Author: rloades109

Welcome to another one of our updates. We are still at Rothley, completing work on the Coal Hopper, B425356. Before I get stuck ino that, some other news from the week. The Bogie Bolster D has left Quorn yard to rejoin the Mixed Freight train and the Van train has been moved from Quorn Yard temporarily so that the engineer’s vehicles can be pushed into the main yard for the impending bridge renovations.

Onto this wekend then! After last week’s effort in getting the hopper into Gloss, the effort continues now on the underframe and details. Thomas and Nick took care of the black gloss to the underframe, platforms under the hopper ends and tops of the inner and outer solebars.

With Dave at Doncaster with West Hill Wagon Works, I was the sole signwriter this week. I started by assemmbling the templates from the A4 pages. After this I chose to start with the post-1964 number box, moving onto the data panel.

Sunday saw us joined by Tom and Dan, who also finished off some of the black underframe painting. Once this was done Thomas, Tom and Dan moved onto the white undercoat. Thomas took care of the end handrails and made a superb job. Tom and Dan made a good job of the handbrake lever ends, the door trip levers and the vacuum swan-necks. Nick kept hold of his black gloss brush and completed any areas missed on the underframe, and where I had finished signwriting.

For me it was the large legend, ‘House Coal Concentration’. I assembled the template and then spent the day on that, feeling very crossed eyed by the end of it.

We’re now nearing the end of the work on the hopper, leaving that at Rothley for its axle repair for us to go back to Quorn for the Plate wagon. Next weekend will be more of the same on the hopper though, with the west side solebar signwriting to do and then the whole east side still to tackle. See you then!

Hello, and welcome to our update from the Winter Gala. From what we’ve seen its been quite a well attended one, and for us as seen the debut of 5209!

Both 3436 and 5209 rejoined the tank train, which then got formed as part of the mixed freight. 3711 also hasn’t stood still. The wheelset taken to Rothley last Sunday was taken into the shed and fitted on Monday (thank you to the Rothley lads!) Nick painted the bearing adapter in black on Saturday, and also undercoated the yellow end cap. Sadly, niether Dave and I could be there.

Sunday saw Nick and I there but Dave also popped in for an hour or so before going to other commitments. The main object of the day was to fit LED Batten lights in the garage, so that it can become more than a storage building. I must say it’s nice to actually be able to see in there for a change!

While Dan and I were sorting out the lights, Nick, Tom and Mark sorted out the wooden vehicle crossing which had been slowly crumbling. They’ve now made something a lot more stable which should stand up to the rigours of 3 wheel lorries, and vehicles moving across it at all angles.

I finished up looking at a few of our extension cables to investigate reported problems some breaks were found in the live in both cables so these will either be joined back together with the appropriate equipment or cut down to make shorter cables.

That’s where we’ll leave this week’s update, sorry for the lack of pictures! Next week we’ll pick up where we left off on the coal hopper, making start on the painting. There is also some work planned to kick off Madge’s repair so join us then to see where we get to!

Hello again,, we’re back for another weekend of tank action. The job list on 3711 is certainly now dwindling, leaving only a wheelset to change and the replacement of 2 buffers.

Dave and I started off with the last 2 jobs of signwriting, those being the Commuted Charge symbol for me and the OLE warning flashes for Dave.

I moved onto the north end axle, checking the roller bearings and purging them with grease using the very handy air powered grease pump.

With the greasing done and the OLE flashes finished, Dave looked for areas of signwriting to touch up and I fitted a new vacuum relase chord.

Sunday morning saw me at a very cold Quorn, prepping for 2 jobs. One being a bit of welding on Matt’s trailer, which was the reattachement of some angle irons for the brakes after being shortened. The other was moving the wheelset intended for the tank at Rothley. The latter involved encouraging the Test Car’s generator to start, to get air to pump up the loader’s tyre. The former was rather straight forward!

Nick ferried the wheelset to Rothley and unloaded it from his lorry, Tom painted the vacuum cylinder on the tank wagon whilst Oliver did some tidying. I joined later to have a look at the brake carriers on the tank to make sure they were fit for traffic. (The split pin was later opened out!)

