Author: rloades109

Hello all, and thank you for joining us for this week’s update from Quorn. The focus for us has been on the signwriting on both 3854 and 3689.

Dave took the lead on the signwriting, tackling the ‘Esso Petroleum Company Limited’ wording on both tank barrels. The wording doesn’t quite do the task justice!

During the week, and with help from Eireni I’ve now designed and 3D printed era appropriate OLE warning flashes to replace those on the tanks. I coated them with 2 coats of varnish which yellows the white PETG a treat and should protect them a little bit more. I went round both tanks and fitted the three I’d printed, thankfully we got a new old stock flash which had already been fitted to 3854.

Nick fitted the 3D printed registration to 3854, then Charlie went round and painted the black plastic with container black and then painted the bolts heads with white paint.

I tackled the barrel end numbers on both 3854 and 3689, getting both sorted on 3854 and one end on 3689

Tom and Oliver oiled the brakes on both 3854 and 3689, then Dave got them both doing the fast traffic stars, getting both stars on both tanks on the east side.

Dave got some of the solebar details done across both tanks

I snuck in a well overdue car clean for my Volvo , but then got onto a project Dave and I have been talking about to improve the use of the Test Car’s generator and air compressors. Nick and James painted two lamps repaired by Ernie in the hot weather last week.

Thanks for reading! I’ll leave you with a picture of the two tanks together from the west side, looking nearly finished, with just the plates left to fit on that side. Next week it will be more of the same with the last few details, and then onto the Esso plates to get them fitted before the tanks are released to traffic.

Hello everyone, and thanks for joining us for this week’s happenings from Quorn South Yard. Some more signwriting has taken place on 3854 and we’re getting ready for starting the work on the van train.

I started off by putting the number on the dockside of 3854, I had every intention of doing some more but got a little distracted!

Ernie and Nick started sorting through some recently donated hand tools to file them, and then moved onto sorting out our spanner collection and segregating the Whitworth and the metric spanners.

Ernie and I got to making some more label clip mounting blocks for stock, with Ernie cutting the board downs down to shape. I then put each block through the planer/thicknesser a few times to get them to the correct thickness.

Nick and Charlie went to collect 8 sheets of plywood for us to use in the repairs of the box vans, Ernie, Daniel and I went to assist with unloading them to store until required in the Palshocvan.

After tea, we got to clearing room in B852838 and B854782 moving the parcels out of the way. We then started undoing the bolts from the side sheet in B854782. Fortunately we’ve been here before and all but a few bolts undid.

For B852838, the panel we are replacing hasn’t been out before so is believed to be original fitment. We had to split each bolt and nut to be able to loosen the board sufficiently. the final act in this van was to use a small circular saw to cut the side sheet which was originally made the full length of the side. Easy for construction, however makes replacement a bit trickier!

That wraps up this weekends activities. One last reminder that next weekend is the Reunification Weekend where you can take trips on both halves of the railway linked by heritage rail replacement bus. We’ll have Test Car 2 open for you to visit, and we’ll be replacing the sides on the two vans some people can see what we do. Do stop us and ask question about the wagons or indeed the Test Car! See you then

Evening all, and thank you for joining us lot from Quorn for another update. This week 3689 has received its second coat of gloss and both tanks have started being detailed. We’ve also got the Lowfit and the Conflat ready to re-enter traffic which should be some point this week.

Saturday wasn’t the day for painting, however we had another mission after an accident last week. Charlie had a go at testing gravity last week and fell between the dock and the toolvan. Charlie is, thankfully, okay with a dent to his pride and a sore shoulder. Its a sobering reminder of the environment we work in however and as such we’ve taken another look at the high traffic doorways onto the dock and made some changes to ensure that this can’t happen again for the high traffic doorways. Nick constructed an extended step for the toolvan which sits on the dock and the van’s chassis. We may look to make a more permanent solution in due course.

Looking at the GUV, we decided to weld the stepboard brackets back onto the vehicle to put a stepboard on. The stepboards and brackets were removed by BR when the GUVs went into BRUTE traffic. Ernie prepared some brackets ready to weld into position from a scrap brakevan step bracket.

I took a decent look over both the Lowfit and the Conflat to sort out the paperwork to release them to traffic. All was well aside from an aged vacuum hose on the Conflat. These wagons can now enter traffic and clear some space in the yard for us to bring a few more vehicle up in need of our care.

Sunday was the better day weather wise so Oliver and I set about painting the second coat on 3689. The painting went well however the radiator on the Test Car’s generator has sprung a leak from one of the cores so we’ll have to sort that out before using it again. I suspect its the same leak that we had when we first fired up the generator back in 2018, so might just be a case of more Rad-Weld. Thankfully we were able to fire up Edward for a short stint to finish painting the tank.

