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Unfortunately Tuesday we learned of the passing of one of the GCR’s most notable characters. Peter Haylock was instrumental within the Operations Department and was formerly the railway’s Operations Manager, he always had a kind word to say or a story to share.  Personally, he was there on my very first day as a TTI and encouraged me to become a Guard, we shared many a conversation at many an event.  Unfortunately, our exchanges reduced as I moved away from Operating to Wagon Maintenance but I am glad to have had that last wave as we passed on the 37 last Friday. He will be sadly missed by the team and our thoughts are with his family.  “Cheerio Matey”

We move to Saturday and continue work on Test Car 2. Nick progressed the roof scrape throughout the day.  Whilst Dave removed all of the vinyls.

Once all were removed Daves attention turned to the doors.  Inspecting each and making repairs as necessary. Filling, sanding, and priming.

Unfortunately, the Generator door was beyond repair and the decision was taken to replace it with one of our spares.  This door previously being from a South West Trains EMU.

Whilst this was going on I cleaned up all of the door hinges and handles, removing the decades of paint.

All of our attention then turned to the replacement of the door.  Removing the hinge pins, fitting the new door and making adjustments to the other door, budget lock, and main lock positions.

Ross also continued with a few items on our Dumper Danny

On to Sunday and more of the same for Nick as he continued scrapping the roof.
With the new door being of fiberglass construction when it was trimmed to fit in the luggage door location it left a large hole in the bottom of the door. My first task was to manufacture a cover plate that seals the door bottom.

Ross started to set up an airline and air powered sander and once I had finished with the door and it could be shut he struck up the test cars generator and compressor.

During the sanding, Ross noticed a number of loose window frames and using some of my old RAF riveting skills I replaced the loose and sheared rivets.

Ross continued with the sanding and as we know this is not a quick task

I moved on to the other side and refitted the securing chain for the reducing valve.

I then faced the essay that is the legend on the southend of the vehicle.  I also painted out the weight and seat number as these items were not picked out on the data plaque.  Mr Bower providing a clear image of the plaque. THE details are for a standard BSK, not Test Car 2.

That concludes this weeks update. More of cause next week as we continue on “2 Car”.

A mid-week update,  it happens occasionally and today is a very good reason to have a separate post.  Just myself and Nick in attendance and it was all my fault.  Last week I had an opportunity that could not be me missed and purchased my largest railwayana item to date. This resulted in an 08:00 departure from Quorn, with a 7 Ton Lorry, North to Barnsley.

Just off the M1 and outside a farm already loaded on to a forklift, 1959 built BD4304B Fiberglass Container. Built by Mickleover Transport in a batch of 6.

 

All loaded and secured we made the run back to Quorn and having been sat on a farm for many years the container was once again on another forklift.

 

At this point, we would like to thank our friends at Kenway Construction for the loan of their vehicle, a superb help to our cause.

Now safely on the ground, the Container takes a temporary place in the compound to allow us to restore it in preparation for the arrival of one of the Conflat-As and its eventual home.

 

I also took the opportunity to take some measurements of the lettering in readiness for making the signwriting templates and to answer my curiosity having seen the very container in Don Rowlands British Railways Wagons book.  In his book, there is evidence of branding but the image is too low quality to read.  The answer………………

Having exposed the branding it also confirms its livery of BR Crimson with Golden Yellow lettering.
Inside was more evidence of it BR past and its solid condition.

 

Further opportunity was taken to do a touch of signwriting on the Shocvan and we are so tantalisingly close to the completion of this vehicle, just need to Dot the I’s and Cross the T’s

 

The eagle-eyed amongst you will also notice that once again I have applied Shock markings and have not been happy with there position.  Some extra Bauxite and White paint I am much happier.

 

That  concludes this special Midweek update as always more this weekend.

A small team Saturday, consisting of Nick and Ross.  As Ross stated last week the second coat of gloss for the boxvan was sprayed. Gloss was also applied to the door ends and areas covered by the doors when closed.   

The northern headstock, eastern sole bar and parts of the western sole bar also received bitumastic paint.
On to Sunday, much cooler weather and a full complement, both the Shocvan and Test Car 2 were hit from all sides.  Nick completed the sole bar painting on the Shoc as I tidied up the lining of TC2. 

Dave, Ross and Jake looked over all the finer details door edges and inner frames. all areas of overspray. The gangways and the solebar.

