Author: Dave Bower

  • 22/06/2025 – 2nd Coat

    22/06/2025 – 2nd Coat

    Welcome to this weeks update from the team at Quorn. We continue to progress work on the three tank wagons 1919, 3606 & 3621; and we help out RVP replacing the TPO equipment.

    Tom, Oliver and Nick helped the RVP team.

    It’s unusual to find spindle type buffers stuck compressed, however one was noted on Grampus 985884; this was dealt with swiftly by Nick.

    The tank barrel on 1919 was keyed with scotch-bright pads ready for its second coat of gloss black.

    Some of the underframe areas on tank 1919 that were not accessible with the spray gun, including the new vacuum pipe and the buffers were hand painted in gloss black.

    The outer section of the heating coil pipe on 3606 was adjusted slightly to get it level; then the whole pipe was wire brushed and treated to a coat of red-oxide primer.

    The new (but slightly over length) buffer mounting bolts and lamp bracket bolts on tank 3621 were trimmed to length and given a coat red oxide primer.

    The spray equipment was prepared, a couple of the spray gun air pipe joints re-sealed. The gloss black paint was mixed then measured out for thinning.

    Once the thinned paint was mixed thoroughly it was checked for the correct consistency then was filtered into the spray gun pot.

    We tackled the two ends of the tank 1919 first, followed by the east side.

    The west side was completed in the afternoon.

    Further scraping and red-oxide priming was carried out on tank 3621.

    Thanks for reading, the next steps for tank 1919 will be detailing, signwriting including the logo application; once we’ve finalised the templates.

    As for tank 3621 there is still much to scrape and prime on the underframe, then there’s the tank barrel to sand as well as the Esso logo plate brackets to weld into place.

    Join us again next week, all the best, Dave

  • 08/06/2025 – Many Hands

    08/06/2025 – Many Hands

    This week the team at Quorn work on the Esso Tank Wagons 3606 & 3621, and Lowfit B452718, helped by a group of Young Rail Professionals (YRP).

    It was also a great pleasure to welcome members of the Salisbury and South Wilts Railway Society who were visiting the GCR.

    On Saturday Mark, Oliver, Tom, Daniel and Charlie got stuck in to some scraping, wire brushing, sanding and needle gunning on Tanks 3606 and 3621.

    The Young Railway Professionals team worked on the Lowfit underframe, again with scrapers, wire brushes and a needle gun.

    Ernie, Ross, Dan and myself set to work making 16 steel brackets that will be used to mount the Esso plates on tank 3621. After measuring up the existing brackets on tank 3606, some steel plate strip was cut into lengths and the holes drilled.

    The first plate was marked for the bend position, heated and bent to shape. This was then checked against the existing brackets.

    The remaining 15 cut and drilled plates were then marked, heated and bent to shape.

    The blanked off heating coil bungs on tank 3606 were cut to get the bungs out with a view to making a replacement section of pipework.

    Red Oxide was applied to some of the cleaned up areas on tank 3606.

    Sunday saw Harry, Charlie and myself continuing with cleaning up areas on 3606 and 3621 followed by more red oxide primer.

    All in all another busy weekend with progress on the Esso tanks.

    Join us again next week as we continue with the tanks, all the best, Dave

  • 26/05/2025 – Bumper Bank Holiday

    26/05/2025 – Bumper Bank Holiday

    Hello and welcome to a bumper update from the team at Quorn; reporting on two weeks work on the TTA Tank 1919. It was also great to see the mixed goods running again for the popular Goods Experience event.

    Last week progress was made with the headstocks and sanding the tank barrel. The remains of the last stubborn sticker adhesive took a bit of removing.

    Two discarded picnic benches were recovered from Rothley and given some tlc. These will be put to good use by the team at Quorn.

    A donated vice was attached to the heavy framed workbench.

    This weekend started with a snapped brake release chord on the Dogfish in the mixed goods, which was given a temporary repair before Witherslack Hall arrived to take charge of the Goods Experience event train. The release chord will be fully replaced in due course.

    Work then continued on tank 1919, sanding, wire brushing, scraping and needle gunning the solebars.

    Followed by a coat of red-oxide primer; and a bit of much needed tlc for some paint brushes.