Ernie got the welder out and welded the stepboard brackets back onto the GUV and Nick sorted out a step board and bolted it down.

Charlie (on light duties) washed Hector, looked at the defective horn button and then fitted him with a two tone air horn. We also took Danny to sort out some rubbish and recover some barrels from the yard.

Mark and Tom made light work of detailing the two tanks, removing the overspray from the buffer shanks then painting the axle end caps, the white bits (handbrake ends, lamp brackets etc) and the red on the vacuum swan necks. They also went up to the Conflat and Lowfit and repainted the swan necks on them after not being happy with the shade of red used.

With the paint on the tanks now sat hardening, we can now look at starting the signwriting on the tanks and make a start on working down refreshing the east side of the van train, plus the endless work on the plant which seems to keep us on our toes! Join us again next week to see what we get up to! Cheers, Ross

Hello everyone and welcome to this weekend’s update from Quorn. As you could expect its been all go on the tank front, thanks to co-operative weather, with both tanks looking good in their black top coat.

With just me holding down the fort on Saturday, it was down to me to get both tanks into top coat, spraying both barrels top to bottom and all underframe pockets. Nick and Charlie each had a go with the spray gun on the underframes.

Charlie undertook a pad exam on both the Conflat and Lowfit with no issues found and also oiled all the brake rigging.

We noticed that the pins in part of the brake rigging on 3854 were too long for their intended function, we set Ernie onto cutting them down and re-drilling the split pin hole. Nick and James refitted the pins once they’d all been cut down.

Dave and I made a start on second coat on 3854, this time with Oliver assisting. Oliver has expressed an interest in learning how to spray paint, and we are only too happy to pass on the skills. After talking through the set up, Dave and Oliver took the reigns in applying the paint, as I got a bit distracted…

To celebrate an upcoming birthday I put on a BBQ for the gang with plenty of food to go round. The team were well equipped to assist with the eating but also helped a lot with prep and the washing up!

The rest of the gang set to work in the GUV, removing a woodworking machine and rearranging the paint cupboards to give some more room for storage. Dan also got the two repaired splash guards for 3689 painted up into undercoat, ready for a coat of gloss.

Dave and Oliver ran out of time to get 3689 up into its second coat, so that’s what we’ll focus on next week. Join us then and see what else we get up to!

Hello all and welcome to this week’s update from Quorn. We’re not getting ready for more wagons, just more progress! Both the Conflat and 3689 have recieved some attention, and we’ve also been finishing off some jobs that have been hanging around.

Daniel spent some time on the Conflat, scraping and priming the kerb rail getting it close to be prepared for its floor, which is now on order.

Dave got set up varnishing the two Esso plates in the Test Car, which are now ready for fitting to 3606, while he did this Charlie cleaned up the ash from last week’s fire.

Ernie finished up the headlamp from the Rothley shunter, making a ring portion from a piece of copper and soldering a lens back in.

Ernie’s soldering skills also came in handy to fix the compressor’s expansion tank which had suffered a slight blow out… Charlie removed the offending article and refitted it.

Once repaired, Dave got the needle gun out and finished of the west side sole bar on 3689, which then got a coat of primer.

Charlie fixed up the steps from the mess coach, which went rotten and got replaced with the steps from the Test Car. With us opening the Test Car up at the upcoming Diesel Gala, we are in need of another set. Once stood up, the steps were moved round to the access door and finally fettled for height and stability.

Dave had an unwelcome visitor to the lovely varnished finished on the Esso plates, so ended up doing a small touch up.

I tested a new toy to try and undo a buffer mounting bolt, which undid with ease despite the liberal coat of paint. The new impact gun was also used on the ladder bolts with were turned around to give more foot room on the rungs.

Ernie did some welding on a small trailer rescued from the undergrowth and attempted to weld up some steel access steps, but they are too far gone to carry on fixing. Nick and I had to hold the welding screen due to the wind gusting.

Mark and Dan carried on where Daniel left off on the Conflat, finishing the kerb rail and painting the tops of the solebars. Tom and Oliver hoovered and painted the pockets on 3689.

In some of the inclement weather on Sunday, Dave and I finished off the diesel heater install but adding two more vents and some ducting to spread the heat around the seating area.

Ernie took one of the side rails from the Conflat into the coach to measure up. Tom, Oliver, Mark and Dan primed inside the chassis on 3689, which only leaves the east side solebar to needlegun and prime for the chassis to be ready.

In the dry spells of Sunday, Charlie mowed both the dock and the strip of grass between the mainline and our siding, with an appropriate look out.

That’s where we wrap up this week. Both Dave and I are away for the next two weeks, so there will be no update from Quorn over that time. Do not fear though, we do have something going out in our usual slot so keep your eyes out for that.

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