Author: admin

13/06/21 – Mid week blues, and greys

Its my turn to have a week off and what better way to spend it than applying a 56 year old livery to a 63 year old coach. So, as we are, squirreled away on 3 road in Rothley shed between various shades of Red/Maroon the canvas was ready.

First task on Monday was to measure the window positions, its safe to say there are some variation, I also had a go at using some of these new metric units. All measurements were taken from the gutter.

With the best fit worked out I masked off the outer perimeter of the grey panel including the lining.

The inner area of residual blue gloss was then keyed and 2 coats of white applied.

The area above the as built first class compartments was painted white up to the gutter line. This will act as an undercoat for the eventual yellow stripe.

On to Tuesday and a repeat of Mondays activity, although the east side receiving the treatment.

Whilst I was beavering away with the lining, Richard joined me and applied a second coat of grey to the south end vestibule door.

After the grey, Richard moved on to black applying it to the sole bar and the plywood panels manufactured Sunday.

As seen above, I also refitted the shore supply body side indicator light covers. These of course indicate when shore supply power is energised.

On to Wednesday, Richard and I once again on site. My first task was to mask the lining applied to the west side Monday. Once masked the excess paint was sanded and keyed.

The afternoon was then occupied with applying the first coat of BR Grey.

Richard continued with the black application, focusing on the east sole bar as well as the plywood panels, and assisting me with the odd request for assistance.

Thursday with Dave joining Richard and I. Dave focused on the second coat of grey to the west side.

Richard continuing with the Black following Dave and applying it to the Light boxes and foot steps.

Not only black for Richard, he got an opportunity with the grey and applied it to the North gangway door. As well as further black to the south gangway face plate and a touch of red to the brake pipes.

I began with masking the east side

Once fully masked and after a touch of sanding and keying Dave and I applied the east sides first coat of grey

Final task for Thursday was the removal of the west side masking tape.

With Friday sneaking up on me, I used it to apply the second coat of grey to the east side, followed by removal of the masking tape.

I then turned my attention back to the west side, masking up and applying the first class stripe.

Before we move onto the weekends activities we have some admin to take care of, this being some new additions to the fleet. 2 vans and a CCT, these being Palvan WGB 4042, Vanfit B765272 and CCT E94709.

So on to Saturday and well done for keeping with me thus far. Dave and I with a touch of sign writing. Beginning with chalking up and masking up.

Dave taking the lead with the sign writing on this one, applying the running numbers, Guards door, load marking and the No 1 wheel arrow. Regards the latter we have gone for the rarer legend without the word evenly.

I focused on the end south details which reflect the vehicles departmental condition.

The rest of the team were by no means idle.
Richard continuing with the black for the light boxes, steps, further coats to the ply wood panels, and other smaller details.

Ross also detailing west side handrails, door handles and hoses.

Nick with scraper in hand addressed the window slides, battery and gas box covers.

One item that was not sign written however was the depot allocation, this being an item we had available and being applied to our works vehicles receiving appropriate livery.

We completed Saturday by rolling the vehicle out of Rothley shed to bask in the sun for a short while.

Back in the shed for Sunday whilst I continued the sign writing, north end details, shore supply marking and depot allocation.

For the rest of the team further detailing.
Ross started with applying the first coat of yellow to the east side first class stripe. He then moved on to fitting the fridge flue and it’s cover.
This was followed by replacement of the shore supply socket as the previous one was on its last legs.

Jake looked at the small details handrails, door handles, areas above the light boxes.
He also applied primer and top coat to the drop light tops and further coats to the air hoses and north coach intermediate connector.

Richard again with the black. Second coating the light boxes, steps and first coat for the east side guards hand rails as well as assisting Jake with the door handles

Nick arriving a little later, primed and under coated the battery boxes prepared the day before.

I then applied the second coat of Yellow to the first Class stripe

Finally Ross fitted the ply wood panels to the inside of the bunk room and mess room windows, our intention was for them not to be noticeable unlike the painted windows they replace. Safe to say its worked

The reason for Nicks unusual arrival time was a trip to the Leighton Buzzard Railway, collecting another new arrival. A companion for our existing BRUTe. After a move to Quorn we unloaded it from the van and took a few moments to free off and lubricate the running gear.

