Hello and welcome to a damp and chilly weekend of progress at Quorn. We dismantle a very corroded vacuum brake cylinder to provide parts to save other cylinders; and make a start with the signwriting on tank 3621.
During the week I spent a day at Rothley helping the C&W team with some finishing touches to TSO E4982 which was needed for Santa Special duties over the weekend.
The weather was not kind to us on Saturday, so Harry, Charlie and myself worked in the dry overhauling vacuum brake release valves to put into stock.
Ross made a start removing the studs from the very corroded vacuum cylinder; some of which were very stubborn and needed a bit of heat to release.
Once the studs were removed the trunion sections were cut around the edges and will be cleaned up and stored as spares.
The next step was to cut off the cylinder dome, cutting from the inside using the lower edge of the dome as a guide.
Centurion ‘Loades’ demonstrating what could be an alternative use for vacuum cylinder parts !
As the day brightened up Ross cleaned up the edges of dome before this was also put into store.
The steps that we use to access the Mess Coach have suffered somewhat with rot and need some urgent repairs; in the meantime we moved the steps normally used for visitor access to Test Car 2 into place next to the mess coach.
Sunday saw more of the team on-site and despite the cold start good progress was made with the tanks.
Mark, Tom and Oliver cleaning and drying out the chassis end pockets on 3854 ready for paint; and Dan finishing off the Overhead Warning sign on 3606.
Ross took a look at the re-wiring of the big welder, however on powering-up it became clear that we need a bigger generator to provide it with enough power to work.
The piston was removed from the Lowfits’ 18″ vacuum cylinder that was started last week and found to be in good order; the marking on the piston confirming that it was last attended to by the Mid Hants Railway in 2008.
With a little help from Nick aligning the template, I marked out and painted the speed rating stars on both sides of tank 3621.
Using a bit of spare 3/16″ plate, Ernie flame cut a circle big enough to use as a patch repair for the dome of the 18″ vacuum brake cylinder. Once cut, the plate was placed on an old steel car wheel, heated and given a few blows with a hammer to create a dish shape.
Nick cleaned up the top of the cylinder and the patch laid in place; Ernie and Ross then made a start welding using the smaller welder.
Dan picked out the Empty-Load changeover valve lettering on both 3606 and 3621; whilst I added the Commuted Charge Star and logo square to both sides of 3621.
Oliver, Tom and Mark did some gutter clearing on the Mess Coach and also Test Car 2. They also applied some red-oxide to the cleaned out chassis pockets on 3854.
Thanks for reading, join us again next week, all the best, Dave
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