Author: rloades109

  • 6/5/24 – Bank Holiday Bauxite

    Hello everyone and thanks for joining us in this bank holiday update. Unusually for a Bank Holiday the weather has been glorious so we’ve applied some paint to the Palvan. During the week, Tom and Oliver sanded and primed the ends of the van.

    Dave and Barry took a look at the Test Car’s generator. Barry and Dave undertook a compression check on each cylinder, then re-fitted the injectors and tried to start the generator. Sadly no joy due to a failed start battery so this was removed and charged to try another day. From what we could do, the generator doesn’t seem any more likely to start, so now suspect the fuel injection pump has failed.

    While Ernie undercoated the wood work on each end of the Palvan, Nick and I finished off work on A1610B. The last corner was looking rather frilly so had a piece of steel cut and sandwiched over the top. This was drilled and the corner bolted back together. Having lost the battle with the generator, Dave took to scraping the container, Charlie also having a go at this.

    On Sunday, Tom, Oliver, Dan and I applied some gloss to both set of doors on the Palvan as a first coat. Oliver and Tom also applied gloss over the undercoat applied by Ernie on each end. Some of the lads carried on with the needle gun on the Palvan chassis which quickly ran out, so they moved onto one of the Catfish. Nick concentrated on patching the container with Mark.

    Nick and I concentrated on the south end metal work, myself with the needle gun, being very careful not to catch the wood work while Nick followed me with a scraper to catch the edges. We each got a bit of primer and primed our handiwork, which completed the work this week.

    Next week, we’ll tackle the north end of the van and get the into primer, and maybe the other end into undercoat. Join us then to see how we get on!

  • 28/4/24 – Another day, another gala

    Evening folks, and welcome to another update from us. This weekend has been another one where we’ve opened the Test Car up for everyone to come and have a look and learn about how and why rolling stock was tested. For those that visited its been a pleasure to talk to you!

    Dave was at the NEC with West Hill Wagon Works, which left Barry, Richard and myself to give Test Car tours, and the rest of the gang to man the sales stand, all of which helps to put money back into the wagon fund.

    Mark, Tom, Dan and Oliver did really well on the sales stand, though also found plenty of opportunities to get snaps of all the diesels running past the Test Car. Dan found some time to give some of the yellow vehicles a wipe over as well.

    Sunday ended up being a very quiet day due to the weather, so the team started to find ways to amuse themselves. Some went on a ride on the trains, others started to investigate features of the Test Car, including swapping one of the speaker boxes, investigating the reed switch on the Slip Brake Application handle and seeing if we could find the other end of its cable to re-use it as the remote start on the Time/Speed/Distance Unit as was the case when slip brake testing. Another thing that was dug out and measured was the spare tachograph, which we are cooking up some plans for…

    Given the weather, Nick also looked into the rebuild container to check for any leaks. Aside from around the door, all seems to be well and dry.

    One of the visitors was PurpleVision who came through on the Sunday once the weather had cleared.

    We’ll be back to wagon work next week, so back into the normal swing of things. Join us then where we are planning to pick up with where was left off on the Palvan. Thanks for reading!

  • 14/04/23 – Contain-ing the excitement

    Good evening everyone and thank you for joining us for this weekend’s work from Quorn. This week, we’ve given the Palvan a rest while we concentrate on getting A1610B stable and usable after its relocation.

    We moved the container to use as storage on the dock for some of our access equipment. The container was felt to be too far gone at the moment for use being lifted and put on a wagon in a train, but could be shored up for use as a period appropriate shed.

    Nick and I started by fitting the door flap which didn’t get finished last week. We then continued at the corner started last week and finished off drilling and putting bolts in.

    We looked at the the corrugated end sides and found most of the bolts had gone, or were trying to tie together rotten wood. We cut some ply to replace the unhappy interior and exterior cladding and cut new supporting wood where requires.

    The middle framework supporting the floor ended up not being attached to the rest of the container, so we replaces the bolts on both of these, and added new spreader plates on the outside to support the wood which is getting a bit on the fragile side.

    Dave joined us on Sunday, where we concentrated on the wood across the back, and tying the end back to the sides of the container, which also supports the floor. We started by removing more floorboards, where I found some where to use more of our wood hardener.

    Dave and I selected one of the last few bits of loco shed roof to act as the bottom support for the end, which was denailed and then cut down. Before fitting this we Dave and Nick cleared the way under the container.

    We fixed one end to the corrugated end. Dave and Nick leveled the container using jacks and crowbars. The other end of the plank got fixed to the metalwork.

    I started cutting a piece to graft into the side rail on the other side which had long disappeared having suffered from a prolonged water leak in that corner. I also manufactured two plates to sandwich and support the graft.

