Author: Dave Bower

Hi, Seasons Greetings and a warm welcome to our BETWIXTMAS update from the Team at Quorn as we continue with work at Rothley.

After buffer shank cleaning, oiling up and final inspection, tank 3606 departed Quorn on the 22 December to join the rest of the tank train at Swithland.

Tanks 3621, 3854 and 3689 were also shunted into the dock at Quorn ready for when we return to work there in the New Year.

At Rothley work continued on B777728, with Charlie and Nick fitting the repair sections to the roof edges, and the roof sheet was slid into position.

Saturday 27th, Mark, Dan, Tom and Oliver got to work with the east body side, which was scraped and sanded and a few patch filler repairs completed. The metalwork was then given a coat of primer.

The body ends were scraped and wire brushed, then primed.

Meanwhile myself and Ross cleaned up and primed the roof hoops.

The team took a break for a ride on a Betwixtmas service train to enjoy a fabulous Griddle Car breakfast.

Back to work, Charlie and James made a start disconnecting the vacuum cylinder on Palshoc Van B855568. The brake rigging was also disconnected on the west side in preparation for cylinder removal.

Ross and myself trial fitted the roof end hoops, then removed them to apply sealant before bolting them into place and the sealant edges were wiped to give a neat finish.

The roof sheet ends were then trimmed neatly.

Mark, Oliver, Tom and Dan applied undercoat to the east side of B777728.

Ross and myself then helped with the vacuum cylinder removal from the Palshoc. Some stubborn brake rigging needed a little hammer persuasion, and the inner trunion needed a little heat to free it off.

Sunday, Tom and Oliver applied gloss Bauxite to the east body side and both ends of B777728.

Ross and myself stripped the damaged studs from the Palshoc’s vacuum cylinder and removed the piston rod nut to allow easy cleaning out of the threads; whilst Nick cleaned up the piston rod.

Ross and myself then trial fitted the two new door top noggins to B777728, this enabled us to mark-out a couple of slight modifications needed to allow the noggins to clear some bodyside frame bolts. A router was used to carefully cut recesses to clear the bolts and also for the door lock bar / retaining plate.

Once the noggins were routed out we were able to mark-out and drill the eight locating bolt holes.

Tom and Oliver cleaned up the flaking surface of the solebars on B777728 which had previously been painted with bitumen paint. Unfortunately we are are finding that after a few years, the bitumen paint that we used on a few wagons is not lasting very well. We’ve since reverted to using Black Gloss, of which a coat was applied to the west side and both ends.

The noggins and retaining plates were given a final trial fit before removing to allow painting. Nick also cleaned up the trunion mounting plate for the Palshoc.

That wraps up our Christmas week working at Rothley; join us next for a look back over the last 12 months as we head towards 2026.

Best wishes for your New Year celebrations, and a reminder that you can see in the New Year on-board the GCR’s Nightrider train, more details here – “Nightrider”
cheers, Dave.

Hello and welcome; this week we have been busy with the Tanks, the Lowfit, and a vacuum cylinder, in between celebrating and some festive feasting.
Nick is recovering (on light duties) this week after an operation; however it didn’t stop him celebrating his Birthday with Cuthbert the Caterpillar.

Saturday, James and myself used paint removal discs to clean off the white paint from the tyres of tank 3854. A coat of black was then applied.

Charlie & Ernie meanwhile made a start making a blanking plate for the repaired 21″ vacuum cylinder so that we could pressure test the cylinder repairs. The plate was cut, the edges ground up, mounting holes marked and drilled out. A centre hole was also drilled ready for the pressure fitting.

The cylinder studs were run down with a die-nut to clean the threads and a boss was welded to the plate to take the pressure fitting.

Once the sun had raised the temperature a bit, I was able to start applying the running numbers to tank 3621.

James applied a coat of black to the Owners plates for tanks 3606 and 3621.