We are on the look out for futher British Rail Universal Trolley equipment so if you have or know of any we would be happy to hear from you.

With that I shall wrap up this update and prepare for a rest at work. As always more next week.

13 June 2021
31/05/21 – Bank Holiday coach progression

Here we are again, still at Rothley, and another bank holiday upon us. We continue progressing the Mess Coach, the filler applied last weekend was of course sanded.

This is not a quick task and with Jake and I hitting it hard and despite Nick adding even more filler we were able to touch prime areas as the day closed.

There is only one area of filler left to sand, this being the South East corner.

Sunday saw this corner completed and with Nick, Dave, Jake, Richard and I on site we prepped the gangways, end doors, sole bars and head stocks.

It was then time for the bodys final undercoat.

The gangways were primed as well as the step boards, and a start was made on undercoating the headstocks and sole bars.

Time was also made to remove the flanged adapter fitted to the Ferry Tank. After realising too late it was in fact welded on and after a little dressing of the threads a suitably sized cap was fitted.

On to Monday and with the previous days efforts still a little soft more undercoat was applied, completing the head stocks, sole bars and stepboards.

As the coach is not going to run in traffic there are a few areas we have not addressed as part of this scope of work, mainly down to time and cost. With part of the gangway floor requiring replacement a temporary repair was carried out and primed.

There are a number of other repairs that would be required if the coach were to run in traffic, however as this will be static at Quorn and required to only keep us warm and dry these repairs can wait and see if that decision is ever made.

With an hour or so left of the bank holiday, we applied the first coat of gloss to the gangway surrounds, no prizes for guessing the livery.

Ross is looking at a few days at Rothley next week so he shall fill you in on his week day activities next weekend.

As always join us next week.

31 May 2021
16/05/21 – Vans on the move and Roof progress

Once again Jack and I popped into Quorn Friday afternoon to progress labelling the “bulk Load”. We now stand at 130 boxes in the van, with our thanks to Eddie who continues to collect and assemble the boxes.

On to Saturday and initially a split group. Nick, Ross and Jake blowing down the roof of the no longer Yellow Coach and applying primer to the roof furniture.

Dave and I started at Quorn acting as travelling fitters for the Goods Guard refresher runs to establish repairs carried out to the Medfit were successful, the Containers were secure, giving a look over of the set to ensure no running problems and generally on hand to react to any issues, certainly as the set has been stationary for a substantial amount of time. It was also the first time the Containers have ran together and the first outing for B786181.

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With no issues we left the vans in the hands of the Traincrew and made our way to Rothley for the roof prime.

With the roof complete we moved over to the ferry tank, removing the rusted bolts from the catwalk and securing the handwheel to the brake standard.

Dave also helped the C&W team by applying further signwriting to the Kitchen Car for the dining rake. Whilst Nick applied sealant to choice areas.

On to Sunday with the roof painting continuing, this time undercoat and once again starting with the furniture first.

This was quickly followed by the rest of the roof. This will now be left to harden over the week with gloss on next weekend’s agenda.

With the roof complete Nicks attention turned to trimming the window mastic and sealing the windows.

Ross fitting the new door lock.

And for me scrapping and priming the sole bar light boxes.

We are slowly making progress and the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel is starting to come into view. As always join us next week and we will endeavour to keep you informed.

16 May 2021
03/05/21 – Scrape, Scrape the roof.

This Wednesday was a slightly altered HRA Awards. Due to the pandemic the awards were presented online. Unfortunately none of the top spots for us but it is still an achievement to be nominated for two categories.

Our congratulations go out to all the the winners and fellow nominees.

On to Saturday and the main focus being the East side of the Yellow/Grey/Mess coach

Dave made a start at removing the paint from the windows of the west side, we shall be manufacturing boards to fit behind the glass in these locations.

Whilst we were focusing on the coach Richard continued the preparation of the Ferry Tank

With the coach completed for the day Dave and I looked at the label clips on the tank. One had suffered quite bad with corrosion. This was removed and corrosion cut out.

The surfaces were prepared and primed, refitted and sealed

The BR style wagon labels were also removed as these are not prototypical for a Ferry tank in original condition.

With the grinder already out we shortened the platform bolts and profiled the angle iron fitted last week.

