Author: rloades109

  • 10/08/25 – Large Logos, Lugs and a little bit of welding

    10/08/25 – Large Logos, Lugs and a little bit of welding

    Hello everyone, and welcome to another update from Quorn. Now that I’ve come back from the frivolities of my wedding and from staffing HydroFLEX at the Greatest Gathering, I’ll give you a run down of what has happened for us this week.

    At Rothley, good progress had been made by the C&W team on both the Lowfit with its previously poorly dragbox and the shock absorbing High Goods with its rotten corrugated end being replaced for some spare good material. Additionally, the Lowfit chassis has received more black paint and the chassis for the Palshocvan body had been needle gunned and primed, getting it ready for the body to go on. Thanks to Jamie, Pat, Kyle, Rob, Noah and Steve, we’re looking forward to having these back and getting them in traffic.

    The week prior, the tank train had applicable vehicles receive a bearing exam and all vehicles had their brake rigging oiled.

    On to this weekend then, and after my time away its nice to see the amount of progress that has been made. Before the trains started running, Charlie (with Nick as lookout) mowed the grass between Road 1 in the South Yard and the running line.

    Dave got started on the east side Shell logo, getting it chalked up and completed in the morning.

    Ernie and I got the Esso plate jig out and welded the plate brackets back on to 3621. We started on the west side, and the jig made the work really easy, though the height from the ground did add a complication. I modified the jig to allow a bit of access to the bottom ring from the top which made the east side lugs even easier. the west have been fulled welded, and then received a dose of wire brushing by Nick and painted with a coat of primer by James. I ran out of 3.2mm electrodes before finishing the west side, but we can catch that at a later date.

    Dave got the west side Shell logo on 1919 and touch up the green on the BP logo. This is among the last jobs on this tank, though we will be varnishing each of the logos on this tank. That leaves us to complete our paperwork before handing it over to Jamie for its acceptance FTR. I measured the flange height and thicknesses, which were showing a nearly brand new P5 profile. Dave applied a wheel 1 arrow to the tank to assist us in future inspections.

    3621 had its lid securing turnbuckles freed off and oiled courtesy of Charlie and Ernie, plus an extra pipe stub in the filler neck was removed and blanked and Nick got the scaffolding down to 3606 to scrape the the tar residue from around the filler neck and around the top of the barrel. This needs a bit more scraping and a bit of degreaser before we can paint it. I went round 3606 with the big ratchet to make sure that all the side support bolts were tight. I’ll be adding a blob of weld to each exterior bolt to ensure that they don’t come undone.

    Ernie used an angle grinder to clean up the support remnants on 3606. Nick, Charlie and James took the washer tin over to 3854 to put new washers in the brake system where they were missing.

    Lastly, Charlie and James gave the BEVs a clean and a charge before Railway at Work next weekend. Do come down to the railway next weekend to experience the sights, sounds and atmosphere of a by-gone era, showing how goods and passengers were moved around the network. We’ll be there helping to tell the story. Join us then!

  • 20/07/25 – Making the most of the wet weather

    20/07/25 – Making the most of the wet weather

    Hello everyone and welcome to another update from Quorn. We’re eager to get 1919 finished, but this weekend the wet weather has diverted us to other things.

    Dave popped in on Friday to get some more paint on 1919, concentrating on the yellow aspects, so the yellow Private Owner symbols and the BP on the east side of the barrel. He also got some red out and put a first coat on the air brake pipe cocks and pipe ends.

    With the weather being as it was, we opted to do inside jobs. Dave started off picking out the letter on the Shell-Mex Ltd plates he’s 3D printed for 1919.

    We’d recently picked up a few tyre profile gauges, which were well coat in surface rust and dirt, so Ernie very gently cleaned that up and applied a coat of oil to prevent them rusting again.

    Once there was a gap in the weather, Ernie got the grinder out to prepare the ladder brackets he’d made and slotted during the week. These have now been chamfered ready to weld to the chassis.

    Dave and I went into the Test Car and starting sorting though the test area, and removing some of the less period appropriate signage. This led to the scouring pads coming out and some of the more tired wood work got scraped and scuffed, and whatever fittings that could be removed where.

    Ernie cleaned a few more gauges, and also checked through the oil cans, throwing away those that don’t work and filling up those that do.

    I went into the Test Car and applied varnish to the slip end paneling, the desk drawers and to the toilet door and door frame which looked a whole lot better for a coat of varnish.

    Nick put up more shelving up in the fish van, which has made the fish van much tidier and will allow us to sort out some of the our collected stuff into more suitable locations.

