Author: Dave Bower

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

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

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

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.

Welcome to a sunny June weekend update from the team at Quorn. This weekend we’ve been doing some heavy metalwork on the Catfish and finishing the last few jobs on Palvan B781908.

Saturday started with Tom and Dan doing some oiling of the brake rigging on the Palvan.

Oliver helped Nick replace the vacuum brake hoses on both ends of the Palvan.

I removed and tested the fuel lift pump on the Test Car; all was good so this was re-fitted.

Ernie and Ross concentrated on cutting, welding and grinding of some more of the gouges imparted by digger buckets on the Catfish DB983560.

Thanks to Mark for bringing along some provisions for a BBQ lunch; prepared by head chef Oliver who was helped by sous-chef Charlie, and of course Tom (being a Grade 6 food techie) had to supervise.

After lunch there was some more cutting, welding and grinding.

The Test Car’s cannister oil filter was also removed and cleaned out.

Then there was some more welding and grinding.

Sunday and more sunshine; Ross fitted a few missing split pins that we noted during the previous wagon inspection we did on the Palvan.

I did some measuring up in readiness for preparing the templates for the forthcoming signwriting on the Catfish wagons.

Nick, Ross and myself then got the vacuum test rig started in order to look into the train pipe leakage problem on the Palvan.

The vacuum hose end seal on the south end was noted to be leaking so that was replaced.

A small leak was found on the cylinder piston rod gland so that was removed and inspected; the seal was slightly damaged so this was replaced. It was also noted that the cylinder release was not a smooth or as quick as it should be. On closer inspection the piston rod itself was seen to be slightly bent, so a ‘straight’ replacement from stock was cleaned up and fitted.

With the leakage problem and slow release still persisting we decided to drop out the inner cylinder and piston to check the ball valve and rolling ring.

The rolling ring was inspected and noted in very good condition, therefore it was re-fitted to the piston. Some muck was cleaned out of the ball valve and a little dust in the inner cylinder hoovered out before refitting back into the cylinder dome. The die-nut was run down a couple of the dome cover stud threads and one stud re-fitted further into the dome. The release valve was also swapped for another overhauled one.

A replacement hose for connecting the test rig to the wagon was fitted as we noted some collapsing of the old hose. The branch pipe clip was also replaced with a slightly smaller one to try and get a better seal here.

Finally we managed to achieve a respectable vacuum train pipe leakage rate for the Palvan.

This completes our restoration work on B781908 which started back in November last year; here’s the before and after. The wagon will now be handed over to the Carriage & Wagon Department for final inspection and sign-off; however we will also carry out a running assessment / inspection during its in-train first operation.

Thanks for reading, all the best, Dave

Hello and welcome to our first June 2024 update. The team at Quorn have been busy again with the needle gun on the underframe and signwriting brushes out for the east bodyside of the Palvan.

Saturday, Nick and Charlie removed the remains of the original D plates and bolts; these had been snapped off many years ago but the remains and the bolts need to be removed so we can signwrite new D plates.

Ernie went round the underframe with a black touch-up brush attending to any areas missed and also where the D plate remains were. He then did some bauxite touch up along any edges that got missed with the spray gun.

Some new chalk boards were cut then primed and undercoated by Richard.

I got stuck into the Palvan east-side chalking-up and signwriting

The bodyside number, load, wheelbase, tare weight and XP were completed and the 2024 paint symbol added to both sides of the wagon.

Nick and Charlie tackled some of the long grass to the west of the mess coach with the lawn mower.

I also completed the Palvan lettering and Return to Port Sunlight text on the east side.

Both east and west Palvan bodysides are now complete.

On Sunday Oliver and Nick continued with the chalkboard painting in undercoat followed by black gloss.

The Palvan was rolled out of the dock so we could access the east side underframe where Tom got stuck in with the needle gun.

Dan continued work on the west side underframe completing the signwriting of the D-plate and vac release star.

Mark and Tom applied primer to the cleaned up east side underframe.

The end is in sight now for the Palvan, join us again next week, all the best, Dave

Welcome to a Bus Rally Weekend update from the team. Despite the distraction of some fabulous buses and the sunshine, Nick, Ross, Mark, Ernie, Tom, Dan, Oliver, Charlie and myself have progressed the Palvan nearer to completion and Jack joined us to get stuck into some work on Madge.