I also painted the lettering on the spec plate, Ross added the OLE warning flash and Dave painted the details on the reducing valve.

All of this completes the body side of “2 Car” and the request has gone to the Ops department to turn it.  Not only will this allow all of you to see our work in the flesh but will also allow us to begin it all again with the other side.

Whilst most of the above was continuing I turned my attention to the Shocvan,  applying the Shoc boxes, we are going for the post-1964 livery and the stripes as applied to our other shock vehicles has made way for the boxes.  I also added a black patch for the branding and assorted shades of black for the data panel.

Nick also painted the Lamp irons and Vacuum pipes as well as cutting and priming a pair of Chalk Boards, my last task stanley knife blade in hand to remove the overspray from the windows.

That concludes this weeks update. As always we shall continue next week.

So we begin the same way we spent the week,  looking at the weather forecast.  With favorable conditions until 16:00 we went for it.  Whilst Ross thinned down the paint in preparation for spraying Dave, Jake and myself prepared Test Car 2 for paint.  Masking tape applied where required, this being 3/4″ thick correct for the lining.  The white gloss that was left exposed was keyed and the resulting dust removed by tac cloth.

 

Once complete Ross started his task, the application of the BR Flame red.  3 Coats in total.

 

Whilst Ross and Jake took care of the external surfaces Dave continued with some tasks inside.  Once complete the vehicle will be available for public display and we have had some interpretation boards made up to tell the story of Test Car 2 specifically and some details of the DM&EE Test Fleet in general.  Dave added a board to the equipment rack that will be used to mount some of the displays.

 

Nick and myself turned to the Shocvan cleaning down and red oxiding were required and trimming down excess material.

 

This brought us to the exciting part of the proceedings, de-masking the Test Car.  This is so there is no risk of the tape damaging the paintwork and when the blue goes on all of the Red will require masking so its a clean sheet to work with.

 

If you haven’t guessed by now we are applying the DM&EE livery carried from 1974 until the mid 1990s:With all that can be accomplished on the Test Car complete the whole team turned to the Shocvan.  Measuring and cutting the new plywood sides.

 

These were then primed

 

And with everything then drying some final cleaning tasks in the Test Car and the removal of a few of the Vinyls on the other side.

 

On to Sunday and the test car has been left alone to cure and harden all attention turns to the Shocvan.  The primed sides cut previously were lifted into place one by one.  The large end sheets had recesses drilled for the rivets located in the vehicle ends.

 

The new ends replaced by the Locomotive department had holes marked and drilled.

 

Once all of the holes had been picked up the side sheets had sealant applied and they were bolted into position.  Although a short part of the update, in reality, this was Sundays task in a nutshell.

 

Finally, Dave continued with the interpretation displays within the test car.

 

This concludes this update and we are all looking forward to applying the Rail blue to the test car, of cause the Shocvan also marks the final van in our collection for the van train although our aim is still 17.

 

More mid-week work but not from me this time.  Ross has been popping in of an evening pressing on with Test Car 2.  First the removal of the stickers and vinyls on the dockside.

Once the lettering was removed, the task of preparing the bodywork for paint was started, Nick also joining in after work to assist and focused on the roof. 

I was not idle in the week either having ordered and collected the paint for the vehicle.  We also had a delivery of our next few projects. The 2 LNER Steel Highs E281882 E280364, the iron ore tippler B385782 and back from the loco shed; our centre shock shocvan B854782 . This has had significant repairs to the two ends, our thanks once again to the loco department for their excellent work.

On to Saturday and work continues on preparing Test Car 2,  Dave continuing the work started by Ross in the week. 

Whilst Dave was sanding away the rest of the team returned one of the overhauled vacuum cylinders to its position under the center ShockvanOnce back in position all of our attention turned to the Test Car.  Due to the poor condition of the inward opening door on the “A” End or the Slip End as its known the decision was taken to change it for another held in stock.  This was trial fitted and due to some accurate measuring previously, fitted with no problems at all.

The door was removed so I could carry out my major task for the day.  A set of edging strips were fitted either side of the Slip end doors when they were modified from outward opening to inward opening.  Unfortunately, the weather has not been kind to these and the usual bulging due to rust had occurred.  I removed the internal trimming and handrails before de-riveting the edging strips themselves.

