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 everyone and thanks for joining us for another update, there has been more progress on the two tanks and the Test Car has had its generator run up properly for the first time in 18 months.
Mark, Oliver and Tom finished off painting the pockets on 3689 into undercoat, once we have a good air supply again (more on that later) and the brackets are welded to the west side of the tank we can get the whole barrel into undercoat.
After taking delivery of some new (to us) machinery we’ve had a bit of a sort out in the GUV and put up some shelves and sorted some stuff off the benches onto the shelves.
After Dave and I’s Monday reassembling the generator and being thwarted by a tiny little fitting for the rocker shaft oil feed, I ordered one, but it turned out being the wrong part. Ernie can to the rescue and soldered two brass fittings of the right size together which worked quite well! I got it reassembled and filled up with fluids and with a bit of help from Charlie, got the fuel system bled up. The little Perkins lump fired straight into life, which means we can use the compressor on the Test Car while we get round to sorting out big Edward. There will be a few last small things to sort on the generator, but nothing to stop it from being used.
Dan carried on with the signwriting on the Lowfit, getting the container warning painted on the West Side. We’re very close to getting both the Lowfit and Conflat painted with a coat of varnish before releasing them both.
That wraps up this week’s efforts at Quorn. We’re really thrilled to have got the generator up and running again and looking forward to use it to progress our projects again. Join us next week for some welding and maybe even some paint (if the weather allows)!
Hello everyone and thanks for join us for another Quorn update. This week has been quite productive with two floors prepared, and the final prep work done on 3689.
Firstly, thanks to the funds raised last weekend at the Diesel Gala, we’ve been able to pull the trigger on getting the parts for the generator in Test Car 2. The new cylinder head arrived with some new gaskets, and a new oil filter as while we’re in there we’ll give the engine another service. Dave prepared the area around the engine and stripped the studs required out of the old head ready to put in the new one. The injector studs were a tad stubborn, but were soon released with a bit of heat.
Nick finished off the last panel of paint removal on the west side of 3689 after which the remaining bare metal area was painted in primer. While that was being done, Mark, Oliver and Tom focused on finishing the east side, leaving the end for Monday.
Dan carried on with the Lowfit, adding the lettering concerning containers on the west side.
The floor for the Conflat was also started, with Dave and Ernie cutting the rebates while Charlie and James marked them out. The cut ends were treated with preservative and eventually taken to the wagon to be drilled and fixed down. The two boards at either end needed cutting down their length to give room at the end of the wagon above the head stock such that we can easily monitor its condition in future.
The floor for the Lowfit was also marked, cut and preserved, unfortunately a little family of Robins have made their home beside the north end drawhook so while the nest is active we won’t be fitting the floor.
Tom, Oliver and Charlie stripped the remaining paint from 3689’s north barrel end and east side after which primer was applied. The tank now needs its plate lugs welding back on then it will join 3854 for a quick wash followed by the next stages of paintwork.
The little diesel test rig is in use a bit more as a compressor while Edward (our 1970’s Hydrovane) is a bit poorly, so Charlie and I gave it a once over and a clean up. This is another reason for us to get the generator and the compressor working in the Test Car again to take the pressure off repairing Edward.
Thanks for reading this week’s update, and again massive thanks to those that came to see us, purchased from our stall or donated last weekend. It has meant we can get the Test Car working again and not have to worry about trying to diagnose other faults instead of sorting out the wagons. We’ll be back again next week for another update, see you then! Cheers, Ross
Hello everyone and welcome to another weekend update from Quorn. We’ve managed to get some paint on 3689, started signwriting the Lowfit and fully finished 3606 by fitting its branding plates.
Team Baldwin plus Charlie and James have made more excellent progress bare metalling on 3689, which is around half way completed.
Dave started by making some more displays to hang around the generator on the Test Car ready for opening at the Diesel Gala next weekend.
Nick, James and Charlie went to fetch the boards for the Conflat and the Lowfit from Harlow and stored them ready for processing.
Dave set Dan a challenge to signwrite the Lowfit single handedly, which he’s made a good start at.