    Using one of the new gauges, I measured the flange height and thicknesses on the two Esso tanks, plus two spares sat by the tool van.

    Thanks for reading this week’s update. Next week there won’t be an update, so join us again in two weeks to find out what we’ve been up to.

  • 13/07/2025 – Bumper Summer Update

    13/07/2025 – Bumper Summer Update

    Welcome to two-weeks worth of summer news from the team at Quorn. We have carried out axlebox maintenance on much of the fleet, supported the Rail200 event and continued to progress the tank wagon restorations.

    All wagons in the mixed goods rake and some in the van train were given their annual axlebox maintenance which involves checking for water ingress and removing any signs of water or emulsified oil, journal inspection, pad condition check, cleaning the pads, re-oiling the pads and topping up the reservoir with fresh oil. The axleboxes are then re-assembled with new split pins as necessary.

    Tom, Oliver, Dan, Harry and Charlie all learning the process from Nick and doing much of the work on 35 wagons.

    One of the spare corrugated wagon end sections was removed from it’s storage in B721587 and transported to Rothley where it will be used to affect repairs on the badly corroded end of Shock High Wagon B724570.

    The brake gear on Brake Van B954268 was oiled up.

    The bubbling paintwork on a few planks on the west side of Brake Van B954268 was sanded by Mark, Tom, Oliver & Dan, and the affected planks treated with undercoat.

    I continued with the lettering on the west side of tank 1919.

    Then applied the operational speed rating stars. The two stars for wagons, authorised to run at higher speeds, i.e. above 35 miles/h, but not allowed to run in passenger trains.

    Charlie helped fit the wagon information display boards to the mixed good rake in Quorn Yard for the Rail200 weekend.

    We also welcomed visitors including some good friends into the Test Car during the weekend.

    During the week, some more axleboxes in the van train were attended to by Nick, Tom and Oliver.

    Onto to Saturday where Nick Charlie and Daniel finished off the axle boxes on the van train while trying to stay in the shade

    Dave and I continued the push on with the sign writing on 1919, with Dave getting a good start on marking out in the cooler temperatures. I made a start with the fast traffic stars.

    Ernie carried on with preparing the ladder brackets on 3606, ready for them to be welded back together in preparation for two new ladders.

    Both Charlie and Ernie finished the day applying undercoat to the storage container on the dock.

    Dave and I started off Sunday by marking out the logo squares on the barrel on the West side of the tank, starting by measuring heights and central positions, then getting the template onto the wagon to trace its outline before applying masking tape.

    This was followed by a quick scuff, readying the square for undercoating by Ernie.

    While Ernie did this, Dave and I finished off the signwriting on the East side, with Dave finishing of the ‘repairs’ panel, and me the solebar lettering.

    Ernie carried on with the white undercoat, undercoating the lamp brackets. Followed up with a dose of gloss black on the drawhooks, air pipe stowage brackets and steps.

    I made a start on one of the end numbers, choosing the nice easy flat plate!

    Dave painted all four logo squares in their respective colours; two white and two yellow. He also took the time to wipe off the chalk outline from the text with a damp cloth.

    Nick used the gloss black to paint the discharge pipework and the replica Shell-Mex owner’s plates, ready to go on the wagon. The plates were drilled prior to being painted with the black paint.

    Dave picked out the east side cast plates while Ernie floated around with the white gloss paint, painting the now dry lamp brackets, the foot valve levers and vacuum swan-necks.

    Nick repaired an axlebox pad where the spring had failed, utilising a spring found on a life expired pad. This will re-enter stock after a bit of a soak.

    That wraps up this update, thank you for reading. Next week will be more work on 1919, which is tantalisingly close to be completed, with one barrel number still to do plus the large Shell and BP logos. Join us then, in the hopefully cooler weather!

  • 15/06/25 – Another Black(ish) Tank

    15/06/25 – Another Black(ish) Tank

    Hello everyone and welcome to this week’s update. This week, we’ve followed up the undercoat on 1919 with a gloss coat and continued the re-assembly of 3606.

    1919 first then, although windy, Saturday was a perfect day for painting with it being dry and warm out so came the spray kit. With eight litres of thinned down paint, I applied a solid first coat to the tank barrel and sole bar all round, with the west side underframe getting a look in too.

    Charlie cleaned up our spare direction switch for the Brush Pony trucks, and also cleaned up the top of the underframe on the Lowfit, making good work of the whole frame and applying some red oxide primer.