Once cleaned up and straightened, red oxide was applied to all parts a wooden backing applied and the strip screwed back into place followed by refitting of the hand rail.

Whilst the new door was off Dave took the opportunity to sand it down. 

Jake also assisted with some of the coach prep whilst Nick replaced the rotten step board. 

The final task for Saturday to refit the new door and admire the prep carried out

On to Sunday and continuation of the body prep.  Red Oxide being applied to areas requiring it and once dry the filling began.  Dave and Nick also continued with some of the detailing, cleaning out window runners and prep around the end components.  I also had another go at cleaning the windows in preparation for applying the window film as we will be spraying the vehicle.  As part of our sanding down, we were able to see the layers of paint applied over the years, right down to the first application of maroon when the coach was built. 

Unfortunately, the weather had other ideas and attention turned to dryer activities.  Ross and Dave took the lead on giving the generator some TLC. With the water and oils checked, the battery charged it was coaxed into life.

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With it running smoothly, the leap was taken and for the first time since at least 2010 the shore supply was switched off in preference to the generator supply.

The compressor was then tested as well as the 240v supply all successful.  The compressor was also connected to the main reservoir and charged.

The last task for the weekend was to vacuum test the shocvan and after 8 hour the brakes were still hard on and so deemed a success. 

That concludes this weeks update and our hope is for better weather so progress can continue with Test Car 2

As we reach the final stages for both the Shochood and the Medfit I took the opportunity in the week to tidy up and finish the shock stripes.  In our haste to apply them last weekend, we applied the west side in the wrong position.  This was no big problem and very quickly remedied.  The stripes were widened and the excess then painted bauxite.  Any tape bleed was also tidied and a Circuit marker circle applied.

 

As the weather was forecasted to be poor on Friday a small team of Nick, Jack and I re-sheeted the vehicle on Thursday and fitted the securing chains. 

On to the weekend. I was crewing the Class 37 on passenger duties whilst Jake and Nick continued to scrape down the two vehicles.  Bitumastic paint was also applied to the sole bar and headstocks of the Shochood. As well as a new label clip and block.

After my duties on the 37 were complete I began on the essay that is the Shochoods lettering.

The west side was completed sometime after the sun had set.

On to Sunday and more of the same for me.  The East side of the Shochood and both sides of the Medfit.

 

Nick and Ross worked on the chassis of both vehicles.  Completing the scrape down and spraying the rest of the underframe.  Nick followed Ross with a brush touching in those areas missed by the spray.

 

I continued with the Signwriting as Nick and Ross looked at the finer details.  Swan necks, axle end covers and any other areas that required touching up.

 

With the bulk of the body side lettering done I moved on to the sole bar details.  Repair plates, vacuum stats and brake change over levers.

 

We are tentatively close to the completion of these two vehicles.  A few last signwriting and paint items as well as a floor for the Medfit, with a 3 day weekend thrown into the mix all is looking good for them to re-join the fleet very soon.

 

500954 has left us to have its actuating arm welded at Rothley and will return to traffic as part of the Parcels rake at the upcoming Goods Galore gala before it joins the rest of the vans for future events.

On to this weekend and first a trip out to collect a Hydrovane Compressor kindly donated to us, this will be a great asset for the future and our thanks go out for this kind donation.

Due to the changeable weather, our attention has turned to the vacuum system of the Shockhood B.  This had been isolated sometime ago and was picked up during our routine maintenance. The vehicle has an Empty / Loaded change over valve which once selected to the loaded position introduces an additional 15″ cylinder into the brake system as well as the standard 18″ cylinder.  When we last looked at the vehicle we connected the 15″ Cylinder direct to the train pipe of the vehicle.  After replacing the south end vacuum hose we carried out a brake test. 

This performed unsatisfactorily even after the replacement of the release valve.  We swapped the direct connection to the 18″ cylinder and again this did not meet with expectation.

The piston gland seal was replaced and again no change to its performance. So with a new release valve, gland seal and a missing nut replace from beneath the cylinder the issue must be internal.

With a plan formulated for Sunday,  we removed the release valve from the 15″ cylinder as well as the now redundant pipe work.

The final job for Saturday was a spot of signwriting for Renaissance Railcars

On to Sunday and we dropped the 18″ cylinder from the Shockhood.

The cylinder was last overhauled in 1993 and its internal condition was remarkable only the seals were in very poor condition.