    With the needle gun out an opportunity was taken to clean up some of the Lowfit underframe.

    Monday and we were treated to a couple of customary Bank Holiday showers, however there were sufficient dry spells to continue with solebar and underframe scaping, wire brushing, sanding and red-oxide painting more areas on tank 1919.

    A bit of tree pruning was necessary to get a couple of overhanging branches clear of the tanks; of course firstly making absolutely sure there were no nesting birds.

    One of the theatrical prop bicycles was repaired using parts obtained from a local car boot sale. Some of the rod type brake linkage needed a bit of re-shaping to fit and operate smoothly.

    Tank 1919 is progressing much closer to being ready for undercoat painting, lets hope the weather is kind to us next week !

    Join us again next week when Quorn Station Yard will be busy with the 1940s Weekend, for full details see the GCR website here – https://tickets.gcrailway.co.uk/events/103217

    All the best, Dave

  • 13/04/25 – A “Goods” Experience

    13/04/25 – A “Goods” Experience

    Hello all, welcome to our news from Quorn. A busy week with various activities, making progress with two vans, a vac cylinder, a sticky release valve, some general housekeeping and also Madge.

    It was also great to see some of our wagons out running in the mixed goods for the first of the Goods Experience Day events; and we wished Charlie a Happy Birthday for next Tuesday, with cake of course.

    During the week Nick and Tom dealt with a sticky release valve that had been reported on Conflat B505313. The valve was replaced with an overhauled one from our stock. The faulty valve will be subsequently overhauled and put back into stock.

    The roofs of two of the four vans that had their roof sheets replaced over the Christmas period were painted by Dan, Harry and Nick. P18422 and B779978. The other two will be dealt with when we have got some more paint.

    Ernie finished of cleaning up the previously assembled vacuum cylinder, then gave it a coat of re-oxide primer. By the afternoon the red oxide had dried allowing a coat of black gloss.

    After tidying up the garage, Jack, Charlie and myself got stuck into some needle gun work on the cab floor framework of Madge, taking it back to bare metal. After cleaning down, this was followed by a coat red-oxide primer.

    We also applied some black to the previously primed rear hubs and brake drums. The inner faces of the rear wheels were painted too.

    Ernie spent some time sharing his many years of experience, teaching Harry and Charlie the art of chisel and drill bit grinding. Both of them getting quite a bit of practice as we have very many blunt drill bits and somewhat used chisels.

    The tidying up continued throughout the weekend; we also had some very kind donations of tools, a vice, storage racks and two sturdy workbenches from Richard, thank you.

    Mark and Tom also sorted out and recovered quite a few paint brushes.

    Madge’s rear wheels were re-fitted and some further needle gun and scraping was carried out inside Madge’s cab and also on some of the inner areas of the rear framework. This again was cleaned down and treated with red oxide primer.

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

    – Road Rail Steam – Saturday 19, Sunday 20 and Monday 21 April 2025

    – Spring Diesel Gala – Friday 25, Saturday 26 and Sunday 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.

    Along with our popular Test Car 2 booklets, we also have a new booklet covering the history and use of another British Rail Test Coach, Test Car 1.
    Both are available from a member of the team at Quorn, or when you visit the Test Car, only £5.

    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, Dave

  • 30/03/2025 – All Change

    30/03/2025 – All Change

    Hello and welcome to this week’s update. The Test Car has a new home and is prepared for the April event openings. The re-formed Mixed Goods returns to Quorn and we attend to a few repairs and maintenance items in readiness for the forthcoming Goods Experience Days.

    During the week the operations team carried out a large number of shunt movements that included extracting the Creosote tank and returning the tank train to Swithland along with a number of other wagons. The Creosote tank, being an engineers wagon, was transferred into the mixed goods formation along with the two Catfish and a vacuum braked Dogfish.

    Test Car 2 was also turned and re-positioned with the steel high ADE280364 at the buffer stop end of Road No.1. This will make the coach much more visible & accessible to visitors, and also make it much easier for us to manage visitor access when we open the coach on event days.

    The four box vans that still need some work to finish off the roof repairs were positioned in the yard and the mixed goods arrived into Quorn on Saturday morning.

