Author: rloades109

Hello everyone and welcome to another update from Quorn. This week we’ve had a good weekend sorting out the vacuum on 3854 after one of those 5 minute jobs and the Lowfit has had its coat of undercoat finished and the underframe glossed in black.

We started the weekend as ‘QWW Patrol’, helping to repair one of the mineral wagons in the train after the drawhook was found to be loose and rotated 90degrees. Nick and Charlie enacted repairs and Jamie from C&W came to sign it off prior to it running this weekend.

Dave has also made a start two more Esso plates for 3606 which had been set up in the Test Car. Starting with laying out with the chalk, paint the blue and the first coat of the red.

Charlie, Nick and I started to look at 3854’s working vacuum cylinder which has previously been re-assembled with the release valve out of position. Initially we thought we’d simply lower the cylinder down, rotate it round to the right position and then lift it back into position. It became apparent that it would actually be easier to drop the cylinder off the wagon and re-build it.

With the weather being quite poor, Ernie opted to stay in the coach and work on some more lamps, this time a few examples of the oil lamp found in Mk1 brake coach emergency cupboards.

With the cylinder in the garage, we stripped it down, fitted a new guide bush and new bottom joint ring, reassembled the cylinder and got it fitted to the wagon. Using the test rig, it was tested and passed with flying colours.

With Sunday having the better weather, the team were out in force to try and get some more paint on the Lowfit, firstly finishing off the undercoat on the drop sides, then moving onto the underframe, applied a good coat of gloss black.

I used a new to us tool to measure the bore of a vacuum cylinder we had found in the bushes to check whether its worth use bothering with or not. Ernie started cleaning up a piston found under Madge’s trailer, which wasn’t as bad as first thought.

The team also continued the side project of tidying up the area around between the dock road and the boundary fence. Tidying up some track ‘biscuits’ but also ended up moving the water tower top, mainly to be able to open up the walkway on that side of the siding.

Dave got a sander out and gingerly sanded 3689 to try and finally confirm its departmental identity, which has now been confirmed as DB999088.

Lastly, we’ve been very kindly donated some late 1990s/early 2000s Diesel Era magazines which aren’t readily available in the UK. These are for sale on Dave’s eBay account, so do take a look and spend a few pennies if you are interested. All proceeds do go back into the wagons and support us in their care.

Thanks for reading, and join us next week to find out what we get up to! Cheers, Ross

Hello everyone and welcome to another update from Quorn. This week has been one of defect clearance, cleaning and finishing off vac cylinder repairs, including a new improved special tool! Its also been lovely to see the tank train running on Saturday for as part of the firing school. Okay, lets jump in to what we’ve done..

First job was to fit a flip down stop board in the four foot of the dock road to protect the vehicles in the siding, and the people working on them.

Ernie arrived with a new plate to use for pressure testing vacuum cylinder domes once they have been repaired. This also means we can test 18 inch domes as well. Thanks to Ernie for sorting this out. Between Ernie and myself we got the plate sorted and made two o rings to act as the seal between the plate and the dome.

Ernie also worked on another tool used to push out the guide bush in the bottom of the vacuum cylinder.

Charlie, James Oliver and Dan started tidying the area outside the coach beyond the dock as it was starting to look quite untidy and overgrown. Some equipment was re-sited and a lot of brush clearance was done.

Mark, Tom, Oliver and Dan finished off washing the vans in the yard. Mark and Tom then moved over to needle gunning in the pockets of 3689.

Nick and I cleared some of the defects noted against the vans when they have their Fitness to Run exams. A few handbrake rack bolts, underkeep bolts and a handbrake chain. With a bit of assistance we also change two buffers on B784409 on opposite corners.

I had managed to get hold of some soda media in the week and finally had the opportunity to try out the soda blaster, firstly on a vacuum cylinder, but also on 3689. It made a bit of a mess, but thankfully its water soluble! We’ll keep experimenting on this to find out what its best to use it for.

We pressure tested the latest cylinder and found a few further pin holes, however the new plate worked a treat!

Thanks for reading, and join us next week to see what we get up to! Cheers, Ross

Hello everyone and thanks for joining us for the last update before Christmas. We’ve wrapped up our last bit of work at Quorn while we move to Rothley over the Christmas period to work on B777728, which was withdrawn earlier in the year with a roof that was trying to break free.