    After this was bolted in, Nick and Dave added 2 large L shaped brackets between the sides and the end to fully tie them together. We moved to the other final corner to finish its repair. Nick and Dave added a right angled plate.

    With all the lower framework shored up, Nick started to put the floor back down.

    There’s still about a mornings work left to do on the container, putting more bolts in and such like. At some point the door flap could probably do we being remade, but that was definitely a job for another day! As nice as these containers are, you can really see why Freightliner and ISO type containers quickly became adopted!

    Next week, we’ll have the Test Car open in the yard at the Road Rail so do come and see us! Depending on who we have with us we may also have the sales stand up and running, or more work on the container will take place.

  • 01/04/23 – 4 days of Palvan Fun

    Hello and welcome, you’re joining us for a bumper Easter special! As with previous updates the Palvan has been our focus, but I’m pleased to say the end now feels in sight!

    The last door was fitted to the van on Friday following a week to let the glue cure. The diagonal bracing and hinges had sealant applied to the back before the door was drilled and bolted to the van.

    With only one door and too many people to get round it, some carried on with scraping the Catfish wagons.

    The final few bits were done to complete the door, including drilling the hole for the bottom door bolt and then fitting it.

    Saturday saw the team prepare the roof for the roof covering to be finally attached. some of the wood required fettling so the end hoops sit on the van correctly. The roof sheet was drilling using the hoop as a guide. This was then bolted down. Oliver and Dan spent some time removing the reflective stickers from the sheet’s previous life.

    Ernie and Richard made a start on removing and refurbishing the vacuum cylinder, removing the release valve and lowering the cylinder before dismantling and cleaning it out. Oliver made a fantastic job of cleaning up the piston rod.

    Some time was spent finding some new nuts for the gaiter studs which had to be removed forcefully to replace the gaiter. The cylinder was re-assembled and left to be re-fitted another day.

    With the ends of the roof only requiring a trim, the sides had the focus on Sunday. Between Richard, Nick and myself we got the door’s top frame mounted back in the van on both sides meaning the doors now finally latch. Due to the doors being rebuilt, they’ve required some alteration in the height to get them to fully close. Along the fixed sides we’ve used staples as we have always done.

    The vacuum cylinder was refitted on Monday, along with a refurbished release valve from stock and and new branch pipe. The vacuum rig was wheeled out and the overhauled system tested. A full vacuum test shall follow, that this will be after the wheelsets have been swapped and the brakes adjusted.

    Speaking of wheelsets, these were picked up in the week as well so are sat on site waiting to be fitted. Thanks to our friends at Kenway Construction who loaned us their lorry for this.

    Nick finished off by touching in some of the undercoat on the doors and trimming some of the longer bolts.

    This weekend it feels like the van has come on leaps and bounds, we’ve now finished the doors and the roof. This leaves us the wheelsets and the painting to complete to get the van into the train. Join us next week to see which bit we make a start on!

  • 24/03/24 – The final Palvan door

    Hello everyone! This week has been another one focused on the Palvan, where we’ve completed the rebuild of the final door and started to sort out the wheelsets required to allow it to run.

    After reviewing the parts of the door, Richard and I concentrated on shaping a new corner post, which is the only complete post we’ve had to replace on this van. Nick had found us a suitable lump of wood, which got cut to length, and them cut to the correct profile. We then had to replicate the 4 mortises from the original post.

    We managed to rescue one of the diagonal bracing pieces. This had split due to the bolts rusting and expanding. Dan clamped, doweled and primed this part so it is ready for fitment.

    Nick, Mark, Oliver and Dan went to Ruddington to pick up some spares including four buffers, a vacuum cylinder and UIC screw couplings. The wheelsets will follow, but would have been a bit much for Nick’s Transit.

    The door side post took most of the day, so on Sunday morning Nick and I started cutting the new horizontal parts of the door, where Richard took on cutting the remnants of the tenons. I cut the ply sheet for the back of the door to size.

    Nick cut down some channel rod we’ve had in store to use to strengthen the bottoms of the doors currently fitted to the van. Richard showed Tom and Oliver how to mark and drill these using the pillar drill. These were fitted later on in the day.

    The team assembled the door in the Palvan, which was then stood up to allow the timber for the bottom of the door to be measured and cut.

    Much of the glue used in construction leaked out of the door, which Nick duly tidied up. The door will now sit and set for the week until it can be fitted next weekend. We’ll also, provided the weather is clear, finally sort out the roof sheet and re-fit the door top frames so the doors will actually latch into the van once again.

    Thanks for reading, and join us next week to see how we get on.

  • 17/03/24 – GCR’s 125th Year

    Hello everyone, and welcome to this week’s update. The Test Car has been opened this weekend, so thank you to everyone that has visited us or the stand. Before we opened up, we did a little bit of work on the Palvan.