    We wasted no time attending to the damaged vacuum brake pipes at both ends of the Dogfish DB993412, replacing the missing vacuum release chord and oiling up the brake rigging

    The power was connected up to the Test Car and we made a start on tidying and cleaning inside the coach. The deceleration meter mounting pad was also repaired and re-fitted to the steel high wagon.

    The vacuum brake test rig was transported down the yard and a brake test was carried out on the Dogfish in the Mixed Goods. Loose axleboxes on Mineral B550356 were also attended to and new split pins fitted.

    A cracked brake block on Catfish DB983393 was replaced. The replacement was swapped from DB983166 that’s currently handbrake only; this will be replaced in due course.

    Work continued on the chassis of tank 3606, concentrating on the end pocket areas at the south end, with more rust removal using hammer & chisel and the air needle gun. This was followed up with some carefully applied red-oxide primer.

    On Sunday it was great to see the re-formed Mixed Goods set in operation as part of the preparations and staff training for the forthcoming Goods Experience Days.

    More information about these forthcoming Goods Experience Days can be found on the GCRs website here: – Goods Experience Days

    There are also quite a few opportunities to visit the Quorn Wagon & Wagon team during April when we have Test Car 2 open to visitors at the following events:-

    – Reunification Open Weekend – 5/6 April 2025

    – 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, 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/

    Join us next week to see what we get up to during the Reunification Open Weekend; all the best, Dave

  • 16/02/2025 – New Arrival

    16/02/2025 – New Arrival

    Hello and welcome to our weekly update from the team at Quorn.

    This week we are pleased to announce a new arrival to our fleet and we are nearing completion of the vacuum through piping on both of the TTAs.

    So here is our new arrival; 35T TSV Tank wagon number 3621, built in 1958 by Hurst Nelson in Wakefield for Esso, initially registered to BR Scottish Region (registration number 808). In the 1980s it was sold to the CEGB, renumbered 48527; then subsequently entered preservation in 1990. It has been acquired from the Foxfield Railway where it had been used as a water carrier; arriving at Quorn on 14 Feb 2025.

    There is some work to do on the tank to get it operational, including freeing off the seized brakes, replacing the missing Vacuum brake cylinder and the faulty buffers; and removing the non original water pump and pipework.
    The aim will then be to restore it back into its original Esso livery and for it to join the other Esso tanks in the train.

    Saturday and with Nick, Ross, Ernie, Harry, Charlie and myself on-site, we concentrated on finishing off making and assembling the remaining sections of vacuum pipe for TTA tank 1919.

    Once assembled the north and south end sections of vacuum pipe were threaded under the wagon and clamped into place.

    This allowed us to then accurately measure the centre straight section of pipe, cut, thread and fit in place with the two temporary clamps. The final joint being an in-line coupler.

    Although some of the clamps are still temporary and final more substantial ones made; with the completion of the pipes we got out the vacuum test rig to see if the two wagons would hold vacuum.
    Before we connected the rig compressed air from Edward was blown through the new pipework on both wagons to ensure they were clear and free from any debris.

    With the vacuum rig connected to both wagons the new pipework was checked for leakage using the standard vacuum test gauges, and stood up very well.
    We then decided to do a full check of the air brake system on both wagons. Air from Edward was fed via the regulator, air valves and gauges on the test rig allowing us to control brakes on both wagons. The brakes operated as they should and using Test Car 2s air test gauge and stopwatch the application and release times of the air brakes were confirmed to be within specification.

    We finished the day on Saturday taking a look at the seized brakes on tank 3621 in the yard. Initial findings were that the majority of the brake rigging is not seized, just very gunked up.

    Sunday saw more hands on-site with Nick, Ross, Ernie, Charlie, Mark, Tom, Dan, Oliver, James and myself at Quorn.
    It was great to be able to help Ernie celebrate his 82nd Birthday, and enjoy some cake too.

    Happy Birthday Ernie !

    Ernie and myself continued with vacuum pipe bracket manufacturing for tank 1919, cutting strips of steel plate then heating and bending to shape. Mounting bolt holes were then drilled.

    Three new brackets were completed and fitted into place. The parts for the final two brackets were also made and are ready for welding up next week.

