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One brake van in but two out, B954268 has returned to traffic and pressed straight into service by bringing the Van train from Swithland to Quorn and doesn’t it make the yard look like a working yard.

B954546 has left longterm storage at Quorn and has become a Volunteer project for those that volunteer within Carriage and Wagon at Rothley, this is a positive step forward for this vehicles return to traffic.

On to the one that came in and this is M730562, a new catchphrase from Nick accompanies this vehicle,  No longer are we to mind the lamp brackets, its the low door frame that will catch you out on this one. First task was the replacement of the step boards as these are required to access the vehicle. Nick, Ross and Jake began by removing all of the life-expired boards.

With the boards off the exposed metal work was red oxided.

Whilst this work was being carried out I began with the interior. The east side of the van (Although the west side until very recent) has been beaten by the weather and the interior had been adversely affected. Paint had begun peeling so out came the heat gun and the arduous task of stripping the side. Ross assisted with the task once the step-boards had been complete.

Nick and Jake also came into clean up the inside of the duckets that had also experienced a little weather beating. Once tidy red oxide was applied.

Once the East side wall was stripped the rest of the van internal was sanded to give a key for painting.  As we progressed around the van faults were repaired by Ross,  Loose veranda wall cladding,  loose locker door fixing, raised screw heads and loose door frame all rectified.  With the wall down to its initial LMS Crimson the 3′ 6″ demarcation line applied by BR can just be made out confirming the references we use.

With the Red oxide applied now dry new step boards were fitted, all but the West side middle board which requires new timber purchasing.  Measurements were also taken as we will be ordering a number of timbers to replace a few on the van sides.

Finally, we can announce the secret task that we have mentioned in two previous updates:
Update mention 1
Update mention 2

For the 100th anniversary of the signing of the armistice and the end of the War to end all Wars, the GCR will be remembering those who made the ultimate sacrifice over the 10th and 11th November.  One of the items taking part is a full size replica of a WWI tank.  This is owned by Jack Shaw, GCR volunteer and friend of Quorn Wagon and Wagon.  We have been assisted over the last few weeks to rebuild the tank on site.  Including a little signwriting applied by me.

 

The GCR was plunged into war this weekend,  which included a bombing that resulted in one of our Grampus wagons being hit by an incendiary, thankfully the Auxiliary Fire Service reacted quickly and saved the wagon on two separate occasions.

Our attention remained on B954268 and applying the details.  Nick and Jake began with fitting the new temporary floor to the South end veranda,  I say Temporary as we are looking at a modification that will eliminate water traps and prolong the life of the floor.

Before final fitment, the floor was treated with creosote.

I took on my speciality of applying the signwriting as previously mentioned post-1964 livery. Data panel has the depot codes of 5683 Tinsley yard wagon repair siding, our adopted code and 5480 Newark,  the location the van was purchased from.

Nick and Jake moved on to the task of painting the handrails and began preparing the underframe for paint.

On to next weekend which will see the underframe and the inside receive attention.

A slightly delayed update this week.

B854782 has been moved from Quorn to the Loco shed at Loughborough for welding.

With the Shock van away our attention turns to B954268 which had started to look very work worn. With staging erected the task of sanding down the body began, being a brake van with verandas the amount of body work is quite substantial when compared to that  of a box van. Nick, Ross and Jake with sanders and scrappers in hand set to work.  Each time someone climbed onto the ballast ends Nick used his new catchphrase “Mind the lamp irons”, these are of cause set at head height when working on the extreme ends and can cause very nasty injuries if contacted with some force.  Fortunately thanks to the constant warnings no injuries occurred.

I went back to P18422, as a Ministry of Supply ordered vehicle this would have carried a registry plate and the position of this is clearly visible so using our “patented” anti theft plates I duly applied them.

Once complete I joined the main work on the brakevan and began cutting out areas of rot on the body sides,  as the majority of the boarding is solid we replaced only those areas that are affected,  as a reminder we do not restore vehicles at Quorn we repair them using modern materials and techniques. With such a large fleet and a small pool of manpower and resources it would be impractical for us to carry out full overhauls on every vehicle every time when a simple repair will add years to its service.

Once areas were repaired Masking was applied to all the windows in preparation for painting.

Half way through the weekend we had the vehicle body work sanded, masked for painting, body repairs carried out and wood primer applied to those areas requiring it.

As Ross applied the undercoat, Nick and Jake started assessment of the Southend veranda floor this has suffered badly from wood rot and the rotten boards were removed.

The vehicle will be finished in post 1964 livery and as such will require overhead line warning stickers and with the other works going on I took the opportunity to prepare them.  We have in stock OLE stickers and these I applied to stainless steel backing plates and drilled in preparation for fitment.

The hard work was of course broken up with the mandatory railway requirement of Tea, drunk from our new QWW mugs in the glorious sunshine of the bank holiday as we watched the trains go by,  If you was on the railway this weekend then this is the position you would likely have seen us in, Thank you to Andrew Morley, Quorn Signalman for the image of us enjoying the weather.

Final day and the final top coat to the body.  This includes the Ballast surrounds on each end of the vehicle,  Originally black was applied but as we are going for the later livery each works began to show a preference for whether these were indeed black or body colour, on this occasion the boss has decided body colour.

Finishing touches, inside and underframe are planned for this coming weekend as the rest of the railway goes back to the 1940s.