    Between us we lowered the door made last week into the frame and drilled 4 holes for the hinge bolts to get the door fixed to the van so that we could start setting up the steps for the Test Car.

    Using the Volvo, we set out steps for the 9F, the Class 47 which were both on display and the Test Car. I also took Hector out for display

    While Barry and I talked about the Test Car to everyone that visited, Nick and Ernie finished off the Palvan door drilling the doors and bolting the door on, with a bit of assistance from whoever went back up to the yard.

    Team Baldwin did a stellar job on the stand over the two days of the weekend.

    Barry, Richard and myself covered Test Car tours, we all enjoyed talking to people about the Test Car and telling the history and stories.

    Sadly Dave was unable to join us due to being a bit under the weather, so we wish him all the best and hope he gets better soon!

    Lastly, thank you again to everyone that visited us, its been a very good weekend and I know that the team enjoyed themselves. Join us again next week where we’ll be taking apart the last door of the Palvan for refurbishment.

  • 03/03/24 – Making more sawdust

    Hello everyone and thank you for joining us. As with the past few updates, we’re still pushing on with the Palvan, though there has been some activity on Madge this week. The van was turned during the week to allow better access to the next set of doors, thanks to the Ops team for doing this for us.

    With the van spun round, I was able to get better access to the bottoms of the repaired doors to finish them off. The main jobs here were to mount the lower door bolt and put some reinforcing structure in to support the re-designed door bottom. I started with the lower door bolt, which required a hole to be drilled vertically upwards through all 10inches of wood!

    Nick and Ernie made a start on the other side, getting the doors to the point where they would be ready to remove. They then go carried away and took the door off anyway, I think the rationale was to take it off before it fell off.

    Nick, Ernie and Charlie then stripped the door down to its component parts and started to clean up the back of the hinges.

    The Swapmeet caused some distraction on Sunday morning, but the team were soon in full swing to continue. Oliver and I made a start on cutting the first bits of new wood for the door that was removed.

    One horizontal piece was manufactured, until the attention had to turn to the uprights. This side was the west side, so is in slightly worse condition than the east, and its showing. The bottom 5 inches of the upright was rotten, so I’m having to graft a new bit onto the bottom. This will be well treated before being glued and doweled onto the bottom of the upright.

    Nick, Tom and Mark looked at the free hinges to straighten them out. This required the use of the heat gun, with some novel solutions to protect the side sheets and get the hinges straight.

    Mark and Tom also fetched two more bits of ply from our stores which will form the backs of the doors on this side of the Palvan.

    Dave, Dan and Jack undertook some work on Madge, the Scammell Scarab. Dave continued removing parts for refurbishment, while the rear portion of the chassis was needle gunned and scraped by Jack and Dan respectively. The Hydrovane took some coaxing into life, but settled down once warm.

    That’s the work this weekend covered. Thank you for reading and join us next week, where I’ll probably be making more sawdust and sticking the door back together!

  • 25/02/24 – Not bad, as doors go…

    Good evening all and thank you for joining us on another update from Quorn. As has been the theme for the past few weeks, we’re focusing on the doors on the Palvan.

    We started by removing the clamps from the door that had been assembled by the end of last weekend, which had sat with the copious amounts of glue curing all week. This was then lowered onto a temporary support on the floor and offered into the frame and to the hinges. All looked good, with the old holes lining up again where they were re-used. The front of the wooden frames were primed and the hinge offered back over with sealant applied.

    The door was slowly drilled and bolted into place, Ernie then followed and painted the rest of the door into primer while we started on removing and dismantling the other door of the pair.

    The other door wasn’t in as bad condition, and only 2 pieces needed to be remade, one horizontal member and one diagonal. While Nick cleaned down the hinges and Ernie applied red oxide primer, Barry and I made the horizontal member between us all we got the framework back together.

    We opted to cut the ply sheet for the back of the door and then finish the door with the diagonal bracing as this isn’t jointed so could be put in later. We also cut the replacement door bottom, in the same fashion as last week which was glued, clamped and screwed together. The now fitted door had the excess length of the bolts removed.

    The door was given the rather cold night to cure, until it was again lowered into position. I looked at the diagonal bracing that we removed and thought it wasn’t too far beyond hope, so applied some wet rot wood hardener to it. It may not last long, but it may outlast some of the other wood we’ve had to use; we shall see in time. Oliver helped me apply some glue to the bracing and it was fixed into position.

    The same process was followed with this door, framework primed, sealant applied to the hinges, and then drill and bolt. Oliver can be seen greasing the shaft of the bolts prior to fitment,

    Dan and Tom started priming the door while the lock staple was refitted. Tom and Oliver had to make 3 trips to the nut and bolt van to find the right length bolts! The undercoat then came out, starting with the door fitted yesterday.