Next weekend is the Winter Steam Gala, so expect to see the mixed freight out with the 3436 and making its debut will be 5209! See you next time!

Hello all, and welcome the first update 2023 update from Quorn Wagon & Wagon.

We started this week on New Year’s Day. As Matt mentioned last week, Nick and Thomas were there but I was there too. Nick and Thomas concentrated on the tank underframe and painting any bits missed.

I concentrated on the details, all the standard stuff. White gloss on the hand brake end and lamp brackets, red on the vacuum swan necks and yellow on the roller bearing end caps. Only one axle at the moment as the other is planned to be changed due to the flange thickness on one wheel. I also painted a second coat on the Esso plates after flatting it back, and undercoat and gloss on the OLE warning plate.

Tuesday saw Dave and Matt on site. Matt concentrating on the Esso plates, with Dave setting up the other signwriting and making a start on the east side solebar.

Saturday saw Nick, Dave and I on site, also joined by Dan, Tom and Oliver. Dave was again on signwriting duty, with me assisting.

Nick had to go and do a shunt with the Class 10 to move the Grampus to Rothley for their annual exam, and the other Esso tank 3436 came back with them for some planned work. The Esso plate removed as a template before Christmas got put back on as well.

Dan, Tom and Oliver made a start on the next wagon, the 21t Coal Hopper. Out came the scrapers and the wagon body and underframe was scraped to get it ready for paint.

While Dave was signwiritng, I taped up the big stars, keyed the paint and applied the first coat of white on both sides of the tank. This will need another coat on another day. I also taped up and applied some undercoat for the Commuted Charge symbol.

Dave got one side of the ‘Esso Petroleum’ lettering applied, which leaves the other side for next week.

Unfortunately, nobody was on site on Sunday so we’ll have to leave the update there. There is more planned for the tank next weekend, so join us then and see where we get to.

Matt has once again pushing on with Lilibet on Monday. He fitted the new seats, which still await upholstery.

He was on site awaiting an arrival, but had time with assistance from wife Michelle to complete the interior Blood, Custard and Grey, as well as adding a leather patch to the nose access panel as the paint work gets touched by the left foot when operating the clutch. Any guesses regards the crimson square?

What of this arrival? A little job from our friends at the Nene Valley Railway Wagon Group. They have recently purchased an ex Cadburys diesel 6T Scarab including trailer. While they focus on the tractor unit, Matt has taken on the trailer as a side task. The agreement being the trailer can leave once their Scarab visits for a Railways at Work Gala. We will cover this restoration as one of our own, with Matt being heard to say he wants it structurally complete by Christmas, he does like to challenge himself.

Although one task at a time, Lilibet’s internal repaint continuing Wednesday and completed Thursday. The original seat being refitted as the new ones go away for reupholstering.

Matt also restored and repaired a few of the cab fittings.

On to the NVR trailer, Matt removed the floor and the side sheets to inspect and prepare the way forward for the frame.

On to Saturday with Dave, Matt and Nick on site. Matt carried on with Lillibet, signwriting the cab. Now you’ll see the reason for the Crimson square!

Dave and Nick fitted some different vacuum felxible hoses from the train pipe to the cylinder release valve and tested the brakes on 3711 using our trusty vacuum rig.

Unfortunately the brakes had some resistance to applying, so Dave had to deploy a jack to give it some encouragement. One pipe joint was found to be leaking, so this was also attended to at this point.

Dave continued the signwriting on the dock side of the tool van, dodging the showers!

I was there on Sunday alongside Nick, Matt, Mark and Dan. Nick, Mark, Dan and I continued looking at the breaks on the tank. We tried the rig again after issues with the test hoses, and applied and released the brakes a few times. It was noted that the piston had risen above the reserve stroke, which points to the brakes requiring adjustment. We did this and much as could be done and tried again.

Matt continued on his push on the NVR’s trailer, making new wood framework for the rear and the side frames.

