Author: Dave Bower

  • 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.

  • 18/08/2024 – Catfish Scraped

    Welcome to our weekly update from the team at Quorn; this week Ross and myself had a ‘Grand Day Out’ and we made progress with preparing the two Catfish wagons for paint.

    Our day out on Saturday was an invitation from the our friends at the National Wagon Preservation Group to join them for the ’50 Years’ Celebrations at Drax Power Station, where the MGR wagons that we had helped signwriting last month were on display for the charity photo shoot.
    Here’s a couple of pics from the superb afternoon Ross and myself spent at the Power Station.

    On Sunday, Nick Ross, Charlie and myself were on-site at Quorn and made good progress scraping down loose paint areas on both Catfish wagons, DB993560 and DB983393.

    Once areas of loose paint were scraped then TFR cleaner was applied onto the areas where green algae had started to form. This was then left to work its magic, then pressure washed off.

    A paint removal disc in the grinder was used to remove any stubborn paint areas, then pressure washed off.

    Unfortunately as one of the Catfish had one its wagon builders plates stolen in the past, therefore we have decided to remove and retain the remaining Catfish builders plates from wagons. The builders plates will be replaced with sign written representations of the plates, as we have previously applied to the majority of our fleet of wagons.

    By the end of the day both Catfish wagons were much closer to being ready to apply some paint.

    Looking back 5 years to August 2019 we were proudly showing off our restoration work on Test Car 2; how time flies!

    Inevitably the weather is not kind to railway vehicles and soon the coach will need some TLC to allow us to continue to open it to the public at GCR events and to prevent further deterioration. Our Test Car 2 booklets are still available here, the proceeds of which directly support us with our challenges.

    Finally keep a look out for our Tank wagon train which can now regularly be seen stabled on the Down siding at Quorn which is on the west side of the running lines to the south of the station.
    This makes the rake of restored wagons much more accessible to our group for any maintenance attention, and also on-show rather than being hidden away at Swithland.

    All the best, Dave

  • 04/08/24 – Gala Preparations

    Hello all and welcome to our first August’24 update. This week the team have been working at Rothley getting brake van B954268 ready for the forthcoming Railways at Work Gala, and making a few other preparations at Quorn.

    Nick, Tom, Dan and Oliver have been working during the week to get the replacement panel work fitted, sanded and undercoated. New lower step boards have been fitted and the east side of the roof sheet secured along its edge and trimmed.

    Saturday with Nick, Ross, Charlie, Ernie and myself at Rothley we continued securing and trimming the roof sheet west side edge. We then did the corners which involved removing the roof end hoops to secure the folded corner ends.

    The duckets were sanded and wood primer was applied to any bare wood on the inside of the verandas. New trim sections for the veranda lower edges were cut and primed.

    We then cleaned down the veranda panels, window areas and body sides. The bauxite paint was opened and with brushes in-hand we set to work.

    After lunch the painting continued.

    By the end of Saturday the main brake van body was in bauxite.

    Nick, Ross, Mark, Tom, Dan and Oliver started the day on Sunday at Rothley which was a special day for Dan who was celebrating reaching ‘sweet 16’…….. well sweet tooth anyway with his superb Palvan Cake, that was enjoyed by all.

    On the brake van, the end framework was scraped and cleaned down by Mark, Nick and Tom then painted with undercoat. Mark also undercoated the trim sections for the veranda lower edges.

    The bauxite body sides we painted yesterday were still a little tacky, however with limited time before the gala the vehicle number needed to be applied.
    I carefully traced the template on both sides and painted the numbers on. The remainder of the vehicle lettering will be completed when we have more time after the gala.

    Dan and Oliver got to work touching up some areas of bauxite, then painting the handrails and lamp brackets.

    The undercoat dried quickly so Nick, Dan and Oliver finished off the handrails, door furniture and applied bauxite to the end framework whilst Ross, Mark, Tom and myself headed to Quorn.

    In order to deal safely with loading and unloading Brute Trolleys from Rail Vehicles during the Railways at Work Gala, we need a suitable ramp.
    Having managed to get hold of two old wheelchair ramps we set about some modifications to one and a half of these to make a three section ramp to accommodate the width of Brute Trolleys.

    Five of our Brute Trolleys were then unloaded from their home in the Palvan in readiness for the Gala.
    BRUTE (British Rail Universal Trolley Equipment) trolleys were used from 1964 until 1999 for sorting, handling and transport of station loaded goods, parcels and Newspapers.

    Other preparation work included sorting oil barrels and parcels, with a little help from Jack; as well as getting the Electric Tugs cleaned down and on-charge.

    Thanks for reading, join us next week when the team will be taking part in the 2024 Railways at Work Gala.

    More information about this ‘Not To Be Missed’ Gala on the 10th – 11th August can be found by clicking the link below.

    https://tickets.gcrailway.co.uk/events/79272

  • 14/07/24 – Palvan in the Van Train

    This week we’ve seen the recently finished Palvan shunted into the van train, and the team have continued working on the two Catfish wagons at Quorn.