Jake also applied primer to the end platform

Sunday and Michael began by removing the rotten wood from the top of the tank, whilst Dave continued the removal of the window paint.

We then moved on to the task of preparing the roof of the mess coach for paint. Scraping, scraping and more scraping.

The scraping continued into Monday, and continued all day.

At the end of the day we had completed over 2/3 of the roof. So no prizes for guessing how we’ll be starting next weekend’s activities. As always we’ll let you know.

1 May 2021
18/04/21 – Frantic wagon restoration

As our last update stated from Monday we could return to normally scheduled activities. So a few of us decided to hit the ground running. If you follow the Rothley C&W facebook page you will have seen what we have been up too. Monday with Dave and I chalking up 3436.

Jake joining us and focusing on the details, those being the swan necks and air pipes, along with the axle boxes, brake levers and cast lettering.

I applied the OLE warning flashes refurbished way back on New Years day

Then I applied gloss white to the previously primed oval plates and also masked and painted the twin high speed traffic stars.

Then with mahl sticks in hand Dave and I began signwriting, Dave initially focussing on the sole bar details and the tank for me.

Dave also had a go at the west and north numbers as well as the yellow for the commuted charge symbols, broadening his signwriting abilities.

Whilst we focused on the tank the C&W team through piped our recently arrived chassis. As well as a few spots of welding and grinding the upper surfaces flush. More on this in future updates.

As well as work on the tank and chassis. Michael and Jake applied top coat Gloss and Bitumen to the Single Bolster, our apologies for not capturing any images of this.

On to Tuesday with the signwriting continuing. Dave completed the final sole bar “plate

I started by chalking up and applying the Esso lettering to the east plate.

With his signwriting confidence building I encouraged him to have a go at the main Esso company branding. Giving encouragement and advice when needed, certainly regards bigger being better, and we are talking brushes.

For me the focus was the remaining details. Axle cover lettering painted red, this is a prototypical alternative to the red stripe indicating bearing greasing requirements. Commuted charge details and OLE warning flash screws painted white.

Finally the west side Esso logo was applied. I gave my Tamiya curve tape a try, although its no replacement for traditional signwriting.

That completes 3436, signwriting one vehicle however was not enough and Dave also applied the markings to the Single Bolster, although missing the bolster we do have some future plans for this vehicle.

On to Wednesday morning and the GCR C&W team moving 3436 outside ready for us to begin our next tank DB998926.

We begin, scraping and sanding down the Creosote tank including its underframe.

Dave replaced a gate valve on the end of the tank with a blanking plate, this was fitted when the vehicle was in use as a water tank and of course not prototypical of the creosote tank it is. He then applied a coat of wood primer.

With the tank being rather small and in a reasonable condition, quick work was made of the preparation.

On to Thursday and after a quick blow down we spot primed the vehicle.

With the heating on and a quick drying primer we turned to applying undercoat to the vehicle.

To round off the week, black gloss was the order of the day for Friday.

So on to the weekend and a final push for the creosote tank. Dave and I once again mahl sticks in hand. Dave focusing on the west side and the east side for me.

Jake once again focusing on the details, fitting new vacuum hoses, painting swan necks, brake levers and cast lettering details.

With that, the second tank wagon for the week and number 6 for the tank wagon train complete.

The vehicle was then shunted out of the shed and joined its Esso counterpart whilst the Ferry Tank entered the shed.

Our full attention however turned to the Yellow Coach. Ross and Dave sanding down the filler applied many months ago.

Nick and I turned to the gangway ends. Riveting our repair plate above the North Gangway and reassembling.

We also fitted a inter vehicle connector, although this is not wired into the coach it replaces the departmental connector which will be moved to the South end to enable us to connect this vehicle with the Test Car at Quorn.

The vehicles examined last weekend and the Single Bolster were shunted away by the Ops department who also brought up from Swithland the Bogie Bolster D, requiring exam.

We also have a better view of the Chassis kindly through piped by Pat and Jamie, the C&W fitters.

With the sealer out Nick went around the coach sealing those areas requiring it whilst Ross and Dave began the second fill.