    With the paint drying on 1919, our attention turned to 3606. We’ve had a sample bend section supplied to check which was close, but required some alteration to fit, which was carried out between Nick, Ernie and I. Some bends were altered and a section of material let in to extend the front section. this can now go back to the supplier so that they can make the full foot wide support pieces for this tank.

    The heating coil pipe on 3606 was also completed, with Nick and Ernie having to recover one of the cutting rings from the compression fitting being used to complete the work. The bent sections where fitted together, then I welded them to the bosses on the tank, as would have originally been done.

    That wraps up this week; next week maybe another coat on the 1919, or it could be something else. Lets see what the week and the weather hold for us. Thank for reading

  • 05/05/25 – Tank Holiday Monday

    05/05/25 – Tank Holiday Monday

    Hello everyone and welcome to another update from Quorn. It’s been an action packed weekend, so we’ll jump right on in there.

    Saturday started with Charlie applying a gloss coat to the last splash guard for 3621. this was left basking in the sun while we looked at B779978 and B780282 to replace their door top frames, now that they were back in the yard. One of the machined pieces of wood was taken up and the hole positions marked ready for drilling along with the recess for the locking bar. Part of our roof edge was removed between the doors to allow the new ‘noggin’ to fit properly. The pieces of wood were then taken up to the GUV for drilling on the pillar drill by Ernie with Harry and new recruit Jamie supporting, and I machined the recess with the morticer.

    After the pieces of wood were machined, each of them got a coat of primer, undercoat and gloss to help them last for as long as possible. I am hopeful that they will out live maybe even me! Nick set up a new outside workbench on the end of the Fish van, which came in useful for priming the pieces of wood.

    Mark and Oliver took a look at the steps up to the tool van, making some repairs to the first and second steps. They certainly feel a lot more solid to walk on now, and should save any accidents. Oliver himself performed the grand opening.

    The rest of the gang set about removing the stickers from 1919 to get it ready for paint prep. It also got another wash due to the amount of green algae that had settled on it. We’ve put that down to the rough texture of the brake dust making a perfect surface to settle on.

    Dan took some time to apply primer to the bare metal work on the container, while Nick and Charlie refitted the freshly painted splash guard.

    On Monday, Charlie, Nick, Jamie and I looked at fitting the four painted ‘noggins’ to the two vans. Thankfully all went on without major issues, which means these vans could run in traffic, albeit with a huge ASDA logo on each roof. We now simply await more roof paint for these vans to finalise the work.

    A person on a scaffold is inspecting the edge of a structure, wearing a hat and a blue sweater, with some tools in hand.

    Charlie and Jamie carried on washing 1919, concentrating on the end of the barrel and headstocks. This was however interrupted by reports of a sizable fire adjacent to the down lieby, next to the rest of the box vans. Between the station team and ourselves and a passing train the fire was got under control and the vans protected.

    A young person is using a pressure washer to clean a large green tank, while standing next to a yellow and black striped structure in a yard.
    A person in an orange vest walking near a controlled fire, surrounded by smoke and greenery, with a red watering can lying on the ground.

    As I’m sure I’ve said before here, I think its time to go back to work for a rest! Next week we’re planning to start sanding some of the tanks for painting and I’m sure there will be a lot more besides that. Thanks for reading, and see you next time! Cheers, Ross

  • 21/04/25 – Easter’s Greetings!

    21/04/25 – Easter’s Greetings!

    Hello everyone, and welcome to this weekends update. The railway has hosted its Road Rail Steam event over this extended weekend, and as one of the attractions Test Car 2 has been open to the public, however, we have been able to continue progress on the two Esso tanks.

    On Good Friday (though we prefer Goods Friday) both the vans and the mixed goods were out and about the railway which was a pleasant sight to see. Dave, Nick and I were on site to make the final preparations to opening the Test Car.

    A person wearing an orange safety vest is crouched down, using a marker to make notes on a piece of paper attached to a wooden step next to a railway carriage.

    On Saturday, the main event was the Test Car opening, with Ernie and Dave mainly taking care of proceedings. Nick, Tom, Oliver and I took a look at repairing/and painting some of the splash guards from 3621 and 3606. Those from 3606 only needed a scrape and wire brush before receiving some primer. Nick, Tom and Oliver also applied primer to both chassis where these splash guards mount. Additionally the areas covered up by the tank supports also got a coat of primer.

