Author: Dave Bower

Hello and welcome to a special Winter Steam Gala update from the team.

Throughout the weekend it’s been great to see both the tank train and the mixed freight running.

Work has continued on the Palvan B781908 with Barry, Richard, Ross and Ernie removing the East side rotten panelling. Some chisels needed a little TLC for splitting the rusted nuts.

Oliver, Tom and Mark helped Nick scraping the Palvan framework whilst Ross removed the old screws from the internal panelling framework.

The panel sizes were checked and three sheets of 3/4″ plywood were cut by Ross and myself; Oliver helping with sanding the outer face.

The cut sheets were cleaned down and propped up inside Nick’s box van. The edges and outer faces were then treated with wood primer.

The scraped framework on the Palvan was checked for correct gaps for the new panels to fit neatly. Some minor adjustment was required before a coat of red-oxide primer was applied to the inside faces of the framework.

With the Palvan framework and new side sheets painted and left to dry, our attention turned to one of the two catfish wagons that have been brought into the siding ready to start restoration work.

DB983393 will be dealt with first as this is considered to be the easier of the two restorations. DB993560 will need a greater amount of attention to the rusted and dented bodywork. Both wagons will require brake system overhaul, however to start with the team got stuck into some basic bodywork scraping.

Thanks for reading, join us again next week for the next episode of Palvan restoration; all the best, Dave

Hello and welcome to another update from the team at Quorn Wagon & Wagon. Work has continued on the Palvan B781908, and we put the finishing touches to tank 3777.

It is not often that everyone in the team can volunteer at the same time; however this weekend with ten of us at Quorn, we took the opportunity to grab a team pic.

From the left, Jake, Ross, Charlie, Nick, Oliver, Dan, Mark, Tom, Barry and myself. Richard and Thomas were unfortunately unable to join us.

Over the last few weeks we have been planning, measuring and procuring new aluminium Esso logo plates for tank 3777. We have had these professionally cut, drilled and rolled to the correct curvature for the tank.

At Rothley on Saturday myself and Ross double checked them for fit on both sides of 3777. The Esso logo templates were also prepared. stitched together and checked for size on the plates.

The plates were de-greased then sprayed both sides with Etch-Primer, which was left to dry then over coated with White Enamel.

Meanwhile back at Quorn the rest of the team got stuck into changing the defective south end buffers on brake van B954268. The buffers were removed, the headstocks cleaned, painted and new packing blocks prepared and painted.

The replacement buffers from our stock were then fitted.

The two buffers on the south end of Palvan B781908 were also found to be defective with rotating heads; these were duly removed and replacements fitted from stock.

The painted plates for tank 3777 had dried nicely dry overnight at Rothley; so Sunday morning Ross and myself got to work chalking the back of the template, marking the plate centre line and attaching the template to the first plate.

The oval border and Esso logo were traced, then the template moved to the second plate and the process repeated.

First the Esso logos were applied, Ross doing one plate whilst I did the other.

The blue oval plate outline was then applied.

Back at Quorn the wind was starting to pick-up, so some extra securing straps were fitted to the tarpaulin covering the Palvan, and the site was tidied, making sure things were secured; the defective buffers making great tarpaulin cover weights.

Whilst the red and blue paint on the plates was drying Ross and myself took a rare trip on the train up to Loughborough; the rest of the tank train was seen at Swithland.

As the light was fading, but before the wind picked up too much, we were able to fit the finished Esso plates onto tank 3777. M10 bolts were fitted with sealing washers to each side of the plate before being secured to the wagon with locking nuts.

This completes the restoration work on 3777. We are very much looking forward to seeing it coupled into the tank train very soon.

Thanks for reading, join us again next week for the GCR’s Winter Steam Gala.

We start 2024 back at Quorn Wagon Repair Sidings, getting stuck into work on Palvan B781908.

You may remember a couple of weeks ago that the roof from the Palvan was completely disintegrated by the strong winds, leaving most of the rusted screws still in the wagon.

With Nick, Ross, Mark, Tom, Oliver, Dan and myself on-site the Palvan was soon cleared of the last items of rubbish, a filing cabinet and the very sodden remains of some old paperwork. Danny helping out taking the rubbish to the skip.