Back to our brake test, the cylinder seemed to be applying and releasing better, but was found to fail the slow application test. Unfortunately this means we’ll need to take the cylinder off again at somepoint to investigate.

Now relased from the brake test, Nick continued the scale removal from the inside frames of the tank, finding a nice little hidey-hole. I stripped down and cleaned our vacuum test cocks, which have become stiff to operate of late.

After all this, we found time to replace the sign Matt adopted as a secret project.

Hello everyone! Following the excitement of our open day last week, we’ve had a quiet week with just Matt and I on site on Sunday. We carried on the sorting out from last week, and took delivery of yet another new arrival of Matt’s (Matt says Sorry Stu!). We started off however by unloading our site pick-up for wood recovered from the bonfire pile and stacking it neatly next to the dock.

We now present ‘Elizabeth‘, a diesel Scammell Scarab. You may have seen this one before as it has visited us on loan for Railways at Work and very recently at our open weekend. This arrival also takes the pressure off of Madge’s looming restoration as we’ll still have something to move trailers around with.

With Elizabeth having touched down (again), she was very quickly put to work moving the 3 trailers back into our compound ready for the railway’s bonfire. We also used one of the trailers to pick up some more wood from the bonfire pile which is the perfect size for wagon floor and bodyside planks.

Next week, we’ll be back to normality and drawing up our plans for winter work.

Hello and weclcome to another QWW update. This week, we’ve had the first batch of overhauled buffers back from Crowle Wharf Engineering, which means only one thing…

This week, we’ve been changing/refitting the buffers on the van train. Between us we’ve got 16 out of the 17 vans back in traffic and the last movable. All ahead of the upcoming Bonfire Night.

We’ve also made more progress with the BRUTEs. I replaced the melted part of the stick welder and got to work sticking the BRUTEs back together, welding up cracks and re-attaching mesh. I quite enjoyed it and look forward to doing more welding in the future. Matt and Richard got to work with the paint brushes, first painting the ‘finished’ one, then moving onto the ones I was welding back together. We now have two more blue BRUTEs and one red one, courtesy of Richard, Matt and on Sunday Owen.

In other news, we’ve been making a headboard! Matt sent me the letters as files, and during the week I extruded them in CAD software and then set about 3D printing the letters and the crests. Matt has done the rest fo the work, cutting out the wood, priming in and sticking each letter down.

Another thing Matt has done this weekend was a commission for our friends at Chasewater.

That brings us to the close this weekend. Its been a variety filled weekend, we’re all obviously pleased as punch that most of the van train is back in action. Matt, Nick and I won’t be on site next weekend, so Dave might update if he’s there. See you then!

Hello everyone and welcome to another update from Quorn. This week our road vehicle progress continues, and the van train finishes off its annual exam.

The wagon fairies have been in this week and stripped the paint off of 2 and a half BRUTEs, which means the these are now ready for welding up and new paint, with Dave finishing the other half.

Matt started by taking the trolley that he and I modified last week, striping it a apart and applying primer to all the upper surfaces.

Dave then selected one of the stripped BRUTEs to start with the welder. While Dave started with the baby MIG set, I got the stick wleder and the other MIG to see what would be required to get them working. The stick welder needed some new cable crimps and the MIG just needed a bit of fettling.

Once the primer was dry, Matt then got the black paint out to paint the floor and chassis of the trolley followed by the Yellow for the body work. The chargers also got a coat of yellow as well.

Dave was having issues with weld peneration so switched to the other MIG set that I’d repaired. This only partially resolved matters, so we’ll have to see what else we can do to improve our welding.

We lined up the yellow vehicles just behind the gate for a small part of BR at the railway’s Autumn Steam Gala.

Nick arrived early on Sunday to get a good start on the inspection of the van train. Some vacuum bags also required replacement, so these got replaced as and when Nick came across them.

Matt finished the ‘Tug Support Trailer’ with a bit of signwriting and stencilling.

