Author: rloades109

Welcome to this week’s update and wasn’t it a hot weekend! We re-adjusted activites so the team didn’t melt. Our open weekend is 4 weeks away now, and we’ve started making prepartions for this by painting Kiki into a new livery. The Test Car has also gone to Rothley for an annual exam in preparation for our event

Oliver and I made a start on preparing so more planks for the Pipe, but after 2 we decided it was much too hot to continue.

Dave, Mark, Tom and Dan started stripping Kiki down to prepare the panels for paint using a mixture of scrapers, sanding and a trial of some spray on paint stripper from CTEC.

The team started applying paint to the tug and its removed panels, which I looked at the bed lifting gear which hasn’t worked since we’ve had Kiki. thankfully this was an empty hydraulic reservoir which was filled up.

I found some broken down insulation on the wires running to the pump so the hydraulic pump will be fully rewired. I also topped up the battery cells with deionised water.

It was just me on Sunday, so I re-coated all the panels on the tug and those removed. At the end of the day I re-assembled the panels on to the tug, so it is just waiting for detailing and the seat to be remade.

Hopefully its a bit cooler next week so we can get back on with the last planks in the floor of the Pipe. Thanks for reading, and see you next week!

Hello, and welcome to another Quorn wagon update. This week we’ve been starting a few smaller projects to tide us over until the next wagon arrives. We’ve got some during the week news to cover before I get to the weekend.

During the week, using the wheelset Nick took to Rothley on the lorry, the C&W team swapped the failed wheelst on the Coal Hopper, B425356. I’ll cover more work on this wagon later on.

Dave started the weekend with a touch of signwriting, finishing off the dock side of the tool van.

Nick and I relocated our other sign from our shed to the signposts next to the turntable. Charlie then painted the uncovered brown wood on the shed in black paint so this then matched the rest of the shed.

I then got stuck into a fact finding mission in the mess coach, ADB977107. For as long as we’ve been based at Quorn, we’ve used water carriers for our water. We’re now looking at re-commisioning part of the water system to be able to have a hand wash basin and the kitchen tap to be able to be used for cold water only. I started by removing some ceiling panels down the corridor and outside the toilets to have a look at what was already there.

Nick and Charlie went off to Rothley with the black paint to paint the replacement axleboxes and part of the Coal Hopper. Dave came to assist me in the coach, we found a long length of rubber hose used as a balance pipe between the first class water tank and the tank at the other end of the coach. This is a feature not normally found on Mk1s, and is a part of its converison to a mess coach. This got cut at a convenient point and bunged as it was found that the north end tank is unserviceable. While above the ceiling I also tidied a few loose lighting cables.

Sunday saw Nick go off to Rothley again to paint the yellow bearing end caps on the Coal Hopper axles. This now makes the vehicle fit to go back into traffic, having now passed its annual exam.

Armed with supplies from Screwfix, I stayed at Quorn to start some plumbing in the coach. Starting at the south end toilet, I plumbed up the cold water tap removing any redundant pipework, and adding a freeze drain to prevent any damage in the winter.

I then made a start on the kitchen sink pipe run, but had to stop short of connecting this up as we plan to put in a UV Sterilizer. Again, this has a freeze drain off point as well.

Mark, Dan and Nick finished their day by scraping some of the leftover spoil from the nook and crannies of the Grampus wagons.

Thanks for reading, we’ll be back again next week for more of the same, although hopefully the Pipe wagon will come in. See you then!

Hello everyone, and welcome to our 2nd Bank Holiday update. In this 3 day weekend, we’ve been maintaining the van train in between the showers. During the week, Nick went to Coalville to pick up some donations to go into the theatrical vans.

Dave started Saturday by completing the signwriting on the Plate, taking care of the final D plate. Now this wagon is finished we’re looking at what will be next, which is likely to be the Pipe wagon.

The team of Nick, Mark, Tom, Oliver and Dan started sorting out some ladders for each van in the train while also locating the roof sheet required for B852838 which we’ve decided is the next to get a next roff covering. It was found while doing this that door of the doors were stiff to open, so they went along the train oiling the door hinges and mechanisms to ensure that the doors don’t seize up.

Having finished the Plate, Dave assisted with the sorting, but also fitted a door pull handle to an sticky internal swing door in the Yellow Coach.

Nick and I were on site on Sunday, and we put up the scaffold towers to look at the failed roof covering on P18422. It was noticed when the Test Car was last open that the roof felt had opened up. We had some roofing felt in-store, despite preferring sheets these days. We stuck the flap back down with felt adhesive, then overlayed 3 panels of roof felt with copious amount of adhesive to stick the panels down, and then to seal the joins. Pictures show the before and after taken from the scaffold tower.

After the roof was done and the adhesive setting, we looked at some lose body planking and a trim strip on the end of the east side siding door.

Mark and Dan joined Nick and I today, but due to the weather this ended up being a sorting and tidying day. I did manage to investigate Kiki’s wobbly tiller. I think a nylon bush is required to take out any play, so will have to measure up for this. Nick and I took Danny for a skip trip to end the day.