To wrap up the day we took a look at the sole bar lighting as a number of strips had failed

On to Sunday and we begin at Quorn, Eddie has been squirreling away boxes for us so we had to have a quick sort out of the theatrical vans, we seem to now have 3 of them. We consolidated all of the “parcels” into one van. We did however leave a trail as we chose to move the parcels with Danny our dumper.

This leaves us with a dedicated parcels van, a mixed merchandise van and a Animal feed van. We are now focusing on a bulk load, more on this in the future.

Back to Rothley and Ross and Dave continuing to sand the yellow coach,

Nick and Jake looked at the Bogie Bolster, carrying out its exam and a vacuum test. As expected some work to carry out on the braking system, but this will be when we move back to Quorn.

I carried out a repair to the South end of the yellow coach with a slight modification to move water away from the wooden gangway support as this coach will be stood in all weathers once back at Quorn. Nick also applied a mount for a socket which will connect the coach to the Test Car to enable us to power it from the Test Cars Generator.

After a sweep down Ross and Dave started coach fill number 3.

Nick and I them moved to the Ferry Tank and removed the handrail in preparation for replacing the floor which has become quite corroded. Nick also made a start at removing the floor rivets.

To top the week of, whilst Dave carried out some housekeeping Jake took the opportunity to rest after what has been a mammoth week of restoration.

3 vehicles out shopped and a further 2 worked on. Thankfully back to work for a rest and as always more next week.

18 April 2021
05/04/21 – Easter Brakes

This update begins on Friday with Nick, Ross and I on site. Continuing the mixed freight brake overhauls focusing on the Shock Hybar wagon which we started last weekend. Last week we discovered the cylinder in a very poor internal condition. Water had clearly gotten in and after a few conversations and a little investigation we have determined this is due to the vehicle having been coupled to the LNER Tube wagon. This vehicle is fitted with high level vacuum pipes, so out current theory is that due to the poor state of the hoses water has been able to enter the train pipe and has allowed moisture into the system.

First thing was to clean up the cylinder components and apply red oxide primer to the none sliding surfaces.

The cylinder was then reassembled with new seals and the release valve was also overhauled.

To facilitate the fitment of the cylinder the hand brake lever was then removed

With the cylinder installed, assembly of the components began, fitment of the overhauled release valve, release chord, piston rod, piston gaiter, and actuating arm attachment

This was followed by the refitting of the handbrake lever and door stop spring removed last weekend to drop the cylinder.

This completes the overhaul of the cylinder and the obligatory vacuum test was carried out. Operated a number of times, slow release test, test of the release valve and final application. The brake was applied at 16:30 and remained hard on when we left site at 19:00.

On to Saturday and the Shock Hybars brakes still applied, attention turned to the Pipe wagons cylinder and its associated components. These were removed, split and overhauled.

Once refitted the usual vacuum tests were carried out. These of course were successful and the brakes were left applied at 15:30.

Jakes attention was focused on the scraping down and application of fresh paint to allow those vehicles missing running numbers and weight details to be added.

Ross and I looked at the re-roping of the Shocks sheet.

Whilst Nick replaced, repaired or fitted label clips to the vehicles on site for routine maintenance

On to Sunday and the first job was to apply the running numbers, gross weights and tares missing from those wagons prepared Saturday. My brass stencils were used and these will fill the void until these vehicles run through our works for body overhaul.

Once these were applied we revisited the inspection sheets annotating repairs carried out and rechecking that we had completed all the required tasks before return to traffic. What was picked up was to re-secure the handrails on the coal hopper, straighten a bent securing pin ring and replace a missing brake handle pin.

Repairs made to the vacuum through pipe of the Coal Hopper was also painted.

We also looked at the weed killing tank fitted to the BR Tube. This was a stalled project that left us with a bright red tank inside our vehicle. We located a sheet, covered the tank and strapped it down.

One issue that observed was the rotten state of part of the floor. A temporary repair has been carried out, again until the vehicles return for future body work.

Once complete and also because we had my stencils out, we branded the sheet. We decided on our friends at the West Hill Wagon Works, they create various 3d printed products for your model railway needs and of course are one of our valued supporters.

Finally for Sunday, with the warm weather, the return of trains and groups of 6 allowed to meet outside, we allowed Jake and Michael to prepare, prime and undercoat the upper surfaces of the Single Bolster.