Our weekend starts this time on Friday after B777728 was placed into the shed to start its drying out process. Nick and Charlie stripped the roof hoops and roof sheet, then removed the previous roof edge repairs.

On Saturday the team were back at Quorn, first task for Nick, James and I was to vacuum test 3606 to prepare it for release on Monday. We’ll have to sort out getting the Esso plates fitted at a later date, but we can do this from two ladders. Only three missing split pins were found on the inspection, which were all rectified.

Mark, Oliver, Tom and Dan carried on with needle gunning the Lowfit, getting the west side and the headstock back to bare metal and then splashing the primer around.

Charlie, Harry, and James though also joined by Oliver and Dan carried on the ground works on the ramp up to the dock which got tested with both Danny and Hector.

Ernie carried on with the welding of the cylinder dome, in the cycle of finding then repairing leaks in the weld, though thankfully this time all the leak have now been rectified. This dome can now be painted inside and out, and put back into use. Ernie also welded the one corner of the side of the Lowfit, both ends of which have cracked the lower weld.

Today, Nick, Charlie, Ernie and I went to Rothley to remove the door ‘noggins’ and start to measure and cut the new roof edges. Charlie prepared the metal frame of the van, which Ernie duly primed.

Charlie and I undid the door top frames and removed them from the van, then measured up for the new roof edges.

After we got the pieces cut and before leaving, Charlie painted the framework where we had been working to get it ready to fit the repair pieces.

That’s where we wrap up today, all that left for me to do is to wish you all a Merry Christmas! We hope you have a restful and happy holiday. Join us again next week, where we’ll have a bit of midweek working to report on, as well as the activities of the weekend.

Hello everyone, and welcome to another update from us at Quorn. Its been another wet and windy one, so no signwriting for Dave, but plenty achieved otherwise! Before we get down to business, I should plug our Instagram page for those of you that are that way inclined, it’d be greatly appreciated if you followed us over there!

Having looked at the weather forecast, we decided (after speaking with the signalman) to hand shunt the Lowfit onto the middle road to start the repairs to its vacuum train pipe. You may remember that after renewing its vacuum cylinder, the subsequent test found that the train pipe was holed under the north end headstock.

With only three clamps securing the train pipe, quick order was made of releasing the bolts, either by spanner or hot spanner and then getting the pipe supported where it could be worked on.

Even though I said that there was no signwriting for Dave, he did manage to get the vacuum release star on the solebar of 3621, however decided after that to cease, owing to the fact the drizzle was washing the chalk marks away.

Back to the pipe then: the holed end was cut off and a new stub end found. This was clamped to the good metal in the train pipe, then Charlie and Ernie welded the joint together. Once the pipe had been welded, the pipe was scraped and wire brushed then it was moved into the back of Nick’s lorry to paint.

Ernie continued the welding on the vacuum cylinder removed from the Lowfit, heating the patch and knocking it down to close the gap, then welding round the seam. There is still some work to do on this and it has been moved inside the garage to give it an opportunity to dry!

Dave made a start on a different vacuum cylinder dome recovered from the fish van body. This was removed from one of the Esso tanks, maybe 3711. There was no chance of it holding vacuum, but with a new dome, there was a good chance it would go again. Dave cut most of the old dome off the cylinder, then he and I started grinding the weld to remove the final half inch left.

Tom removed the cast owners plates from 3854, which will be replaced with the 3D printed plates by Dave. After removing the plates, Tom then applied some primer to the bare metal.

In the back of the lorry, I pressure tested the repaired pipe using compressed air as any leaks from this are easier to find than with vacuum. Some small pinholes were found in the weld joint, so the pipe was removed for re-work.

Ernie ground out the defects and re-welded the pipe, after which it was pressure tested again with no leaks present. However a leak was found in the tee off for the vacuum cylinder, so that was ground out and re-welded. Nick coated both areas in red oxide primer.

Once we had got the dome sited in the cylinder, Ernie tacked it into position and got ready to weld the outer seam, which he then did.

Mark, Oliver, Tom and Dan got started needle gunning the solebar and side panels of the Lowfit, making excellent progress.

The 3D printed plates also received a coat of primer and undercoat.

The pipe was re-fitted back to the Lowfit and the vacuum system tested. The cylinder worked perfectly, however the hoses put on for the test may have contributed to the leak off test failing. The wagon will be fully re-tested prior to release to traffic.