That’s the end of activities this week. Next week, weather dependent, we’ll be looking at the roof on B852838, wish us luck with the weather! Thanks for reading.

Hello and welcome to the first May Bank Holiday update from us! This week, we’ve been fixing some arising work on the Dogfish, which was picked up after their annual exams.

On Saturday, the team started by identifying 5 spare buffers from our stash to replace those identified as failed on the wagons. Nick, Mark and I worked on the buffers, using the oxy/propane to heat the nuts up prior to removal.

Thomas, Dan and Tom started the process of oiling the wagons, starting with the doors, their oil pots and then moving onto the oiling the brake rigging and handbrake mechanisms. Their size was an advantage here!

While the hot spanner was out, we also tightened up some brake safety loops the had become loose.

Thomas, Nick, David and I were on site on Sunday, and I started with a bit of signwriting!

The south end of DB986166 was reported as having no brake safety loops. Nick, David and Thomas found some and fitted them to the wagon to make this complete.

Having finished the D plate I was signwriting, I started to take a look at the Generator again, draining some of the fuel tank to check the contents, and replacing the engine fuel filter and bleeding the fuel system up to the injector pump. I also replaced the rocker cover gasket.

Monday was more work on the Dogfish, taking a closer look at some of the stiffer doors and further oiling them up as best as access permisses. Oh to have a pit! Thankfully some of the doors freed off an amount which should help when they come to be used in the near future.

I think that covers this weekend. 5 buffers have been changed, 21 doors have been maintained, one D plate painted and 3 safety loops fitted. 5 of the Dogfish have now re-entered traffic to jon DB993412, with the 6th one awaiting replacement wheelsets. Next week, weather dependent we’ll be looking at some box van roofs, and there is still one D plate to signwrite. Thanks for reading!

Hello everyone and welcome to another update from Quorn! This week has been has seen the signwriting on the Plate wagon ,E212315, nearly finished and the 2 TTAs, 1802 and 1919, got washed and an initial survey of the vacuum pipe routing.

As we are opening Test Car 2 up for both a visit in the week and at the Diesel Gala, Dave spent the day freshening up the interior, making it ready for visitors. The flies that have made TC2 home over the winter have also been evicted!

Nick started by picking out the white details on the plate wagon, these being the handbrake ends and vacuum pipe swan necks. He then joined Mark, Oliver, Dan and I in washing the 2 TTA wagons.

Dave, now finished in the Test Car, continued the signwriting on the Plate, writing the tare weight on the east side and chalking out the wheelbase on the solebar for me.

As menitioned previously, I was in the main yard with Mark, Dan and Oliver washing the tanks. These look a bit better having had judicious application of Traffic Film Remover, agitation with a brush and being rinsed with the pressure washer. There is still a fair amount of bedded in brake dust to remove, so suggestions welcome for that!

It was just Nick and I onsite on Sunday, so I first spent some time on the Plate, signwriting the wheelbase which Dave had kindly chalked for me. Nick used the time to talk Rothley’s BEV back to the shed.

I also took a look at the air outlet on the Hydrovane. After the needle guns had become full of condensation, I have put a water trap between the outlet and the hose connection to better control this.

Thanks for reading. We’ll have the Test Car open on both Saturday and Sunday next week, so do pop down and see us if you are visiting!

Hello everyone, welcome to another QWW update. This week, we’ve continued work on the LNER Plate wagon, E212315.

The paint on the Plate is quite cracked and crazed, which means we’re having to strip it back to bare metal before we repaint it. To that end, Nick and I decided that we should make a start looking at the air equipment and making sure it was all working, including 3 needle guns.

We’d managed to get the generator in the Test Car going to use the coach’s compressor, but the engine didn’t really sound too happy, though it started and ran the compressor. Two out of the three needle guns we’ve got worked so we made a start on the east side of the wagon, you know, just to test them. By the end of the day, we’d completed three quarters of the west side doors.

Sunday saw more of the gang here, Nick and I were joined by Mark, Tom, Dan and Oliver. Sunday was a trying day on the equipment front. The genset in the Test Car would not start, so we had to try the Hydrovane. The battery I put on it ended up being flat, so we got the charger/jump pack out which promptly decided it would let some of its magic smoke escape.

Thankfully, we found another battery and the Hydrovane sprang into life after around a 3 year slumber. It did spring an air leak later in the day, but this was patched with a piece of rubber and some jubilee clips as a temporary repair.

Finally, we got back to needle gunning the wagon. We concentrated on the West side today due to the very much reduced train movements while the bridge job is still underway. Everyone got both doors stripped down, plus 3/4 of the west side solebar, and then moved around to the head stock and the final 2 panels Nick and I left yesterday.

In anticipation of a couple of pending arrivals, I made sure the pressure washer is still functioning after its winter in the shed, which thankfully it did. All being well, we just have 2 TTAs arrived next week that need a wash!

That about covers this week, join next week to see if we’ve been cleaned some new tank wagons, or continued with the Plate! Thanks for reading.

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!