    Three of the four splash guards from 3621 need a more in depth repair, which I tackled. I cut out the rotten sections, then used a scribe to draw around the cut out on some new metal to make my new piece. After they were ground up, I welded them into place on the top and bottom face to complete the repairs on two of the three plates. I ran out of time for the third, so this will be done another day. Once completed and cooled, they joined the queue to be painted.

    Dave and I covered Test Car proceedings on Sunday, with Ernie joining us again today, ably running the sales stand. Thanks to everyone who visited, and to those who donated or bought something from us, every bit of goes back into the wagon fleet and the continued restoration of Test Car 2.

    The weather on Monday was a bit poor for wagon work, but the team set into refurbishing some vacuum release valves, and fitted another vice to the work bench in the GUV. At the end of the day the hose was coiled back up after being used to fill the reserves for Colin McAndrew, and other tidying up was done ready for next weekend, where the Test Car will be open again, this time for the Spring Diesel Gala.

    Thanks for reading and join us again next week to see what else happens!

  • 06/04/25 – Reunification Weekend

    06/04/25 – Reunification Weekend

    Hello everyone, and welcome to another update from Quorn. This weekend has been the railway’s Re-unification Open Weekend, so we’ve welcomed visitors into the Test Car and around a small area of the yard. Nick and the team have also finished off de-scaling the last few pockets on both 3606 and 3621, and all bar two have been painted in black top coat.

    Ernie, Dan and I welcomed visitors into the Test Car to explain and share its unique position in UK railway history. I also used some of the quiet periods to investigate some of the speedometers around the coach to see if they can be connected to the instrumentation in the coach as they were.

    Harry, Dan and Nick continued the descaling, and continued priming the pockets and bays on the two Esso tank wagons. We’re now at the point where we’ve got the the last of these so we can now move to prepping the rest of the wagons.

    On Sunday, Oliver, Tom, Mark, Charlie and Nick continued applying both primer and black paint to the wagons.

    That wraps up this update, as a reminder the Test Car with be open for two more weekends in April:

    – Road Rail Steam – 19-21 April 2025

    – Spring Diesel Gala – 25-27 April 2025

    Find us at the south end of the station yard at Quorn, through the gate just past the turntable.

    Pop in and see us for a guided tour of this unique piece of railway history, and find our how & why British Rail tested goods wagons. Keep and eye out for our Donations Lamp outside the Test Car; your support is very much appreciated.

    For more info about these events, and more, please see the GCRs website – https://www.gcrailway.co.uk/whats-on/

    Thanks for reading! All the best, Ross

  • 23/03/25 – Visions of Abbey Lane…

    23/03/25 – Visions of Abbey Lane…

    Hello everyone, and welcome to this week’s update from Quorn. With the south yard looking a little bit like Abbey Lane sidings with amount of Esso tank wagons around, the gang have pressed on with preparations on both 3606 and 3621.

    Ernie removed the last two splash guard plates from 3621, which opened up the area around the wheels for cleaning down and hoovering. Nick set about straightening these with his most favourite tool to get them flat after the rust build up had bowed them at each end. Two of them require a weld repair due to corrosion.

    Harry, Charlie and new starter Dan continued the laborious job of cleaning and de-scaling the end pockets and the chassis of the Esso tank. While they did this, Ernie and I removed the heating coil end plug from the wagon to clean out the threads and refit it.

    Nick and I moved onto re-assembling the vacuum cylinder ready for re-fitting to 3606, which involved removing the nuts from the studs and re-fitting the studs into the dome.

    The chassis preparation was continued on Sunday by Tom, Mark, Oliver, Harry, Charlie, Nick, Bradley and Ernie, with the weather thankfully a little drier than yesterday. It appears at some point Charlie got a little distracted by a spot on the Fish van body…

    Dan, Mark and Charlie also managed to get some areas of both chassis primed or gloss coated

    With the weather starting to look up, we’ll soon be moving onto surface preparation of the barrel on both 3621 and 3606, which means paint isn’t too far away. Now just the small matter of getting some more Esso plates…

    The weekend of the 5th & 6th April is the railway’s Reunification Gala weekend, where we’ll have the Test Car open to visitors after a shunt around this week to allow opening up easier. If you plan on coming down, do pop in and visit us. Thanks for reading, and see you next weekend!