On Sunday, Ernie, Charlie and Ross fitted the air test gauge and pipe to the blanking plate, then the plate was bolted to the vacuum dome using an old rubber cylinder seal in the joint.

The air supply from Edward was coupled via a valve; then raising the pressure slowly to around 20psi and using some washing up liquid solution, we were able to see a couple of pin-hole leaks in the weld repair around the top of the dome. These were ground back and re-welded.

Mark, Tom, Harry and Oliver continued with the Lowfit scraping and needle gunning work started last week.

I busied myself with some solebar lettering on tank 3621.

Sunday lunchtime, and our Chefs Mark & Tom treated us all to some festive Turkey & Duck baguettes, with trimmings of course.

Followed by crackers!

After a rather extended lunch-break, work continued with some red oxide being applied to the areas cleaned up on the Lowfit.

A coupe of final jobs were attended to on tank 3606, including securing the new brake rigging split pins, removing the operating link from the redundant vacuum cylinder and securing the cylinder to prevent rotation by making and fitting bracket between the cylinder and the underframe. Once the vacuum release chords are fitted, tank 3606 will be ready for handover to the C&W Department for final inspection before entering traffic.

Join us again next week, in the meantime I’ll leave you with pics of the Tanks and Lowfit; all the best, Dave

Hello and welcome to a damp and chilly weekend of progress at Quorn. We dismantle a very corroded vacuum brake cylinder to provide parts to save other cylinders; and make a start with the signwriting on tank 3621.

During the week I spent a day at Rothley helping the C&W team with some finishing touches to TSO E4982 which was needed for Santa Special duties over the weekend.

The weather was not kind to us on Saturday, so Harry, Charlie and myself worked in the dry overhauling vacuum brake release valves to put into stock.

Ross made a start removing the studs from the very corroded vacuum cylinder; some of which were very stubborn and needed a bit of heat to release.

Once the studs were removed the trunion sections were cut around the edges and will be cleaned up and stored as spares.

The next step was to cut off the cylinder dome, cutting from the inside using the lower edge of the dome as a guide.

Centurion ‘Loades’ demonstrating what could be an alternative use for vacuum cylinder parts !

As the day brightened up Ross cleaned up the edges of dome before this was also put into store.

The steps that we use to access the Mess Coach have suffered somewhat with rot and need some urgent repairs; in the meantime we moved the steps normally used for visitor access to Test Car 2 into place next to the mess coach.

Sunday saw more of the team on-site and despite the cold start good progress was made with the tanks.

Mark, Tom and Oliver cleaning and drying out the chassis end pockets on 3854 ready for paint; and Dan finishing off the Overhead Warning sign on 3606.

Ross took a look at the re-wiring of the big welder, however on powering-up it became clear that we need a bigger generator to provide it with enough power to work.
The piston was removed from the Lowfits’ 18″ vacuum cylinder that was started last week and found to be in good order; the marking on the piston confirming that it was last attended to by the Mid Hants Railway in 2008.

With a little help from Nick aligning the template, I marked out and painted the speed rating stars on both sides of tank 3621.

Using a bit of spare 3/16″ plate, Ernie flame cut a circle big enough to use as a patch repair for the dome of the 18″ vacuum brake cylinder. Once cut, the plate was placed on an old steel car wheel, heated and given a few blows with a hammer to create a dish shape.

Nick cleaned up the top of the cylinder and the patch laid in place; Ernie and Ross then made a start welding using the smaller welder.

Dan picked out the Empty-Load changeover valve lettering on both 3606 and 3621; whilst I added the Commuted Charge Star and logo square to both sides of 3621.

Oliver, Tom and Mark did some gutter clearing on the Mess Coach and also Test Car 2. They also applied some red-oxide to the cleaned out chassis pockets on 3854.

Thanks for reading, join us again next week, all the best, Dave

Hello and welcome to this weeks news from the team at Quorn; one wagon has departed to pasture new, and we welcome a new arrival.

Grampus DB984713 has departed, heading to a new home at the Northampton Ironstone Railway Trust.