There was also some grass cutting done, and some chairs were washed !

The needle gun was used to finish off cleaning up the remaining metalwork on the Palvan. Undercoat was then applied.

Madge’s rear wheels were removed and pressure washed, the left hand wheel taking a few minutes longer to remove as scratched our heads, eventually working out that the left side wheel nuts are left hand threaded.

Some sanding of the previously painted panel work on the Palvan was done in readiness for gloss painting (hopefully next weekend weather permitting).

The needle gun found it’s way into the garage and was put to work cleaning up the Madge’s hubs, brake drums and areas of the frame now accessible following removal of the wheels.

The brake adjusters on the rear drums were fettled to dress the burrs and checked for operation. The handbrake and footbrake were applied checking each drum in turn; the effectiveness seemed very good.

The fuel sender was removed as it has never worked reliably, thankfully it seems to be just a stuck needle. The fuel tank was also removed so we could get access to the frame behind.

The exhaust has at least three holes, a torn bracket and blown gasket, so this was removed. We’re hoping to get a new one made up locally using this as a template.

Some engine cleaning was done and the cooling system drained; the somewhat tired radiator hoses were removed for measuring up for replacements.

Some red-oxide primer was applied to the areas of Madge’s underframe cleaned up.

That’s it for this week, join us again next time, all the best, Dave

This weekend the team have supported the Road Rail Steam weekend welcoming visitors into Test Car 2 in the goods shed dock. We’ve also made a little more progress with the A-type container.

Nick and Oliver worked on the container, fitting some more bolts through the metalwork including a door hold-back loop and making & fitting bottom door strips.

They also salvaged a corner bumpstop from an another scrap container end panel, grinding off the rivets and bolting into place to replace the missing one on the A-type container.

Over the weekend Barry, Ross, Richard, Tom and myself welcomed visitors into Test Car 2.

For this weekend the organisers had placed us in the good shed dock which meant we had access to the new power supply recently installed on the dock. This allowed us to run the air compressor in the Test Car so that we could operate the air brakes on our Steel High test wagon, replicating the way the brakes were operated during slip-brake testing when it was carried out by British Rail.

There were many superb exhibits on display and operating in the yard during the weekend, including the 9F 92214 and D123 hauling a goods train.

Instead of trying to wind us up, this weekend Oliver decided instead to try and wind up a traction engine !

We look forward to opening up the Test Car again next weekend for the GCR’s Spring Diesel Gala; we will be open to visitors all weekend (27-28 April 2024) in the yard at Quorn outside the Marquee.

Hello and welcome to the first April update from the team at Quorn. Again the focus has been on progressing the Palvan, and we’ve also paid some attention to the dilapidated A type container rescued from the Loco shed last year.

During the week Tom and Oliver helped remove the axlebox keep plates from the Palvan in readiness for the wheelset change.

The six restored Brute trolleys were given a good clean up in readiness for going into store in the Palvan.

On Saturday the Palvan was positioned in the yard ready for the wheelset change; Richard and myself taking measurements of bumpstop gaps and buffer heights.

The trusty Volvo L70 loader was used and the replacement wheelsets were soon under the Palvan.

With the new wheelsets in place Ross, Richard, Ernie, Nick and myself set about removing the axlebox oil pans to clean out, check the oil pads & journals and replenish with new oil. The axlebox keep plates were also re-fitted, and Charlie helped out oiling all the brake rigging.

Some of the axlebox retaining bolts needed the threads clearing with a die nut and old rusted split pins punching or drilling out. We were very surprised to find both oil pads missing from one of the wheelsets considering that the wheelsets had been removed from an operational wagon (at another railway).

The journals were checked and the cleaned boxes filled with new oil. Three new oil pads and one cleaned re-usable pad were soaked in new oil and refitted.

With the new wheelsets fitted the Palvan was taken for a trundle up and down the yards to ensure the suspension was settled. Measurements of the bumpstop gaps and buffer heights were taken again, comparing well to those taken before the wheelset change. All buffer heights were between 40³/₄” and 41¹/₄“, the prescribed limits being 37″ min. and 42” max.