I carried on the welding of the BRUTE, opting to use the generator in the Test Car to provide the power, which improved the welds a small amount. I did however run out of gas, which was probably the main reason we had weld issues. I then moved to the stick welder, which went well until the part of the electrode holder melted, so welding had to stop.

I tidied every thing I’d used away, and joined Matt in priming a BRUTE, taking one each. Nick retrieved 2 buffers from our store to put on the Shochood B, which has 2 buffers failed on its annual exam.

That just about finishes us up for this week, I’ll sign off with a remind about our Open Weekend on the 22nd-23rd of October. Come and see us and find out about some of our wagons, with visiting wagon groups and the Test Car will be open. Thanks for reading and see you around!

Hello everyone, welcome to another weekly update from Quorn. This week alongside Saturday’s bus rally, we’ve continued our work on the tool van and Hector.

Before I get into the meat of the update, we’ve got another new arrival to mention. We’ve taken delivery of another Brush Pony, this time a long bed variety. We have a plan for this after stumbling on a 1953 sales brochure for said Brush Pony truck. Now that we’ve got Hector, we’ve gone with other characters from ‘Hector’s House’ for the other tugs. The short bed has now become Zsa Zsa, and the new arrival, Kiki.

Matt has received the Enigneers Olive green. He’s applied it to most of the tool van, covering the west side and both ends before running out of paint on the east side. There will be some more on order. Matt also finished the West side signwriting.

I did some work on Hector, fitting the new indicator flasher unit and the new rear light clusters. This involved a bit of rewiring thanks to a previous owner hacking the wiring to bits. Hector now has a full complement of lights, with only a brake overhaul and a repaint to see him finished. Matt fitted a new seat, and as Matt says “It’s fully adjustable!”. I also drained and filled Hectors drive unit with fresh ATF.

Nick scraped down the underframe of the tool van, and I followed behind applying underframe black once finished with Hector.

Sunday saw Matt apply the wasp stripes to the north corrugated end, showing again the attention to detail and time taken to something so impactful.

Nick and I continued with the underframe paint, completeing the south end headstock and east side. Matt picked out some details in white including the drawhooks, wheels and the handbrake ends.

That about covers our work this week. next week we’re looking at doing some roof repairs on B765272 and B786348. Join us then and see what we manage.

Hi all, and welcome to another update from a rather crispy Quorn Wagon and Wagon. This week we’ve progressed the van train and yet another support vehicle. First though, the Bogie Bolster is finished! Matt had finished the red stripe on the bearing end caps last weekend, which was the last thing to do before the wagon is released to traffic. It’ll be good to see this in the next mixed freight!

Okay, and now onto Saturdays work, with Nick, Matt and I on site. Nick concentrated on scraping and then applying a coat of PVA to the next van in the rake, B765272.

Matt finished the signwriting on B777728, which completed the repaint of that van. Another few vans had their signwriting attended to as well.

Matt then went on to finish off a small pet project, a new sign for our gate.

I finished off re-assembling Danny, by putting more bolts in the panels that were re-fitted last week. I then adjusted his brakes and the brakes on the Tug. Sadly, no pictures of this!

On to Sunday, with Dave rejoining us after his holiday. Nick and Dave both started by applying primer to the panels that had been PVA’d yesterday.

Matt and I got stuck into finishing the repaint of Danny. Matt started by applying the BR Double Arrow to Danny’s skip.

I started de-greasing the engine, ready for it to be painted. This was done by Dave and myself.

Unfortunately, I also managed to apply most of the tin to Matt, his trousers and the floor. That stopped any ideas of a second coat on the engine and diff! Sorry Matt!

Once the east side of the vans was in shade, Nick and Dave took out the southmost panel on the east side. This was only held in with 5 bolts and hadn’t been sealed to the van. This has now been fully bolted and sealed.

We finished the day with the obligatory big tidy up and a small photoshoot for the 3 BR vehicles. There is still a little bit more to do on Danny, including a very new requirement to replace the clutch!

Thanks for reading and catch us next week to see what we get up to, fingers crossed it will be a bit cooler!