Esso tank 3689 built by Hurst Nelson in 1959 has arrived from Shillingstone; it’s currently sporting a fictitious number (6069), however we plan to restore it to its original Esso Petroleum Company condition.

This tank had been used by British Rail (numbered DB999083) at Bournemouth EMU depot as a waste oil tanker before it was saved for preservation at the Swanage Railway; moving to Shillingstone in 2010.

Initial inspection confirms that tank is in good order, the handbrake works well and the buffers / drawgear are serviceable. It however seems to have a little issue with its identity, and when it comes to the vacuum brakes we are faced with some challenges.

The current plan is to complete the restoration work on tanks 3606, 3621 and 3854 before we start in earnest on the new arrival.

Concentrating on 3606 on Saturday, the stars were marked out and painted on both sides of the barrel.

The Commuted Carriage Charge markings on both sides of 3606 were then applied.

Followed by the Tare and Wheelbase solebar lettering.

The new ladders that have been made for us by Lauda Fabrications were collected.

Two welding plants have been kindly loaded to us by Roger Hibbert; these will be commissioned and no doubt help greatly with future repairs work.

On Sunday the signwriting continued on 3606, with the east side wheelbase text and the west side builders plate being completed. The vacuum release designation stars were also applied to both sides.

The last of the repaired spark guards for 3854 had its mounting holes drilled and was painted in red oxide.

The new ladders were fitted to both sides of 3606, and the original ladder from 3621, that had been loaned to Lauda as a template, was also re-fitted.
A little adjustment was required to 3606’s bracket holes to accept the lower bolts.

The ladders for 3606 had been painted by Lauda, however the one re-fitted to 3621 needed a coat of black.

Looking ahead, a start was made on producing another set of Esso plate brackets that will be required for tank 3689. Plate was cut for 16 brackets and a few were heated an bent to a right angle.

Thanks for reading, join us again next week for more tank wagon news.

All the best, Dave

Hello and welcome to the news from another busy weekend at Quorn, as we progress a little further with the tank wagons.

Saturday started dry, with Nick, Ernie, Charlie, James and myself on-site.
Charlie helped me set out the Esso company lettering on the East side of 3606. Once we’d checked the position it was chalked up and traced.

Ernie and Charlie continued with the splasher repairs for tank 3854.

I made a start on the Esso Petroleum Company lettering before the rain brought proceedings to a halt for a while. The splasher repairs were however able to continue in the garage.

The rain cleared after lunch allowing the lettering to continue.

Nick and James also painted the swan necks, lamp brackets and lamp irons.

On Sunday (after an extra hours’ sleep) we had many enthusiastic hands on site, with Nick, Harry, Ernie, Mark, Dan, Tom, Oliver, Charlie and myself.

Despite the weather turning cooler and with occasional showers we still managed to make good progress.

Mark, Oliver and Tom getting stuck into more paint removal from tank 3854.

Ernie and Charlie continued with the splasher repairs.

Dan applied the empty-load lever position teardrop to both sides of 3606 and made a start on the west side builders plate; whilst Nick took a look at the two label clip blocks for tank 3621, having to modify standard hardwood blocks to suit the mounting holes on the tank.

I finished off the east side Esso Petroleum Company lettering, then marked out, undercoated and yellowed the Commuted Carriage Charge markings on both sides of 3606.

Last week Ernie designed, cut and welded-up a little clamp bracket. All was revealed this week as he brought the assembled bracket to show how it will be used to clamp steel pins into his milling machine vice to allow flats to be machined on the pin heads. All in aid of producing a set of new pins for use by the S&T department.

At some point we’ll need another set of Esso oval plate brackets making; however after a tidy-up the drawing I had made previously has been put somewhere safe, very safe; so I decided to re-measure, cut, drill and bend a bracket to confirm the design before we go about making another set.

Well that rounds up another week for the team at Quorn, despite the weathers’ best efforts we do continue to progress. Join us again next week, all the best, Dave