The Lowfit was shunted back and the opportunity taken for a skip trip in Danny after a general tidy up. Dave remains ever hopeful of the opportunity to do more signwriting on 3621, but in the meantime we’ve got plenty to do repairing vacuum cylinders and other odd jobs in between!

See you again next week! Cheers, Ross.

Hello everyone, and welcome to the new look Quorn Wagon & Wagon website. As the website wasn’t ready last week, this update will cover two weeks of work. The website took a liittle more work than initially expected but we’re really happy with how it came out.

Last weekend, we removed the holed vacuum cylinder from 3689 and took a look at the brake rigging as the handbrake was difficult to operate and the brakes did not release cleanly. Charlie and Oliver took charge on the wagon, oiling and working the brakes. Eventually as with the other Esso tanks we split apart the system and found the sticky link. Usually with these its a bolted link right up in the top of the underframe that usually misses lubrication. We got the bolt undone (a surprise in itself!) and manage to get the link down to take it back up the yard for cleaning.

While this was done, a 21 inch vacuum cylinder from stock was prepared to be fitted, with Ernie and James dressing the studs from the cylinder while Harry and Charlie cleaned the cylinder, piston and dome cover. All surfaces applicable got a coat of red oxide primer.

Speaking of red oxide primer, Mark, Oliver, Tom and Ernie coated the last sections of 3854’s barrel in red oxide, after first preparing the surface. Hopefully we can get undercoat on it, however I suspect we have lost painting weather for the year now.

Towards the end of Sunday we got the overhauled cylinder fitted to 3689, but lost the light before getting it connected up. I also measured up the tyre profiles for 3689, which mostly measured up as new.

On to this week then, Saturday was pretty much a wash out, with the yard under 3689 a pond meaning we couldn’t get working to reconnect the vacuum cylinder. In a gap in the rain, we got the cylinder from 3689 stripped apart, using the Volvo to press the piston out of the bore. Harry and Charlie started to clean down the cylinder in the shelter of the garage. This one is definitely a case of looking worse than it is, but there is still some distance to go on that cylinder, maybe might be an opportunity to crack out the soda blaster.

In the afternoon we looked in the van train for any spare 21″ domes as we have 2 in need of repair. we found a further one, so its possible that we can make 2 good ones out of 3 holey ones!

Sunday was a much better day, we started by shunting out the Lowfit, taking the opportunity of a clear middle road to use the Volvo to lift the cylinder out of the wagon. The cylinder in the Lowfit had been damaged by a load in the wagon, filled with water and had subsequently holed through.

To ease rebuilding an 18″ I took the opportunity to take a rolling ring piston rod to make it into a guide rod to use when lowering a piston back into a cylinder. I cut the eye off the end and then drilled a cross hole for a bar to tighten/loosen the rod. We used it, to great effect, on the replacement 18″ cylinder for the Lowfit. The piston behaved exactly as described in the overhaul spec which is encouraging!

Using the Volvo again to lower the overhauled cylinder into the wagon, it was bolted back into the wagon and reconnected ot he brake system. Unfortunately, when we tried to test the system we found a the north end of the train pipe under the headstock is a little more akin to brandy snap and was letting the vacuum out. Another winter job for the list.

Nick and Tom walked back down the yard and got 3689 ready to test after which the team went up to test the brakes, after they were knocked back a half hole on the adjuster as the block gap was too tight to spec.

Charlie looked at the release valve removed from 3689, which to be honest I thought was more use as an anchor for a dingy! Mark and Oliver also got stuck in selecting a valve to look at..

The test went well, and the system passed with flying colours. After which we put everything away and had a celebratory cup of tea!

Thanks for joining us, and do let me know what you think of the new website. Cheers, Ross!

Hello everyone and welcome to another update from Quorn. This week we’ve prepped both 3606 and 3621 for their second coat of paint, and 3854 has received a bit more work on the underframe to clear the corrosion.

James, Charlie and I spent most of the day scuffing the fresh black paint. We managed to get both east side barrels done and three of the four ends. While we did this, Ernie sorted some donated large spanners and impact sockets away

Nick, Harry, Tom, Mark and Dan continued the push on 3854, using the needle guns and hammer and chisels on the end pockets and the solebars.

Oliver and Charlie finished repairing the hand rail to the tool van

The team also finished scuffing all the areas on the two tanks missed

That wraps up this week, and sorry its a bit of a late one! I’m travelling for work again so this is the only chance I’ve had! Join us next week where hopefully the tanks will have received their extra coat. Thanks for reading.