Author: rloades109

Hello everyone, and welcome to this week’s update! This week has seen further progress on the Plate, E212315. Starting with last week’s floor, which had just been laid loosely down in the wagon.

The floor was left sat on top of rivets from the underframe, something which isn’t uncommon on wagons. These usually need a relief making in the floor timber to allow the board to sit down fully. Nick, using his favourite tool, made impressions of the rivet heads in the underneath of the plank.

Mark then lifted the plank out and rolled it over, after which I set about it with the big drill and a Forstner bit to make the relief.

Dan was kept on his toes, cleaning up the cuttings and sawdust behind us prior to putting the plank back down to check for if any other drilling was required.

After the planks were fully seated, we moved on to the capping strips, laid down each edge of the wagon. The floor was drilled from underneath, and the strip positioned above. The strip was then bolted to the kerb rail, and thus the floor secured.

Sunday saw Michael join us to help with scraping the Plate, getting it ready for paint.

Nick and I concentrated on cracked welds around the bottom of the doors. At some point in its life, the doors on the wagon had metal strips stitch welded to them. Some of these have since had rust build up between the strip and the door angle iron, resulting in the welds cracking, or even one strip having broken clean off the wagon!

All the doors had some welding attention, but the west side required much more with the north door having both strips broken off and reattached.

Michael made an excellent job of the east side underframe, which is now ready for paint. Both sides still need the doors needle gunning before the body can be painted however, which might be a job for next week…

That brings us to a close this weekend, thanks for reading!

Hello, you join us again for a weekend update. I write this from a hotel room in Poland due to having to travel for work today. The railway is currently cut into 3 bits with the bridge renovations starting in earnest this week. The engineers fleet is seeing lots of use over the next month, this weekend was the Grampus and Rudd’s turns, removing the spolied from the bridge decks.

In the week, Nick has been to look at some wheelsets for the Coal Hopper and one of the Dogfish which has failed its annual exam on both wheelsets. 3 have been selected for our use, so we await their arrival to progress both wagons.

Its been a quiet weekend and Nick and I have used it to have a bit of a tidy up and a sort out around yard now that we are back at Quorn. I concentrated on tidying up the Yellow Coach, checking all the power tools, while Nick concentrated on tidying the general yard area and Charlie cleaned and hoovered the workbenches in the GUV. This culminated in a Volvo bucket going to the skip.

Due to a last minute move of the Plate wagon into the main car park, Nick, Dan and Tom continued project tidy up. They made good progress on sorting out sweeping out and wiping down surfaces in the Yellow Coach, sorting out the tools in the tool van and carrying on the general yard tidying.

That about covers it for this week, a bit photo light and a bit wagon work light, but sometimes to have just have a weekend sorting out. Join us again next week, we’re we’ll be stripping the old floor out of the Plate wagon.

Hello everyone, weclome to this week’s update. This week, we’ve been concentrating on finishing the hopper but did find our way back to Quorn briefly to work on one of the Rudds.

I started this weekend by making a start on the West side signwriting on the Coal Hopper, chalking up and taping the boxes for the Data panel and the Number panel.

Thomas’s job for the day was to carefully apply white gloss to the hand rails, while Oliver and Dan applied white gloss to the corner steps, door trip levers, handbrake lever end and the swan necks.

At this point, we left for Quorn to look at one of the Rudds, DB972608. This had an annual exam in the week which found one wheelset below the minimum flange thickness. Thankfully we had a spare sat at Quorn and in an hour and a half, we had the failed wheelset dropped, removed and replaced. To finish the job, the underkeep/tie bars were straightened and re-attached.

We returned to Rothley so that I could continue the signwriting, this time the east side solebar details, and so that Thomas could finish the handrails on the North End of the wagon.

Dave joined us on Sunday, meaning he and I could finish the signwriting on the West side. Dave started with the number panel.

I took the ‘House Coal Concentration’ legend. This side has a special nod to Brian Hallett, who sadly passed away recently. Brian applied the legend on this wagon’s last repaint, and having completed the signwriting was found to have painted one ‘N’ in concentration backwards. Brian corrected the mistake, but as a little nod, I thought I’d replicate it this time in memorial. Rest in Peace Brian.

Dave had finished the D plate on the solebar as I finished the legend. Dave started some touching in with the bauxite gloss, while I painted the Wheelbase on the solebar.

What was Nick doing all this time, I hear you ask? Nick had the black gloss out, painting areas of 3711 which looked patchy now it was in the daylight. He then moved on to do the same with the hopper.

That about wraps up this update, and with it our time at Rothley. Its been very handy and has allowed us to complete 2 tanks and the hopper, bar its wheelset swap (though hopefully more news on that next week!). Thanks for reading, and I’ll catch you next time!

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.