  • 16/03/25 – The Big Reveal…

    16/03/25 – The Big Reveal…

    Hello every one and welcome to another update from Quorn. This week we are finally able to reveal what we’ve been teasing for a little while, what is actually happening to CEGB 48521. The tank train also had the wash and brush up finished, and a work continued generally on the tanks we have in at the moment. Onto the reveal then…

    With thanks to our friends at the National Wagon Preservation Group, we were tipped off about a frame less tank barrel at a transport yard near Retford. The barrel arrived on Monday 9th March, and was dropped into place on the CEGB 48521 that’s just arrived from Foxfield. After a bit of careful nudging, the outlet flange was able to be bolted up to the discharge pipe of the chassis, locating the tank in the correct place. Despite being one barrel from Hurst Nelson and the chassis from Charles Roberts, the two fitted together well and await some parts to be made, and the barrel to be welded to the chassis. One of the pictures is courtesy of Jamie Swanson who kindly dropped in to assist.

    Further thanks to Chris at NWPG, we now know the identity of both the chassis and the rest of the identity of the barrel. When the barrel is painted, it will continue to carry 3606 and the tank will used this identity going forward. The chassis used to carry 3797, so we shall make a small nod to its history in some way. It was found that there were no records for 3606 beyond 1975, so the barrel has been without wheels for at least 50 years!

    We’ve now taken delivery of 6 hardwood door ‘noggins’ (top door frames) for the vans, which will help us finish the work on the 4 currently at Rothley. These will be stored until the vans make their way back to Quorn.

    Dave and I concentrated on washing 3606 in the yard, making it a bit more respectable. We used some new chemicals which worked very well at getting the decades of built up grime off the tank. The paint has held up quite well considering it is likely to be is only coat!

    While we did this, Nick, Ernie, Harry and Charlie fitted buffers to the north end of 3621 and dismantled a vacuum cylinder, getting it ready to fit to 3606.

    A small shunt round in the morning moved 3606 into the dock, this was done by hand to reduce the risk of the barrel shifting at this early stage. Nick and Ernie made a start freeing the UIC screw couplings fitted to 3606.

    Harry and new recruit Brad used the needle gun, hammer and chisels to descale the pockets adjacent to the buffers on 3621. We’ve not quite worked out why they’ve been designed as they are has they are quite the trap for water and other rubbish! Ernie also got stuck in on the action, removing two of the splash guards from 3621 and starting to chip away at the scale. Dan applied some primer to 3606, in one of the areas not got to before the barrel was fitted.

    Oliver, Tom, Charlie, Mark and I concentrated on the west side of the tanks, running down each one with and cleaning all the grime off them. The new snowfoam from Jennychem worked very well at loosening the accumulated dirt, so it was a very worthwhile purchase!

    That wraps up what has been a quite exciting week! We’ve now got a lot of cleaning down and preparation to do to get the tanks ready, but they are going to look fantastic! Join us again next weekend for another installment, thanks for reading!

  • 09/03/25 – Tanks and Track

    09/03/25 – Tanks and Track

    Hello all, and welcome to another weekend’s update from us lot at Quorn. We’ve got a lot of plates spinning at the moment, with lots and lots of tank work going on. We’ve also had a go at track work this week, laying an extension to make ourselves more room for project vehicles.

    We’ve continued the push on the tank wagon chassis, CEGB 48521, with Dave, Harry and Ernie making good progress on needling gunning and scraping the scale, corrosion and old paint from the chassis.

    Nick, Charlie, Dan, Mark and I sorted out the siding extension, first the vehicles were moved down clear of the joint to the buffer stop. after then the materials were laid out and the buffer stop moved back to make the room for an extra 30ft of rail to be let in.

    The primer came out to treat the cleaned down chassis areas, with quick progress being made. A kit of vacuum cylinder parts was retrieved from the van train in the down lie-by, which we’ll revisit later.

    With the sleepers laid out and the rails dropped in the chairs, it was time to fit the fish plates and key the rails into the chairs. With a bit of packing done, the vehicles were rolled back down the buffer stop and tidying up around the site and moving the steps back into position.

    More needle gunning occurred on Sunday, with more areas receiving the prep, prime and then some satin black top coat.

    Now the track has been extended, the attention then turned to the tanks in the yard, giving them a wash. The east side of the rake was tackled, with the west side still to do. The before and after on the yellow Shell Lubricating Oils tank was startling!

    While the tank washing took place, Charlie busied himself cleaning and servicing our spare BEV parts.

    An unserviceable vacuum cylinder was dropped into one position of the chassis, firstly the dome then the cylinder. This cylinder will never be used, so a supporting strap will be manufactured to ensure the cylinder does not rotate in its trunions. The last job of the day was to push the chassis down into the yard.

    Next weekend, some of the teasers and work we are doing will start to make a little more sense. With good enough weather, we will continue down the west side of the tank train prior to its departure on the 25th March.