Myself and Ross got to work removing all the old rusted screws and unbolting the roof end hoops.

Nick, Oliver and Dan removed the north west corner Oleo type buffer that had lost pressure and was stuck in. The bolt threads were cleaned and oiled before a replacement buffer from our stock was fitted in place. The south end of the wagon was fitted with a screw type coupling rather than the (correct for a Diagram 1/211 wagon) instanter coupling. Oliver helped Nick replace this with a correct instanter type coupling.

Dan helped Tom cleaning up the roof end hoops, then painting them in red-oxide primer. These were then stored away safe for when they are needed for the new roof sheet fitting.

Any remains of tattered roof sheet were removed and the above door noggins were unbolted, although most of the bolts were badly wasted causing them to snap off rather than unscrew.

The internal secondary protective ply panelling side sheets were removed; these will not be re-fitted as they serve little purpose for our use of the wagon as it will not be used for carrying palletised goods. The sheets will be saved for possible re-use elsewhere. The clalk-boards & brackets were removed; and as the rotten side sheets will be replaced, Ross was using the hammer and punch method of seized bolt removal.

Measurements were taken of the wagon in preparation for ordering the replacement roof sheet wood. As we still haven’t found a source for a like for like replacement of the full size sheet of 17’11” x 8’8″ we will do as we have successfully done on other vans, and use four 10′ x 5′ sheets of ¹/₂” plywood cut to width and jointed together with the strips of offcut material.

All the top faces of the roof metalwork were scraped and cleaned of any rust, then given a coat of red-oxide paint.

All twelve of the large door hinges on the Palvan were partially seized up making opening and closing the doors very difficult. Nick and Ross used the oxy-propane to loosen up the hinges after which they were oiled.

Futher detailed measurements were taken for the replacement side panel sheets; including a count-up of the number of new bolts required. Six sheets of ply from our stock were assessed as suitable to use for these replacement sheets and put aside ready for cutting, painting and fitting.

We also decided that we should re-start the work on getting Test Car 2’s generator up and running again. Ross took a look at removing the injectors, one of which was decidedly wet and discoloured compared to the other two. We intend to send these away for testing, and refurbishment as necessary.

Our shed has also suffered from the recent poor weather; a window frame and glass pane had become very loose. This was dealt with by fitting a sheet of ply.

Thanks for reading, join us again next week when we aim to continue the progress with Palvan B781908.

We’ll leave you with another pic of our two recently restored tanks A6090 and 3777 that we hope to see running during the up-coming Winter Steam Gala, all the best, Dave

On the run up to Christmas the team has been busy again with work on the two tank wagons, but we’ve also had to tidy up some damage caused by the high winds this week.

On Tuesday we progressed work on A6090. Whilst Ross and myself chalked and painted the west side Esso logos, Richard took the plunge and had a go at some signwriting too, making a superb job of the Tare and Wheelbase text on the east solebar and also the Tare on the west side. Nick attended to the vacuum hose and dummy end seals on 3777 and painted a few more of the hard to reach areas of the underframe.

Ross then applied the south tank-end number whilst I did the west side number and undercoated for the commuted charge symbol square and star.

I finished the day with the north tank-end number.

On Thursday Tom, Nick and Mark continued with the underframe painting on tank 3777.

Tom also took a look at the axleboxes on A6090, extracting any emulsified oil before replenishing with fresh oil.

During a visit to Quorn later in the morning the team were met with the aftermath of the strong winds. Palvan 781908 which we had cleared out in November ready to start restoration, was looking somewhat battered, the roof missing completely and disintegrated by the winds.

Saturday saw Nick, Ross, Richard and myself at Rothley with the signwriting brushes out again. Ross began with the large tank-side stars on the west side of 3777 whilst Richard applied the Wheelbase text to the west side of A6090.

I busied myself with the Esso Petroleum address text under the number on the west side of A6090.

A chalk line was used to mark the tank barrel centre-line on 3777; this was used to position the Esso Petroleum Company Limited large text template. Ross then traced the text to produce the chalk template on the tank barrel ready for painting.