After having the wheel reassembled in the week, I refitted Hector’s wheel and tried to adjust his front brake while he was up in the air. This caused me a further issue after I snapped the brake pipe linking the two wheel cylinders the front wheel. After obtaining some appropriate sized copper pipe, the pipe was replaced and the system bled up again. He was taken for a customary spin around and was then used to tow Edward up to the Ransomes and Rapier crane to pump up its tyres.
Ernie continued repairing the splash guards from 3689, filling in holes and welding patches as required. One is beyond repair, so will have to be remade, plus we need a new tail section for another.
After lunch, Dave, Nick and I journeyed to Swithland to fit the plates to 3606. Dave and I concentrated on the Esso plates while Nick fitted the 3D printed owners plated made by Dave.
Ernie, Daniel and I concentrated on applying primer to the bare metal areas on 3689. Some areas had a light sand just to remove the flash rust.
Do pop in and see us, we’ll have the Test Car open plus a small stall selling treasure to raise funds for the Test Car and all our other wagon projects. We’ll be back with another update next week so do join us then! Thanks, Ross
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
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 welcome to this week’s update from the railways winter gala. The tank train has been up and down, with both 3606 (sans Esso plate, though more on that later…) and 1919 making their freight train debuts. Apologies to some of you as they were both facing north!
Ernie carried on with Operation Vacuum Colander, tackling the cylinder removed from 3689 with the hole in the side. Using side wall sections out of a donor cylinder, Ernie cut out the rot and replaced with the ‘new’ metal. This kept Ernie busy for most of the weekend, as more metal was put in the more holes appeared!
Daniel and Charlie started wire brushing two vacuum cylinders which have been in the garage in bits. The surface rust has been removed now ready for some primer to be applied to the appropriate areas
James helped me fix down the table top in the mess coach, finishing the preparation and spreading the glue contact adhesive on both surfaces. The Formica surface was lowered back onto the wood and then clamped and weighed down. I’m going to try and polish the Formica and the surrounding wood will get a coat of varnish too.
During the week, I collected 8 Esso plates from DEU in Derby who cut, rolled and painted them white for us. This leaves Dave and I to signwrite them. Nick and I unloaded these from my car and stored them in Madge’s box trailer out of harms way.
Dave used the good day on Saturday to get the ‘Esso Petroleum Company Limited’ wording on the west side of 3621, which finishes the lettering on that side, just details left there now.
Nick, Charlie and Oliver went to Swithland on Sunday to recover a gas box to fit to the mess coach, which was done when they got back. We’ll use the gas box to store the fuel for the new heater.
Mark and Tom gave the Conflat a wash down, and then got the needle guns out to prepare the end pockets on 3689. While they did this, Dan picked out the lettering on the Hurst Nelson builders plates.
Dave and I got set up in the Test Car, each of us tackling an Esso plate. There is some work still to do on these including a coat of varnish. Not sure if we’ll put these on 3606 or 3621 yet, but they’ll appear out in the wild soon!
Thanks for joining us, and hopefully you’ve enjoyed seeing the tanks out again at the gala. Next week, I’m sure there will be more tank related activity, but who knows! See you then.
Hello everyone and welcome to this weekend’s update. How did everyone enjoy the weather they got? There was no snow evident at Quorn at the weekend, but at home in Derby I had a good 2 to 3 inches of the stuff which was still hanging around. Both 3854 and 3689 have seen some activity this weekend, and the additional heater in the coach procedes ever closer to being fired up.
Saturday was a colder day, so I spent it inside the coach again running the feed wires from the coach’s bespoke electrical cubicle to the new DC/DC converter that I’ve fitted next to the heater.
Nick, James and Charlie went on a road trip to Foxfield to gather some more Esso tank parts, this time it was more outfeed pipes and valves to replace those that arrived missing on 3854. When they got back and after a cup of tea, the valves and outfeed pipes were fitted.