On to Monday, with Nick, Jake, Michael and I at Quorn continuing with a few out standing vehicles requiring routine maintenance. The usual inspection and oils being carried out. Bringing the Mineral, Iron Ore Tippler, Fish Van, Catfish, Salmon and Sturgeon back into traffic.

Step boards on the Catfish were also replaced and we took a look at the brakes of the New Chassis, Ferry Tank and Palbrick.

This concludes an unusual Easter bank holiday, things are sounding good for a little normality to return from the 12th we already have plans afoot but as always we keep an ear open for government guidance and direction from the GCR.

5 April 2021
21/03/21 – Short & Sweet

A small update for this weekend, 5 vehicles dropped off at Rothley for us to attend to this being our 3 Rudds as well as 2 of our Grampus wagons.

With essential maintenance being the order of the day, Axle box exams, brake rigging oil and a general inspection.

The GCR have requested the air system of the Rudds be recommissioned. We are aware of pipe work missing from 2 of the vehicles and all other components were brought up to standard apart from the missing pipes this will be attented to by the GCRs C&W team in the week.

We are looking forward to a return to normal, expected date for this being the 12th April, we are keen to progress other projects and return to our pre lockdown productivity. Although vital there isn’t too much you can say about routine maintenance.

21 March 2021
06/03/21 – Returning for Routine

As mentioned in last weeks feature we are back on site at Rothley this weekend.
Our focus for the coming weekends being the routine maintenance of our engineering fleet in support of the GCRs plans to resume passenger services.

Those who follow the GCR and Rothley C&W Facebook pages will be aware of the arrival at Rothley of our 8 Dogfish Ballast hoppers.

Nick, Ross, Dave, Jake and I on site, first task was to check the 32 axle boxes.

Also on the list of tasks was the oiling of brake rigging and the ballast door mechanisms.

All the loose/rotten foot boards were then removed.

Arears of bare metal on the step board supports were Red Oxided whilst Ross began the manufacturing of new steps.

A number of the supports were also straightened.

On to Sunday and the same team on site. Th manufacture of the 12 new step boards was completed, then they were painted in wood preserver and fitted.

We then inspected each vehicles condition. Focusing on the essentials for them to operate as intended.

The key aspect being the operation of the doors. These were tested and correct operation ensured.

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Inevitably leaves and other items that had collected in the wagons was subsequently dropped on to the floor. So this of course had to be cleaned up.

This concludes the tasks required to get these vehicles fit for operation. There are a few out standing items, most notably overhaul of the powered braking systems. These remains out of use as to do them at this time would delay the vehicles return to service. They will of course be done at some point in the future as well as a repaint for each vehicle but this will be after the Railway returns to passenger use.

The Shark ballast plough was also brought up with the rake, this will be tackled by the C&W staff as it is not one of our vehicles. Another set of vehicles will be brought to Rothley for us to look at next weekend.

Vehicles receiving routine maintenance this weekend;
BD983166
BD983593
BD983603
BD992714
BD993128
BD993304
BD993412
BD993478

7 March 2021
Vehicle Profile #9 Scammell Scarab

This story begins in June of 1953 at the Scammell Lorries Ltd factory, Tolpits Lane, West Watford, leaving the factory a 6T Scammell Scarab carrying the military registration 20 AN 52 and delivered to the Royal Air Force on the 26th June 1953.

RAF Scarab 20 AN 54 sister to our very own 20 AN 52

On the 17th July 1953 she was allocated to 14 Maintenance unit at RAF Carlisle, an aircraft equipment depot. This was followed by further moves on the 26th May 1955 to 35MU at RAF Heywood another aircraft equipment depot, then to 7MU RAF Quedgeley on the 4th Jan 1956, 250 MU RAF Bircotes on 31st Jan 56 before her final movement into storage at RAF Andover on 8th October 1957 being sold off to an ex forces vehicle dealer in Ely Cambridgeshire sometime after 22nd May 1970. When placed on the disposal list in 1970 she had accrued no more than 9000 miles over 17 years of service.

The story picks up again in the Early 1980s when two chaps by the name of Dave Wood and Martyn Upson bough the vehicle from the Ely dealer. It arrived running on 3 cylinders and they successfully worked to rectify this.