Richard applied the corner numbers on A6090, whilst Nick applied another coat of yellow to the commuted charge symbol squares and stars.

I chalked out the templates for the Charles Roberts builders plate and the registration plate on the west side of A6090, then applied the paint.

Ross continued on 3777 making a start applying the tank-side lettering.

On Sunday Mark, Tom, Dan, Oliver , Ross, Nick and myself were on-site. Ross, Dan and myself continued with signwriting whilst the others went to Quorn to do some tidying up; also calling in at Swithland to check over and carry out Fitness to Run exams on the tank train.

Ross finished off the west tank-side lettering to 3777.

Dan also working on 3777, applied the east side Tare, Wheelbase & Load text followed by the west side Wheelbase text.

I applied the east side Builders and Registration plates to A6090.

Mark also went round with the black paint tiding up any last bits and I dealt with the final bit of signwriting on A6090, the commuted charge symbols.

Apart from a vacuum pipe leakage test and fitness to run exam, the restoration A6090 is now complete; the tank now very much smarter than it was when it arrived back in August. We’re looking forward to seeing this marshalled into the tank train in the New Year.

Thanks for reading our update, all that remains is for the Quorn Wagon & Wagon team to wish all our followers a very Merry Christmas, all the very best, Nick, Ross, Dave, Richard, Barry, Mark, Tom, Dan & Oliver.

We start September with Test Car 2 open again, this time supporting the Diesel Gala long weekend in some glorious sunshine at Quorn.

Unfortunately we didn’t have the demonstration wagon with the Test Car so no slip/coupling demos; however we still fitted the slip coupling and were able to show the special slip/brake flashing lights unit in action using the diesel brake tender further along the siding to simulate a ‘slipped’ test wagon.

Many thanks to the Type One Locomotive Company for their support this weekend with 1705; this was the first time that Test Car 2 has been coupled with a Class 47 in preservation. On Sunday Mark and Tom helped out welcoming visitors into the Class 47 cab.

In the 1980s a Class 47 was normal traction used to haul Test Car 2 during slip/brake testing; so we’ve been able to re-create (well nearly) the look of this 1987 test train.

Thanks to everyone (including a special visitor) who took the time to visit us in the Test Car and to listen to myself, Barry and Richard talking about how and why British Rail carried out testing of freight wagons.

And thank you to everyone who supported us by purchasing our new booklets, or by visiting our little stall.

In other news Andy & Harry have made a start on the east side of the GUV M94052, during the last week the bodyside has been scraped down and any bare metal treated with red oxide primer.

To end, here’s a few of our pics from the weekend. Join us again next week when we’ll be back to some wagon work, all the best, Dave

A great weekend for our team helping out with the Railways at Work Gala. Oh and a new arrival.

So first we have a new arrival to report, 20T Tank A6090 which was previously at the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway. This tank has an interesting history; spending many years at the Railway Technical Centre in Derby as their internal user fuel tank, 024296.

No time was wasted getting stuck in to assessing the tank, removing some of the additional brackets and pipe; then checking the axleboxes, journals, bearings, oil and oil pads. A start was also made scraping some of the accumulated grime off.

The main focus this weekend has been the Railways at Work Gala, and I think the best way to sum up the weekend is in pictures, so here’s some of ours.

Thank you to everyone who came along this weekend and made it a special, very enjoyable Gala.

Join us again next week when we’ll return to the Pipe wagon. All the best, Dave

Despite the inclement weather continuing, we have had a busy weekend tidying & sorting the theatrical vans in preparation for the upcoming Railways at Work Gala, doing some housekeeping, attending to gutters and a sticky wagon door, progressed the Pipe wagon and we also managed a bit of work on tank 3777.

We’re very much looking forward to the Railways at Work Gala which this year will (amongst many other attractions) feature two Pick-up-Goods trains operating in and out of the yard at Quorn.

It’s therefore important that the we get the right goods in the right places before we start.

Thanks to Jack and Andrew (the phantom box juggler) for their help too.