With the day being a little warmer on Sunday the pressure washer was cracked out to clean down 3689. Tom, Dan, Oliver and Tom worked on this most of the day, getting wet through in the process. Most of the unsound paint came off including most of the black sign writing resembling silver snowflakes. After this the team gave 1802 a going over, removing its layer of algae.
I carried on in the coach, getting the heater all wired up and at the end of the day I was able to get the heater powered on which leaves the plumbing for me to do. Ernie spent the morning at Loughborough using the machinery to make us a tool for punching out the bushes in the base of the vacuum cylinders. Thanks to Dave Wright of LMS for the material offcuts.
That wraps up this week, thanks for reading everyone! See you next week for more wagon antics!
In what is our first post of the 2026, we look back on 2025. For us you could call this the year of the tank, perhaps more specifically the year of the Esso tank. We started off the year however with the TTAs.
In the first months of 2025, we worked to produce two identical vacuum through pipes for both 1802 and 1919 after first establishing the routing. This has turned our two TTA tanks into TTBs as they were built – B being the suffix code in TOPS for an air braked and vacuum piped wagon.
February also marked the arrival of 3621 from the Fox field Railway. Its arrival marks the fourth such tank at the railway, and you may notice a thread forming…
In March, an Esso tank chassis arrived from Foxfield Railway which, thanks to our friends at the National Wagon Preservation Group (NWPG), was identified as the chassis from 3797. This began a bigger project, and probably a preservation first, to reunite a barrel and chassis.
Thanks again to the NWPG, a barrel was located and purchase and was lifted on in March, and welded on in July with new side tank supports and ladders fabricated and fitted. 3606 and 3621 were both prepped and painted in October.
With 1919 still at Quorn, its barrel and chassis was prepared, painted and signwritten and release to traffic in August.
Winding back to July, the gang helped Eireni and I celebrate our wedding at the Museum of Making. I still smile at the memories of the day and seeing the Quorn lot greek dancing.
Also in July, another Esso tank had arrived from Llangollen. Numbered 3854, it sat as next in the queue. By the end of the year, its sat in primer waiting for undercoat and gloss when the weather is right.
The Lowfit went to Rothley to have both dragboxes rebuilt has a contract job by the C&W team, and also at Rothley a further chassis had arrived to re-wheel a Shock Palvan body. The body was owned by RVP as a store, and is in good general condition aside from the door frame work.
In October, yet another Esso tank arrives at the railway this time from the North Dorset Railway. This tank is 3689, it was made fit to move and has had the vacuum system repaired following the discovery of a ventilated vacuum cylinder. This tank marks the 7th 35t gross Esso tank to arrive at the railway.
Now back at Quorn, the Lowfit received a vacuum cylinder overhaul and a weld repair to the vacuum train pipe.
Towards the end of the year, we’ve again been able to move to Rothley to repair B777728 after it was withdrawn earlier in the year due to the roof trying to part company with the van. We’ve been able to repair and re-sheet the roof, we’ve fitted new door ‘noggins’ and have repainted the two ends and the east side. The west side has also been varnished to increase its longevity.
We’ve opened the Test Car for various events in the year, three times in April, and also the Rail 200 event in August which has given us the opportunity to share the vehicles unique history and meet you all. We supported the ever popular Railways at Work Gala and put on a fantastic show.
Around new arrivals and repaints, we’ve carried on with the usual vacuum cylinder overhauls, annual bearing exams and other small jobs. The BEVs have had repairs and maintenance, and Edward has also had a rebuild.
We’ve launched our new look website, and after a few teething issues its settled down. I’ve got a few other ideas for improvements which I’ll be working on over the coming year.
In 2026, we’ll be continuing push on the Esso tanks, aiming towards a block train of Esso type tanks. 3621 is awaiting signwriting, 3854 is awaiting undercoat and gloss and 3689 needs the works. We’re planning to refresh the van train, the east side of most vans haven’t bee touched for a number of years and they are starting to look a bit tired. We’ve also got a few more roofs to look at. We’ll also get the Conflat and the Lowfit out after a new floor each.
Thank you for reading, and for your support over the year. Our next update will contiue as normal on the 4th.
