Hello and welcome to this weeks news from the team at Quorn; one wagon has departed to pasture new, and we welcome a new arrival.
Grampus DB984713 has departed, heading to a new home at the Northampton Ironstone Railway Trust.
Esso tank 3689 built by Hurst Nelson in 1959 has arrived from Shillingstone; it’s currently sporting a fictitious number (6069), however we plan to restore it to its original Esso Petroleum Company condition.
This tank had been used by British Rail (numbered DB999083) at Bournemouth EMU depot as a waste oil tanker before it was saved for preservation at the Swanage Railway; moving to Shillingstone in 2010.
Initial inspection confirms that tank is in good order, the handbrake works well and the buffers / drawgear are serviceable. It however seems to have a little issue with its identity, and when it comes to the vacuum brakes we are faced with some challenges.
The current plan is to complete the restoration work on tanks 3606, 3621 and 3854 before we start in earnest on the new arrival.
Concentrating on 3606 on Saturday, the stars were marked out and painted on both sides of the barrel.
The Commuted Carriage Charge markings on both sides of 3606 were then applied.
Followed by the Tare and Wheelbase solebar lettering.
The new ladders that have been made for us by Lauda Fabrications were collected.
Two welding plants have been kindly loaded to us by Roger Hibbert; these will be commissioned and no doubt help greatly with future repairs work.
On Sunday the signwriting continued on 3606, with the east side wheelbase text and the west side builders plate being completed. The vacuum release designation stars were also applied to both sides.
The last of the repaired spark guards for 3854 had its mounting holes drilled and was painted in red oxide.
The new ladders were fitted to both sides of 3606, and the original ladder from 3621, that had been loaned to Lauda as a template, was also re-fitted.
A little adjustment was required to 3606’s bracket holes to accept the lower bolts.
The ladders for 3606 had been painted by Lauda, however the one re-fitted to 3621 needed a coat of black.
Looking ahead, a start was made on producing another set of Esso plate brackets that will be required for tank 3689. Plate was cut for 16 brackets and a few were heated an bent to a right angle.
Thanks for reading, join us again next week for more tank wagon news.
All the best, Dave
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