    The vacuum brake cylinder that was removed from Catfish DB993560 and dismantled last week was scraped, wire brushed and cleaned out.

    One of the studs from the dome needed a little heat to remove a stuck nut, then cleaning up and re-fitting. The threads on the remaining studs were also run down with a die to clean up any thread corrosion.

    The ball valve was removed, cleaned out & checked, and the piston rod nut was also cleaned and refitted.

    The cylinder outer casing was then painted.

    The north west corner of Catfish DB983393 was showing signs that the spring was not seated centrally in the axlebox pad; after some investigation some jack-rust was noted behind the spring which was pushing the spring forwards.

    The underkeeps were removed, the bolts cleaned up and split pin holes cleared. The weight was then lifted off the spring and the offending rust and debris removed from the axlebox pad. An opportunity was also taken to check the bearing and journal which were found to be in good condition.

    The wagon was lowered back onto it’s springs and the alignment appeared much better. We’d check again after the wagon had been shunted to settle down.

    DB983393 had at some point had some oversize gas valve wheels fitted to it’s handbrake; these needed a little heat applying to release them so they could be replaced with a couple we had in stock.

    A shunt move had been arranged and 78019 arrived to marshal the Palvan B781908 onto the south end of the van train and position the van train in sections to set out the yard ready for upcoming events.

    The two Catfish wagons were moved to settle the suspension. DB983393 was checked again and all was good with the spring seating.

    The remaining brake rigging safety loops that we’d finished making last week were fitted and the underkeeps were re-fitted to DB983393.

    Back on the other Catfish DB993560, and it’s vacuum cylinder was re-assembled.

    The hopper panel and framework that is behind & under the vacuum cylinder fitted position was scraped and treated to a coat of primer.

    The refurbished vacuum cylinder was then refitted.

    Thanks for reading, join us again next week for some more progress with the two Catfish wagons; all the best, Dave

  • 07/07/24 – Helping our Friends

    This week the team have been on-tour helping our National Wagon Preservation Group friends at the Chasewater Railway with some MGR wagon signwriting. We have also continued with work on the Catfish and have done a well overdue job on the garage building.

    Ross, Eireni and myself headed down to the Chasewater Railway where the National Wagon Preservation Group had lined up three of their MGR hopper wagons ready for some signwriting attention. HMA 351207 and HDA 368103 were inside the workshop whilst HMA 355798 was just outside.

    We got to work chalking up the templates and transferring to the wagons.

    The two wagons in the workshop required full lettering, number panels, TOPS wagon codes, maintenance data panels, brake equipment & wheelbase lettering, tyre profile and also the builders plates picking out.

    The HMA outside only required the solebar lettering as this had previously had vinyl number panels applied b the NWPG when it visited the NEC for a model show a few years ago.

    By the end of the couple of days all three wagons were fully lettered; we’re pleased to have been able to help out Owen.

    Back at Quorn for the weekend, and the with Nick, Ross, Ernie and Charlie on site Saturday the long overdue job of raising the garage building onto sleepers and securing down was tackled.

    Ernie stayed out of the rain showers in the garage welding the mounting bolts to the tops of the Catfish brake safety loops that we had made last week.

    Ross drilled out the safety loop mounting holes on Catfish DB993560, and also drilled out some bolts ready for split pins.

    I joined Nick and Ross on Sunday, with Tom and Oliver also on site. Ross and I cut some longer threads on some more mounting bolts and drilled them for split pins.

    Ross continued welding the mounting bolts to the tops of the remaining safety loops.

    After cleaning up and lengthening a couple of the bolt threaded sections, Oliver helped Nick fitting the safety loops to the Catfish.

    One of the main differences between the two Catfish wagons is that DB983393 is fitted with a sliding band type vacuum brake cylinder whilst DB993560 has the more common rolling-ring type. From our experience the sliding band type are much more likely to work ok after being stood out of use for a long period of tome; they are also however more difficult to overhaul.
    Tom and I therefore got the vacuum brake test rig out and set it up to test the operation on sliding band cylinder on DB983393. Tom also oiled up the brake rigging.

    We were pleased to find that after a few applications the brake cylinder on DB983393 operated very well and the release valve worked too. We therefore have decided to leave the vacuum cylinder on this wagon. A slight adjustment may however be necessary to take up some rigging slack.

    The story with the rolling ring vacuum cylinder on DB993560 is somewhat different. As this wagon has seen little use for over the last 20 years, we set about removing the cylinder for examination; with it being mounted above solebar level on Catfish we were able to disconnect the cylinder, remove the piston rod and release valve, then slide it along wood planks onto the dock.

    The cylinder was dismantled and we found that the rolling ring was badly twisted and split, so it was the right decision to remove and overhaul this one.

    We also thought we’d try our hand at cultivating Railway Engineers using a vacuum cylinder dome to boost the team numbers!

    Thanks for reading, we’ll be here again next week to continue with work on the two Catfish.