They decided to paint her in to a British Road Services livery, although a fictitious Red by mistake, she was registered WFX 336 in November 1982. In 1984 she took part in that years Brighton Run, using an Hilman Imp as a support vehicle. She also stared in an episode of One by One, filmed in the late 1980s the series followed the career of an international veterinary surgeon. With raising petrol prices a diesel Scarab was bought and she was sold to a Roger Tuplin, Roger bought a trailer, a genuine BR flat from Kings Cross station and after a number of years then sold her to a member of the Nene Valley Railway who fitted the insulated body from a Ford D series lorry to the trailer.

She then exchanged hands once again and she found ownership in Crowland, Lincolnshire and it was from this location our involvement begins.

Towards the end of 2019 Dave Bower and I, along with Jack Arthur Shaw came together and purchased the vehicle, now christened Madge, she arrived at Quorn & Woodhouse on the 19th December 2019.

She arrived to us in a pseudo British Railways livery of Blood and Custard minus lettering and a little more Crimson that prototypical. Also part of the deal was the insulated body trailer. This had been kitted out as a living van and having spent a couple of nights in it I can state it is both warm and comfortable. Over our first Christmas we removed her indicators and painted the fuel tank, vacuum reservoir, oil bath, engine cover and rear wheels black, more in keeping with a BR Scarab, we also applied lettering and the fictional number QW 6128 E (6 tons and part of the station postcode) This was in preparation for her first public appearance at the GCRs Winter Gala 2020. This went down very well and with a last-minute Photo Charter appearance covering for poor lighting at the preferred location, her usefulness on-site was cemented.

A number of jobs continued on the trailer including adding BR totems, painting poster areas to the correct 40″x 60″ and adding the fictional number T 11246 E (Owners birthday dates).

Our thoughts, however, turned towards the desires for a flat trailer. During a chance conversation whilst at work, a friend of one of our colleagues happened to have “a trailer with one of those couplers”. After viewing and negotiation, the former silage trailer and dolly arrived at Quorn in late January of 2020. This needed a little more than lettering and with the dolly uncoupled, a new floor, a full repaint, and the manufacture of a headstock it was first coupled to the Scarab in July 2020 after the first national lockdown. The Scarab and trailer combo then spent every subsequent open weekend on display until October.

With the completion of my 1958 built Aluminium Container, it was placed on the flat trailer for a number of weekends for public display before being loaded on to the Medfit

October saw another charter with the whole team and enactors in period dress and Madge joined by my Morris Minor Van, we created a number of cameos and succeeded in our aim of recreating a genuine steam era goods yard.

The desires for a shorter trailer came to ahead. With thanks to John Giles, of the Mechanical Horse Club, for his patience and advice, I completed the purchase of a Taskers 15ft trailer, it being repainted from Army Green to BR Crimson.

Our current fleet with a 3:1 ratio

The Scarabs are of course synonymous with British Railways and in 1958 over 7500 Scarabs and 30,000 trailers were in use with the company, that’s a ratio of 4 trailers to each Scarab. The whole ethos of the vehicle was to replace the horse providing a stronger, less labour intensive alternative whilst maintaining the manoeuvrability of a real horse.

That concludes the look at our resident Scarab and our lockdown features, with great delight we have been asked to support the GCRs aims to return to passenger operations on the 17th April 2021. Our fleet of engineering vehicles are overdue routine maintenance and this is to be our focus to support re-ballasting work required in the single line section as well as other engineering requirements to get the railway ready for services to resume.

28 February 2021
07/02/21 – Why do you restore wagons?

Our feature image above shows the beginnings of our tanker train with 1408 joining the rake this week after being shunted from Rothley by the Operations department. Before I get into the bulk of this feature, in fact if we are honest this is an update, Monday saw the arrival of 2 vehicles from the Llangollen Railway.
Ferry tank B749677 Diagram 1/305 built to Lot 2429 in 1952 at Ashford. Once complete this will of course join the fledgling tanker train, as it stands we are considering restoring it into Traffic Services Ltd Black livery as number 500817
The other vehicle a chassis, this being former Shell Mex and BP Ltd tank 6463 and will receive a van body but I’ll leave it at that for the moment.