With the seals replaced the cylinder was reassembled and the top of the dome painted in bitumastic paint.  Once it is refitted this area will be inaccessible.  Once together the cylinder was refitted, plumed back in and a test carried out.  This time the cylinder held until we released it after a tea break.

With a boost in confidence, we turned our attention to the Medfit and again cylinder out.  This time however we lifted it out.

This one shows the importance of sealing an out of use cylinder,  the Shockhoods was sealed when isolated keeping the elements out of it, the Medfits however left to the open and internally it was very poor.

With a scrape, wirebrush and then Red Oxide it was time for another tea break.

This allowed the Red Oxide to dry so we could reassemble the cylinder with another full set of seals and it was refitted to the vehicle.  The two vehicles were then connected to the test rig individually, the cylinders operated a number of times and then the brake finally destroyed and left.

I finally brought my latest bit of signwriting out into the sun.

On arrival Monday the vehicles still had their brakes applied. Hardly any drop on either cylinder.

Our task, however, was gala prep.  Next week is, of course, Goods Galore and a few of our vehicles are in operation.  We were asked by the Operations Manager to look over not only our vehicles but all those in operation.  It also gave us the opportunity to complete the Winter Maintenance of E280364 and DB916549.

Back at Quorn and to complete the day I manufactured a blanking plate for the now redundant 15″ cylinder on the Shockhood and Nick manufactured 2 chalkboards for the Medfit.

As I mentioned above next weekend is Goods Galore so feel free to come down and see a substantial number of our collection in operation.

Four days of wagon eggcitement,  that’s the end of the Easter puns. So, on to Good Friday. Just me and Nick and work continues on reinstating the vacuum system too M500954.  With the red oxide dry, Nick gave the components a last check and hoover to ensure the best from the cylinder once assembled.

I began by creating a branch pipe for the cylinder. Thanks to C&W at Rothley who assembled a kit of tools for me, I first drilled a hole,  this was tapped and a section of pipe pre-prepared fitted with a little jointing compound.

Once fitted and Nick had finished we turned to assembling the cylinder.  The ball valve was checked to ensure complete and unscored this was reassembled and the Piston Rolling ring and cylinder sealing ring were positioned.

The piston its self was then slid into the cylinder body, lowering steadily and under control. Another hoover and the Cylinder dome was removed from the van.

The dome was fitted and bolted to the rest of the cylinder and placed on a pallet ready for fitting. The piston rod was polished also ready for fitting.

The only means available to us to fit such a heavy item under a vehicle is by a loading shovel fitted with lifting forks.  So with a few fine movements, the cylinder was hung initially from the inner trunion.

The outer trunnion was bolted in place as well as all the associated fittings. Piston Rod, Gator, Release valve, release chord, and cylinder hose.

To complete the vacuum side new hoses were fitted to either end of the van, these are fitted without swan necks as the pipe was welded in position by its previous owners and we see no reason to remove it just to thread the pipes. As we have said numerous times,  we don’t restore vehicles we repair them.

With the new pipes fitted, we weighed the cylinder piston with roughly 25kg as is the requirement for a static test and using our test rig we sucked up a vacuum.  A small leak was apparent from the new branch pipe, which we expected so a quick visit to Rothley will be required to weld the branch before release to traffic.  The cylinder I shall mention lower in a moment.

Unfortunately Saturday I spent most of the day at work however work was continued by Nick and Olly scraping and painting the West side underframe and North headstock.

The vacuum cylinder continues to hold a vacuum 24 hours after application.

On to Sunday and I started by signwriting the Wagon plate and Vacuum release star to the west side and XP markings on to both sides.  Now there was no doubt the vehicle will be operated as a fitted one.

Nick and Olly along with my wife Michelle scraped and applied bitumastic paint to the east side underframe as well as the Northend buffers.

I continued with further detailing. Vacuum pipes painted red, handbrake ends white, where shrunk bare wood was painted and any missing bauxite touched up.

With the east side painted and because of the extraordinary weather it was dry within a few hours and the east side details applied,

Final day and with the morning light certain areas that had been missed were touched up.  The chalk from the signwriting removed and Nick carried out a pad exam and oil.  Dave joined us and continued his work on overhauling our spare release valves.

