge up, moving a few trailers and replacing her number plates with the new re-enacting ones.

Items started to come to life on Lilibet, but a dirty fuse box started causing some issues, but she is getting there.

As he has been all week, Matt then went off to a Rothley for more work on the BSO, this time lining the lettering applied to the east side.

A further visit to Quorn saw Matt refit Lilibet’s engine cover, check the fluids and take a few night shots in the lights of Butler Henderson’s.

Saturday saw the first day of the Last Hurrah. and another first, our two now BR liveried Scarabs together, Lilibet joining Madge outside the good shed.

With most of the team on-site as well as new volunteers Mark, Tom and Dan we decided to tackle the refurbishment of the vacuum cylinder on TSV tank wagon 5209.

The wagon being stabled at the north end of Quorn yard meant we had to move the necessary tools with the help of Zsa-Zsa, Danny, Hector and the Volvo.

The branch pipe, piston rod and safety loop were disconnected, then the Volvo was used to support the cylinder whilst the trunnion plate was removed. The cylinder was then lowered out of the wagon and placed on the trolley for transportation back to the repair sidings.

Many hands make light work; with the release valve removed the cylinder was quickly dismantled. Our own design of piston removal tool making it much easier.

Once cleaned thoroughly by Dan and Tom, Nick inspected the work.

Now clean the new rolling ring seal was fitted then the piston lowered carefully into the cylinder using our tool again.

The dome sealing ring was fitted and the dome carefully lowered onto the cylinder, then bolts nipped-up. The outside was scraped, cleaned and the top given a coat of quick drying container black as it’s not easy to reach this once it’s back in the wagon.

The cylinder was taken back up the yard to the tank and refitted; being very much a reverse of the removal. A refurbished release valve from our stock was fitted along with a new piston rod gaiter and release chords.

Now complete Hector fetched the Vacuum Test Rig so we could check our work. The rig was connected to the tank and the brakes operated a number of times to ensure the slack adjuster was doing its job. Train pipe and cylinder leakage tests were then completed along with release valve operation. We did have one concern though, that the brakes appeared to be operating as if the wagon was loaded; so we needed to find out exactly how the empty load system should work.

Returning the test rig, Hector had a funny turn !

Madge & Lilibet completed the day entertaining visitors with a few tours of the yard as darkness fell.

Saturday evening and Sunday morning we all had a hand in some much needed tidying up in the GUV works vehicle, with Danny taking a rubbish load to the recycling skips. Some of the metal paint kettles also had their paint remnants removed by burning.

Dan helped Nick with some underframe scraping on tank 3711 and the seized screw couplings were freed off with the help of a little heat.

Over lunch we took a look at some reference material to confirm how the SAB empty/load system should operate on tank 5209. It was decided that to confirm if the problem lay with the mechanical load/weigh valve or the vacuum operated empty /load box, we should disconnect the vacuum supply to the empty /load box and re-check the brake operation. The test rig was again loaded onto a trolley and thanks to Hector made the trip up the yard to the tank.

The vacuum supply pipe was disconnected and temporarily plugged, then the brake operation checked. The brake applied as it should for an empty condition wagon, confirming that the SAB mechanical load/weigh valve was not operating correctly. As the wagon is currently only to operate in the empty condition, the empty/load vacuum valve was sealed and the feed blanked off to ensure the correct brake operation for that condition. At some point we will investigate the faulty SAB mechanical load/weigh valve.

Madge and Lilibet again got together outside the goods shed, posing for the cameras.

And watching the trains go by as the sun was setting.

Helping tidy away the trailers Lilibet was paired with Madge’s box for the first time.

Thanks for reading that concludes a busy but enjoyable Last Hurrah weekend which saw BR Standard Class 2MT 78019 looking superb, operating its first event following restoration.

Join us again next week as we continue with work on the tanks.