    The rest of the team concentrated on tank 3621. Whilst the wagon was in the yard and easily accessible for the Volvo, the opportunity was taken to fit the vacuum brake cylinder that we had refurbished a few weeks ago ready. A replacement outer trunnion bracket was sourced and new nuts, washers & bolts.

    The wagon was then moved down the yard to our working area; the water pump, filling pipe and associated fittings & valves were all removed.

    More work was also done cleaning up and freeing off the brake rigging and couplings.

    Ross had to attend to a damaged sill cover from his car, making a new end piece and repairing some of the broken clips; whilst Charlie re-wired a 110v transformer for Ross to check before it was tested.

    That wraps up a busy weekend for the team; our new arrival looking very much at home stabled with the TTAs.

    Join us again next week, all the best, Dave

  • 29/12/2024 – Vans and Vac Cylinders

    29/12/2024 – Vans and Vac Cylinders

    Over the festive period we have made good progress with four box van roofs, salvaged some of the Lowfit’s rotten floor and made a start on the restoration of a vacuum brake cylinder.

    23rd Dec – At Rothley, Nick, Ross, Mark and Tom stripped the roofs from B777171, B780282 and B779978. New roof sheets were opened out and rolled up to be lifted on to the roof of each van. Dan, Oliver and Charlie cleaning the sheets and tidying up. By the end of the day, each van was sat with a sheet resting on its roof.

    24th Dec – Nick, Ross, Mark and Tom fixed down the roof sheet at each end and along the sides of B777171. The top door frame was refitted to both sides and the roof sheet fully fitted and finished. The roof coverings of P18422 were removed down to the bare wood. Oliver and Charlie assisting tiding up the old roof coverings then cleaning and painting the roof hoops.

    27th Dec – The roof was prepared on P18422, the sheet laid out and lifted onto the van for rolling out. The roof hoops were fixed on B779978 & B780282, and both sides fixed down aside from around the door frames due to rotten door top frames.

    28th Dec – Nick, Ross, Ernie, Charlie and myself returned to Quorn to look at options for replacing the four rotten top door frame noggins. The floor of the recently arrived Lowfit wagon was assessed and will need to be replaced. The majority of the planks were found to be rotten however there were a few that could be salvaged. They are by coincidence big enough to be made into replacement noggins for the box vans. We therefore set about removing the re-usable planks.

    Whilst myself and Ross were busy with the planks, Nick, Charlie and Ernie continued the work on the 21″ vacuum cylinder spares. Despite having enough parts for three cylinders, the corrosion damage on two of the cylinder bores means that these will need machining before they can be used again.

    Ernie finished off drilling the split pin hole in a new door hinge pin that he had made to replace a missing one on the Lowfit. The new pin was then fitted to the wagon.

    Ross and myself selected the best of the four rotten door frame noggins from the vans at Rothley. In the warmth of the Mess coach there was much head scratching and careful measuring up of what was a somewhat incomplete noggin. We were eventually able to complete a drawing that will enable the manufacture of some replacement noggins.

    29th Dec – Nick continued with painting up the one usable vacuum cylinder whilst I cleaned up the threads of the dome studs with a die-nut.

    Ross and myself took a look at the first of three floor planks from the Lowfit that had been left inside overnight to dry out a bit. Slicing in stages to assess the integrity of the wood in the middle of the plank, we were able to cut good wood of the correct size for one replacement noggin.

    The next stage, using our drawing, was to start marking out the positions for the eight mounting holes, which were then drilled.

    Thanks for reading, join us again soon for an end of year round-up looking back at what we have achieved over the last 12 months.

  • 20/10/24 – Keeping ourselves busy

    20/10/24 – Keeping ourselves busy

    Hi everyone, welcome to this weeks update from the team at Quorn. The weather has hampered our plans to get some paint on the Catfish; however we’ve kept ourselves busy.
    Some stock positioning shunting too place whilst we continued with progress on the LMS brake van, some more items on the to-do-list and Test Car 2s generator.

    During the week Tom, Dan and Nick continued with painting on the LMS Brake Van M730562 at Rothley, handrails, lamp brackets, swan necks and underframe were progressed. A new step board was also made and fitted.

    The new paint arrived ready for the two Catfish wagons, however the inclement Saturday morning weather meant that wagons were too wet for us to apply any paint, so Oliver made sure it was stored away safe.