Apart from the actuating arm and the quick weld on the vacuum branch pipe this sees M500954 essentially complete
Attention now turns to B726344, preparing it for paint

As the day drew to a close the evening sun shone on to our latest vehicle and Dave managed a sneaky snap of myself and Nick admiring our handy work.

This weekend we started with a morning trip “Up” the line to Swithland then on to Rothley.  The Swithland stop was to pick up an 18″ Vacuum cylinder for 500954 and also as the gang is increasing in size a set of seats for Nicks Transit to move us all about when necessary.  On this point, we welcome back Olly, who use to help Nick some time ago.

On to Rothley and some overalls, boots and high-vis for Olly stored in “The Yellow Coach” and a quick look at B954546 which has been recladded on the Westside and received new footboards all-round, amongst other work.

Back at Quorn and the task of overhauling the cylinder. According to the overhaul tag it was last split in 1975 and as expected a few difficulties were encountered. The piston had seized, but the dome was removed without too much hassle. The piston was loosened with a little sledgehammer application and once free Jake unscrewed the piston rod.

Once in kit form, Jake and Olly began to clean up the individual components.

Whilst the dome was empty it was easier to handle under 500954 so Nick and I used it to position and mark the new outer trunnion.  The new item is a BR Coach one which is narrower than the LMS wagon one. The Trunion was offered up, the cylinder leveled and squared and the trunnion clamped and marked up.

The pivot mount was found to be too thick so the trunnion was unclamped adjusted with an angle grinder and reclamped.

The dome was checked for clearance and found to pivot freely so the final hole position was marked and drilled.  The inside of the dome was also “descaled” and painted before being bolted temporarily into position, the first time since 1967 a cylinder has been hung under the vehicle.

Back on to the other components and with Olly’s help I removed the old gland seal, although 2 out of the 3 studs sheared.

With 2 pieces of replacement threaded bar located the new gland seal was fixed in position and by luck one of the sheared studs had enough thread remaining to replace the missing release valve stud.

 

Last items for Saturday and Jake and Olly made a superb job of the component clean up.

On to Sunday and I was occupied crewing the Class 47 during the GCR’s Diesel Gala.

Jake and Nick continued with the cylinder overhaul ensuring every ounce of rust and detritus was removed.  The plain faces of the cylinder were then red oxide-d ready for next week’s assembly.

Dave was also with us and took on the task of overhauling a few of our spare release valves.

Ross, in the meantime, is once again on his way to Greece on a family holiday.

4 days for wagons next weekend, anything can happen with so much time.

This weekend work of cause continues on 500954,  with the weather as it is it would have been silly to waste it.  The priority has been to paint the sides of the vehicle.  The metal work was scraped down on the East side and Jake and Ross began the spraying. 

Whilst this was going on I tended to some of the last details on the vehicle ends.  Two further plates were manufactured and sealant applied. 

The large repair plate that was fitted last weekend received a row of false rivets to blend the repair into the vehicle. 

Once the east side was in undercoat, we manhandled the vehicle round to the turntable for a quick spin,  this served two purposes, to make the job of spraying the former westside easier and to allow access to the vacuum cylinder location as we will be reinstating the vacuum brake which was removed when the vehicle was sold out of BR ownership around 1964. 

Whilst the spraying of the new Eastside began my attention turned to fitting the vacuum pipe dummies.  Holes drilled, radiuses filed and the dummies bolted into position.  

Once fitted the metal work was heated and twisted to allow the vacuum hose to be fitted to the dummy when not in use.  

With the sides in undercoat, all hands turned to stripping the South end of the vehicle,  it had been painted in bitumastic paint and this will cause issues if we do not fully remove it. 

The stripping of the vehicle end continued into Sunday morning and the entire south end was successfully complete along with most of the way up the north end, unfortunately, it could not be complete due to the loose woodwork under the roof end which would not react well to our paint removing technique. 

I, however, spent the day at the Mountsorrel Railway carrying out demonstration shunts, Dave was on site to assist in my absence.  Although I was also on a fact-finding mission as I took the opportunity to measure the brake cylinder actuating arm on the main brake cross shaft of our LMS medfit. This item is missing from the van and we will require it to reinstate the brakes.

The main event was the top coat being applied to the van sides and this was duly applied by Jake and Ross.

Final tasks were to free off the screw couplings and investigate our loose south-east buffer,  the prognosis, a missing compression rubber. 

That concludes this weekends work,  as always we shall keep you up to date next week.