Images courtesy of Andy Maxwell

Next I managed to get my brushes out. The Rothley and Mountsorrel Heritage Centre have been pressing forward with the restoration of an LMS 12T van. They have been following Government guidelines that class volunteers of charitable organisations as essential workers, so Michelle and I were allowed on site to progress the vehicle.

Images courtesy of Steve Cramp

Working in isolation, with other volunteers on site restricted entry to the workshop I gradually applied the livery. This being a slightly earlier style than what would have been applied to the vehicle but this fulfils the owners brief and adds further interest to the centres fleet.

One side complete, all but the door on the other and the sole bar plates backed.
It was nice to get out at a weekend especially for my wife who has been furloughed since September and like most has been struggling at home alone whilst I’m at work.

Not just myself working however, Ross has been looking into the Test Cars slip lamp, manufacturing new internal electronics replacing the life expired originals. The lamp displays flashing white lamps when the slip test vehicle is moving and a steady red when stopped, there is also a test button and for our purposes a demonstration mode to enhance our tours of the Test Car when we are allowed to open again.

So now on to the feature.

Sometimes we are asked “Why do you spend almost all of your spare time restoring wagons?” Why indeed? Although the following was written sometime ago for an unpublished article, its intent remains.

Visiting the GCR’s 2018 Model Rail Event from Surry, Mr Robert Holah noticed in the lie-by siding at Quorn our London Midland Scottish Railway (LMSR) Brakevan M730562.

What brought this particular vehicle to his attention was its similarity to one pictured in an image of his father.

Allbert Edward Holah was a Goods Guard, initially with the LMSR and then British Railways London Midland Region upon nationalisation of the railways in 1948. He was based at Harrow and Wealdstone station. In fact he was at the Station on the 8^th October 1952. It was a foggy morning and the 07:31 Tring – Euston local train was stood in Platform 4. At 08:19 this train was struck by the Southbound Perth – Euston Express, the resulting wreckage was then hit by the Northbound Euston – Liverpool Express on the adjacent line. 112 were killed and 340 injured and it remains the worse peace time rail accident in the UK and basically resulted in the nationwide introduction of the Automatic Warning System (AWS). The incident affected Albert quite deeply.

Albert later became an instructor and as such trained a number of immigrants from the Caribbean, what has now become known as the Windrush Generation, he opened his home to a young Caribbean Gentlemen during Christmas who’s family remained at home in Jamaica. Robert remembers this well and Mrs Holah’s annoyance of not being informed of his farthers guest and being unable to fully prepare.

Unfortunately Albert’s colleagues were not as charitable and saw the immigrants as a threat, taking their jobs. As a punishment the union forced Albert to Coventry and ordered his colleagues not to communicate with him. This of cause affected Albert even further and in 1959, 18 Months after being moved, he suffered a heart attack and died. Robert at the age of 12 was left with an image and memories.

After an email to the GCR and being forwarded on to us at “Quorn Wagon and Wagon”. Robert came and visited on the 1^st September 2018. We had spent a number of weeks repairing and carrying out a full interior and exterior repaint to M730562. We also added extra items that Roberts farther would have instantly remembered. Guards Bag, Tea Can, Paperwork, Newspaper, Railway Observer, Lamps, Shunters pole, Brake Stick along with other items. We also lent Robert a BR uniform identical to his fathers including the Midland Region Staff association tie he is wearing in the photograph. This allowed Robert to recreate the image of his farther. The artifacts in the vehicle brought back a number of further memories for Robert, playing with his father’s handlamp rotating the handle between Red, Green and Clear. His father sat fettling a wooden implement one end square the other round. With that description we handed Robert a Brake Stick and demonstrated its use as well as the use of a Shunters Pole.

We continue to extend our thanks to Robert for coming down and sharing his memories. We know he enjoyed his visit and will be coming back to see us soon. So why do we restore Goods Wagons? A tangible link to the past, maybe not directly for us but certainly for others, as was the case for Robert. It may never be proven but we like to think that Albert may have worked M730562 at least once in his career.
Goods vehicles are an important part of railway history it’s the reason the railways were built. To recreate the sights and sounds of a bygone railway then they are an essential part of the scene and a draw for our visitors, not just the ones we care for but all those none passenger vehicles at all Heritage Railways across the country.

That is why we restore wagons.

7 February 2021