    The old crank pulley oil seal was removed from the timing cover from Test Car 2s generator; the cover was then de-greased and pressure washed.

    A new seal was then fitted using a suitably sized drift and our makeshift press with a final knock-into position with a hammer.

    Hector’s cab parts were loaded onto one of the box vans for safe keeping and we sorted out some spare bolts in readiness for box van repairs before the Class 37, 37714 arrived to manage various shunt moves at Quorn for stock positioning.

    Ross and myself continued with cleaning up the timing cover mating surfaces on Test Car 2s generator, and repairs to some of the generator wiring.

    Richard resurrected some old skills in repairing and servicing two of Nick’s 1970s record players.

    Ernie and Nick installed a lighting power supply cable across to the Fish Van on the dock; this will help us as the nights draw-in.

    Mark, Tom, Oliver Dan and Nick managed to a bit of house keeping in the short spell between the Sunday morning rain and the lunchtime rain. The rotten sleepers were moved from the dock to the wood pile for the bonfire.

    A general tidy up of the area on the dock and some gardening will help improve the access for vehicles to the dock.

    Thanks for reading, join us again next week.

  • 15/09/24 – A touch of Primer

    This week some undercoat has been applied to the LMS Brake Van M730562 at Rothley; meanwhile at Quorn there has been some good progress getting primer on Catfish DB983393.

    Tom, Dan and Nick worked on the Brake Van at Rothley.

    With many hands making light work on Saturday at Quorn, Tom, Mark, Oliver and Dan got stuck into cleaning down the last few bits on DB983393 with the needle gun and sanders. They were later joined by Nick and Charlie.

    Ernie started applying primer to areas already cleaned down last week.

    While the rest of the team concentrating on the cleaning and painting, Ross started to weld up the outside of the patches on DB993560. It’s the first time Ross had welded a panel inclined towards him and it turned out to be a bit tricky!

    The sun got to be in a position where it made the welding visor unusable, so he got a bit distracted and gave Hector a haircut.

    The Catfish painting continued in earnest through the afternoon.

    With Ross otherwise engaged on Sunday, Mark, Tom, Dan, Oliver and myself continued with the needle gun, scrapers and wire brushes on the ends of Catfish DB983393.

    Some more primer was then applied.

    Thankfully the primer is quick drying as the rain set-in during the afternoon.

    Thanks for reading, all the best, Dave

  • 01/09/2024 – Back to the Brake Van

    Hello and welcome to this week’s update from the team at Quorn. The Brake Van B954268 that was hurriedly painted a few weeks ago in readiness for the Railways at Work Gala has developed some blistering of the paint on its West side. Our thoughts are that some of the replacement wood planks may not have had time to fully dry out before the primer was applied.

    We understand the brake van is required for operation next weekend, therefore on Saturday Nick, Ernie and Charlie we made a start to scrape and sand the affected areas back to the bare wood so it could be made presentable.

    The paintwork on the East side of the Brake Van has faired much better, so I was able to make progress with the remaining sign writing.

    The black maintenance data panel box was applied and the builders plate picked out too.

    One inner veranda plank that wasn’t replaced before the Gala was also attended to with a replacement piece of timber cut to size and fitted.

    The lower edge part of the roof covering was painted Bauxite to blend in with the bodyside.

    Sunday saw Mark, Tom, Oliver and Dan join Nick & myself on the brake van. Some more scraping and sanding was carried out on the West side, and thinned undercoat applied to hopefully soak into the bare wood.

    The undercoat dried very quickly and some gloss Bauxite was applied to the affected areas.

    A couple of areas on the East side were also treated in the same manner.

    The running number on the West side was affected by the paint re-work, so this was touched up.

    The East side maintenance data panel was finished off, the workshop/depot codes represented are for Newark (5480) and Tinsley Repair Sidings (5683).

    The ‘Danger Overhead Live Wires’ warning plates were re-fitted to both sides.

    We do realise that the problems with some dampness in the wood affecting the paintwork on this brake van could still be underlying, however it is presentable for operational use again. Depending on how it weathers, we will most likely need to re-visit the sides again for a full sand-down and another repaint.