Our attention this Bank Holiday weekend has been turned to B854782, a 1958 Darlington built Diagram 1/218 Lot 3117 Shocvan.

This vehicle is a clear example of what happens if the roof of a vehicle is not maintained.  Water seeps in between the outer and inner skins of the vehicle and the damage is lasting.

This vehicle will soon be making its way to the Locomotive works for some much-needed welding to repair the steel ends of the vehicle.  It is in use as the crane packing van and as such full of packing wood which required to be emptied, this was carried out so we could begin the task of removing the nuts and bolts to release the plywood inner and outer sheets.

With the vehicle being 60 years old these did not want to undo so out came the grinders. Each one was cut down its length and the remaining nut pieces chiselled off.

The vehicle was stripped of all its wood and the extent of the water damage clearly visible.

 

 

What we have started referring to as the tax disk holder was also removed.  This details the experimental shock gear fitted to this vehicle new disks will be printed and the artwork has been created and will be ready for when reassembly begins.

 

The exposed steelwork was rubbed down and the sound items red oxided.  The lower steel down each side was straightened and areas of loose rust removed.

 

Because the floor had been covered with wood it has remained in extremely good condition with only one plank requiring replacement.

The final day of the bank holiday was dedicated to the stripping and red oxiding of the external metal fittings recovered from the removed woodwork.

 

All that was left to do was lock up the vehicle as security is our number one priority.

We mentioned last week about another project but unfortunately, we are still unable to elaborate further.

Finally, an image from Jason Cross, taken during the Photocharter held on 03/05/18 and featuring the van train

Having returned from 1918 I have had to catch up this week,  the advantage of being on earlies.  So out with my templates and brushes, the signwriting has been applied as well as the chalkboard paint to E87674.

The black oval under the tare I have noticed during my research on a number of vehicles. We believe this denoted an alteration of the tare weight possible due to changing of wheel bearing type although we are speculating we do quite like this unusual livery detail so decided to add it.

Speaking of livery details I shall mention the little symbol under the tare,  this is an LMS practice that was adopted by BR.  There was a repeating sequence of 12 Symbols which represent the year the vehicle was painted, with thanks to Brian Hallett of RVP for the full details, we have continued the sequence with 2017 represented by a right-handed right angle triangle, 2018 is a filled in London Transport roundel.

So on to the next project…………………

Another wet weekend but this has not deterred us.  In all honesty, I started lettering Thursday to take advantage of the good mid-week weather.  Friday saw the west side completed with the east side compete on Saturday afternoon.

Saturday morning was dedicated to the shock stripes.  Measuring 4″ wide and 45″ in height from the bottom of the van body.  These were measured, masked and duly painted.

As seen above whilst I was adding the painted details Nick spent the day scraping hovering and painting the unseen areas of the chassis under the vehicle.  The last thing carried out Saturday was to add the Non-Common User plates painted over Christmas.

Sunday was quite a poor day weather wise but did allow us to paint the roof.

There are however a few remedial actions to be carried out on the roof because of the rain but this will be done in the coming week.  Thus we see the end to our Winter project 2018.  From Grounded Body in December 2017 to Diagram 1/207 Shockvan in April 2018.

We are not finished however as we now move over to Diagram 801 Number E87674 our insulated fish van.

The finishing line for B850498 is now in sight.
Monday started with the forecasted rain so the final finishing touches were undertaken,  this was the fitting of chalkboards and vacuum hoses.

 

With eyes to the sky, we set up a painting shack to keep the rain off me whilst I began signwriting the sole bar details.  This, however, turned out not to be required as blue sky and sunshine appeared.

I did say in my signwriting preparation post I would detail the technique I used to transfer the template design to the vehicle.

First chalk is applied to the back of the template,  which is then positioned on the vehicle in the required position and drawn over.

 

This leaves a chalk version of the design on the vehicle which can then be used as a guide to paint too.

 

The final item, in this case, a re – wheeled plate detailing our work on this vehicle, once the paint has dried the chalk will be wiped off.

Other sole bar details included the wagon plate, which we are signwriting at this time as detailed in a previous post and a note regards the hand brakes, this is because the tank wagon chassis has no crossbar which allows the brake blocks on both sides of the vehicle to be applied from either side this is an unusual arrangement for a BR vehicle so the note highlights this oddity.

 

So fingers are now crossed for a dry week, so the body lettering, shock stripes and Common user plates can be applied next weekend.

With luck and constantly viewing BBC and Met Office weather apps we were successful in our wish to get top coat on B850498

Friday began with removing the old bolts from the chalkboard locations.  With them removed we ensured the chalkboards we made some time ago fitted.  The boards were then left off in preparation for the top coat.

This is when the weather watching started.  Friday we took a risk and applied the first coat.  As soon as the spray gun was lowered the heavens opened.

It wasn’t until Sunday that we returned and as expected the paint suffered from some pock marking.  This was duly sanded and again the weather apps came out.  With cloudy skies and no rain forecast, Ross started.

Nick and I followed Ross with brushes and touched in the areas inaccessible by the spray gun both the body and underframe received top coats and by the end of the day the whole vehicle was sufficiently dry to add the handbrake handle and through pipe white details.

With one more day to go on this Easter Bank holiday and a washout forecast, we are however again watching the weather apps with fingers crossed that I can start the sign writing.