At our Open Weekend in July, Kiki took part adorned with our friends’ West Hill Wagon Works logos; however in preparation for the Railways at Work event Kiki will receive a more appropriate livery. The first step was to carefully remove the temporary vinyl lettering and clean the paintwork. Kiki‘s new livery will be revealed at the Railways at Work Gala on the 19th August.

The heavy rain on Saturday highlighted to us that some of the gutters on Test Car 2 and the Mess coach had become clogged with muck and debris. These were cleared out allowing the rainwater to flow along the gutters rather than overflowing down the coach sides.

Sunday and the weather improved allowing us to work on the Pipe wagon B740654; after a couple of weeks for the planks to settle we tightened all the door bolts on the west side & south end, and trimmed a couple of slightly long ones.

A final bit of scraping of door furniture then we set about applying some red-oxide primer to the door furniture and stanchions.

Whilst checking the wagons in preparation for railways at work, we came across a very reluctant drop-side door on steel high ADB280364. The cause was a lipped top latch post which was dressed lightly with a grinder and some red-oxide paint applied. This will make the door much easier to open and shut during the loading/unloading demonstrations.

Following the removal of the air driven pump from Tank wagon 3777 last week, the remaining section of pipework was removed. The brackets on the underframe were ground off and red-oxide primer applied.

So despite the weather we’re a lot closer to being ready for Railways at Work Gala, and we’ve made some good progress on the Pipe and Tank.

A quick reminder that our new Pocket Stockbooks are available from the team, pop down and see us at the south end of Quorn & Woodhouse yard at the weekend.

120 Pages with colour pictures and details of all the Quorn Wagon & Wagon group’s rolling stock in a handy A6 pocket sized ring bound booklet.

The Stockbooks are also available from our friends at West Hill Wagon Works and on eBay here.

Lastly pop a date in your diary, 19th & 20th August for the GCRs 2023 Railways at Work Gala, full details are on the GCR WebPage here.

All the best, Dave

Before we start, a quick reminder about next week and our Quorn Wagon & Wagon Open Weekend on the 22-23 July.
Take a close-up look at our fleet of restored wagons, tugs and brutes; talk to the team and find out what wagon restoration is all about.

See our Test Car 2 out for a run with the Heavy Tractor Group‘s Class 37, 37714.

Sorry no public on-board the Test Car on the Saturday, however we welcome visitors on-board for guided tours of Test Car 2 on the Sunday 23 July in Quorn yard.

For anyone wishing to grab picture of the typical 1980s test train with Test Car 2, the provisional departure timings for Saturday 22 July are as follows:-

Loughborough dep – 11:10
Swithland dep – 11:50
Loughborough dep – 12:30
Swithland dep – 13:20
Loughborough dep – 14:25
Swithland dep – 15:25

Also we are pleased to announce that our new ‘UPDATED’ Pocket Stockbooks will be available next weekend, as well as the popular Test Car 2 booklets.

Pop along and see us in the marquee at Quorn to get your copy.

Many thanks, it’s your support that allows us to continue our work restoring & maintaining the fleet wagons and the Test Car.

So this week we’ve made further progress with our 12T Pipe wagon B740654.

The west side top capping clamps were fitted.

Two new treated timber planks were sourced for the north end. The old planks were taken out and the new sized and slotted into place.

The planks were clamped into place, holes drilled and bolted up.

The top capping was fitted to the north end and any excess bolt length was trimmed.

A new label clip block was made for the east side as this was missing.

Edward was started up to provide some air and good progress was made needle gunning the underframe.

Kiki had a quiet naming ceremony.

Thanks to the Heavy Tractor Group who donated some diesel from the scrap Class 37 loco 37605. This will be put to good use in Test Car 2 to fuel the on-board generator that provides us with much needed extra power for our wagon restoration work on-site.

All the best, Dave

Hello and welcome to this week’s update from the team at Quorn.
The week started with us assisting the operations team during some shunting at Swithland sidings, to get some of our wagons sorted ready for our upcoming Open Weekend on the 22-23 July.
The Heavy Tractor Group’s 37714 was in charge of all the wagon movements.

The work on Test Car 2‘s bogies continued at Rothley, cleaning out rust and muck build-up in the bolster spring seats and re-packing to get the ride height within tolerance. The Test Car is now back on its bogies and ready to take part in our upcoming Open Weekend.