    Dan, Tom and Nick continued undercoating, managing to cover both doors.

    For now, that is where we will leave these doors until we are ready to gloss them. Our attention now turns to the East side to continue the work there, so hopefully more of the same next week. Thank you for reading!

  • 18/02/24 – Hmm, not sure about these Palvan doors…

    Hello everyone, and welcome to another update from Quorn. This week we’ve continued with the Palvan, making a start on the doors. We started on the dock side, and got cracking removing one of the two doors.

    I went round the door and tried to undo any bolts that would with the impact gun (which is still one of the best tools I’ve ever bought!). Michael and Nick followed with the grinder to cut any bolts that had spun.

    The door sort of crumbled off and was taken apart to its consituent parts. The top and 2nd horizontal members were salvageable along with the uprights, leaving everything else to be made new.

    Before doing so, Barry and I retrieved our radial arm saw from the GUV and fixed it up ready to use. We dealt with a stuck motor and a non-functional start switch to get the machine fully functional. Its been invaluable to sorting out these doors because it makes it so easy to cut the tenons for the frame work.

    Ernie cleaned up the hinges on the van and painted them in red oxide, making them ready to receive the door once remanufactured.

    Nick, Charlie and Michael de-nailed some of the remaining planks from the loco shed roof to use as the bottom of the doors. These are the right deopth and thickness to use for a re-designed door bottom. We are having to do this as we have no pattern for the bottom of the door.

    Barry and I managed to finish the day with the new horizontal members cut for the door, and dry fitted into the uprights. Dave and I started by measuirng and cutting the ply sheet for the back of the door. The frame was then glued together and the ply laid in and screwed down. The door was clamped together and then rolled over so the diagonal bracing could be cut and fitted.

    Nick, Mark and the lads began by making a kit of parts for one of the Catfish, which has a cracked spring pocket on the top of the axle box. The lads had a small lesson from Nick on how the axle box is assembled, much easier without the axle there!

    The diagonal bracing was cut and placed into the frame, with plenty of glue and 2 screws each just to hold them in place. Between the 3 of us we cut out the plank from the loco shed and made it into a pretty good door bottom, which we fixed to the bottom of the door with copious glue and screws.

    The other half of the team replaced a foot step on each one of the Catfish, removing, cutting a new one and then treating them with preservative. Then the scrapers came out and they got to cleaning down more of the Catfish’s bodywork, getting them that one step closer to paint. Nick also finsihed off by undoing or cutting most of the bolts on the other door of the pair, getting it ready for next week.

    Next week we’ll be continuing with the door, getting the finished one mounted and its partner off and rebuilt. Thanks for reading, and see you next weekend!

  • 11/2/24 – Now we’ve done the other side

    Hello everyone and welcome to this week’s update. We’re still continuing our charge on the Palvan, this time repeating the activities of last week, though this time on the West side.

    First job on Saturday was to empty out one of the other Palvans at Swithland, lending assistance to the S&T team to move the stuff out of the van and into their stores.

    Once back at Quorn, we made a start on fitting the side sheets into the Palvan. After some last minute trimming, the panels started to be dropped into the van, with me drilling the holes and Dan and Nick on the other side trying not to get the point!

    Oliver, Mark and Tom put the nuts on the bolts and tightened the bolts down and therefore the sheets into the van, making the fixed walls now water tight once again.

    The chalkboard rotten for this side so Charlie and Nick manufactured a new one and primed it. Dan finished off the priming. The chalkboard mounting position was measured on the east side and was replicated on the west ending up with one bracket being bolted on, waiting for the board to be fully painted up. The door hold back hooks were also fitted.

    The interior boarding was refitted to each end using most of the original screws. Dan and I found and cut down some bolts for the vent that went through the top inner cladding board.

    The inside of the van was tidied, ready for the next stage of the van’s progress which will be to start the doors. I also semi-dismantled one of our free standing lights to put up inside the van so that we can see what we are doing to repair the doors.

    The injectors from the Test Car were also tested this week and passed all tests, which on one hand is great news but on the other it means there is something else wrong with the engine which we need to dig a bit deeper into.

    I finish with some excellent news on the awards front, which you may have already seen on our Facebook page. The Heritage Railway Association awards were yesterday evening and both the railway and our friends at the National Wagon Preservation Group have walked away with awards. The railway won it’s award for the Railways at Work gala which we are very glad to be a part of, and the NWPG won their award for their fantastic MGR train. Congratulations to those and all other winners and runners up.

    Thanks for reading, and see you next week for more antics from Quorn