The six Brute trolleys were loaded into the Palvan with the Volvo, fitting neatly into the space inside. These will be secured before the van goes into traffic to prevent any movement or damage to the Brutes.

To round off Saturday the dilapidated A type container that was rescued from the Loco shed last in June year was carefully moved from beside the mess coach to it’s new home on the dock. The area on the dock was cleared and some strategically placed timbers were laid out for the container to sit on. A ratchet strap was used to hold the container together and secure it to the Volvo for movement.

Sunday began with the decision to move Edward the Hydrovane compressor trailer from the back of the pick-up truck onto the BEV stillage; this will make it more movable and accessible, and also free-up the pick-up for other duties. Kiki was woken up to provide a lift for the stillage, however she needed a hydraulic oil top-up to get the lift to work.

Making the most of the morning sunshine, we gave the site a good tidy up.

Edward was then started up to provide air as Tom, Mark and myself got to work scraping and needle gunning the framework and underframe of the west side of the Palvan.

Dan tackled the cleaning up of two replacement handbrake wheels for Catfish wagon DB983393.

Nick, Ross, Oliver and Richard took a look at the A type container we had moved on Saturday. The hinges of the lower door section were freed off, and the outer edge of the floor secured to a new baton. Some adjustment was necessary with Nick’s favourite hammer and the grinder needed to remove the old corner rotted plate.

A new steel corner plate was cut and bent to shape by Ross, then fitted in place by Tom and Dan to replace the rotted one.

The bolts we had didn’t have enough thread length, so Oliver (with Nick’s help) used a die-nut to cut a longer thread length for the plate attachment bolts.

Andy and Harry popped in for a while to continue with sanding and priming of another area of the GUV bodyside.

By the end of the afternoon the west side of the underframe and suspension of the Palvan was progressing well towards readiness for paint.

To finish a pic of one of the goods train workings this weekend; behind Peak D123 at Quorn. Thanks for reading, join us again next week, all the best, Dave

Hello and welcome to another update from Quorn where we are making steady progress with the second pair of doors on Palvan B781908.

With Barry, Ross, Nick, Charlie and myself on-site Saturday, we go stuck into re-making some of framework of the door that was removed last week. The replacement bottom 5″ section was drilled out for the dowels and trial fitted together.

Plenty of glue was applied to the dowels and joining faces before the parts were clamped in place and left to set in the sun.

The joints on one end of the top cross member were also rotted, so this was cut back to good wood and replacement parts cut to re-make the joint.

The middle cross member was rotted on it’s outer face, so again this was cut back and new timber fitted. The frame was then trial assembled.

A door sheet was cut to size and along with the frame moved into the Palvan for assembly. Plenty of glue was applied and the frame assembled. Then more glue was applied and the door sheet strapped into place.

Once we were happy with the fit the door sheet was screwed into place and left to dry overnight.

An opportunity was taken to tidy up a bit and fit a new bolt to the shed door.

The frame work and door hinges on the Palvan were also treated to a bit more re-oxide in readiness for the door re-fitting.

Sunday was a somewhat wetter day, however with Mark, Dan, Oliver, Tom, Nick, Ross and myself on-site we managed to progress the re-built door working mainly inside the Palvan to keep dry.

Overnight the door had settled very slightly out of square, thankfully the glue had not fully gone off so some slight adjustment was possible. We then cut the new bottom plank for the door and this was clamped in place with glue and sealer for the main joints.

The door was propped up and the inner facing ply screwed to the new plank.

Replacement diagonals were cut to length then door was then turned so they could be trial fitted and outer face of the door coated in wood primer.

We did some tidying up and preparation work in Test Car 2, and also fitted the deceleration meter bracket to the steel high wagon ready for next weekend.

Making the most of the wet afternoon, we worked in the dry and did some more scraping of the rear framework on Madge.

That’s it for this week, apart from a reminder that next weekend (16-17 March) sees the GCR 125 – Anniversary Open Weekend

During the weekend we will have Test Car 2 open to visitors in Quorn & Woodhouse station yard. Why not pop in and say hello; take a look inside to find out how and why rail vehicles were tested by British Rail, meet the team who have restored and care for this unique piece of railway history.

You can also support us by visiting our stall beside the Test Coach to get your copy of the Test Car 2 booklet and our Quorn Wagon & Wagon Pocket Stockbook.