Tank wagon 3711 that has been at Rothley awaiting a replacement buffer was also attended to. This is now ready to go into traffic.

At Quorn the work on getting Kiki ready for the Open Weekend continued.
A new seat was manufactured because the old one was not fit for purpose anymore. The seat base and back boards were cut from an offcut of 3/4″ plywood, and new 2″ seat foams cut to shape. Coach bolts for mounting the seat were fitted with countersunk nuts, and the new seat covering material was cut to size.

The foam was glued to the back board then seat covering stapled along all sides of the seat back. The corners were trimmed as necessary, folded neatly and stapled into place.

The same process was carried out for the seat base which was test fitted into place on top of the battery box cover.

A back board trim panel for the seat back was measured, cut to size from an offcut of 1/8″ plywood, then covered and screwed into place.

The whole seat was then assembled with the frame pieces and bolted into place onto the battery box cover.

Kiki‘s front panels were then re-assembled.

The rear load bed was cleaned off and treated to a final scrape before being painted.

Some replacement treated wood planks for the doors of Pipe Wagon 740654 were collected from the timber-yard. The top and bottom planks on each door had new timber whilst the other planks to be replaced were selected from our stock pile.

The south west side door was then dismantled. Some of the seized and stubborn bolts had to be ground off.

One of the hinges needed straightening which required a bit of heat.

The new planks were trimmed to length and the edges bevelled. The door was then re-assembled inserting the new planks and using new nuts & bolts.

The door capping strips were re-fitted to the south west door tops.

The door retarders were fettled, positioned, holes drilled and bolted into place. Bolts were trimmed to length as necessary.

The north west door was then dealt with in the same manner, dismantled, planks cut to length, bevel edged and slotted into place.

The planks were bolted into place, then the retarders re-fitted. The capping strips were then re-fitted.

Pipe Wagon 740654 west side doors are now complete.

The final job on Kiki was to apply the temporary logos of our friends at West Hill Wagon Works who will be supporting us at our Open Weekend on the 22-23 July.
I know we don’t usually like using vinyl’s, however on this occasion it’s the best solution for the temporary livery; and will allow easy removal of the lettering when we get Kiki ready for application of her final colour scheme later in the summer.

Don’t forget to add our Open Weekend date to your diary, 22-23 July 2023.

• Over 20 of our restored goods wagons will be displayed in Quorn yard,
• Visiting wagon groups will have stands inside the Quorn yard marquee along with ourselves and our friends from West Hill Wagon Works,
• Get your camera’s ready on the Saturday (22 July) as Test Car 2 will be out for a run up and down the line representing a typical 1980s British Rail test train. Test Car 2 will also be open to the public for guided tours all day on the Sunday (23 July).
• Our van train will be running on the Sunday too.

There is more information on the GCR’s webpage here – Quorn Wagon & Wagon Open Weekend.

All the best, Dave.

This week the team have taken part in the Great Central Railway’s 50th Anniversary Celebrations, with Test Car 2 open to visitors and the fantastic sight of a 50 wagon train, 34 of the wagons being ones that we have restored!

During the week the operations team had shunted Test Car 2 and tank wagon 60874 into the yard at Quorn ready for the celebration weekend.

Also during the week Nick collected one of the two A-Type containers that are being recovered from next to the loco shed at Loughborough. We’re not yet sure whether they will be saveable, but we’ll keep you posted.

Nick, Thomas, Daniel and Oliver, Tom and Mark helped look after visitors and our stand.

Richard, Jake and myself entertaining visitors into the Test Car.

Throughout the weekend goods trains have been operating, the star of the show being the 50 wagon train on Saturday hauled by BR Standard 9F 92214.
Thirty Four of the wagons in this train were ones that we have restored, the remaining 16 being the Windcutter Project 16T Mineral wagons.

The weather over the weekend had been kind to us, despite the forecast. The thunderstorm did however arrive just as we were packing up on Sunday.

Thanks to everyone who visited us in the Test Car over the weekend, it’s been great to talk to so many interested people, including the Mayor.

All the best, Dave