Author: Dave Bower

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

Hi all, welcome to a rather warm weekend’s update; this week continuing with the work on our Pipe Wagon B740654 and making a start on tidying up Kiki.

At the end of last weekend we’d completed about 1/4 of the floor planks in the pipe, so this week we continued.

More planks were cut to length, rebated and dropped into the floor. Once we have completed the floor plank cutting the planks will have preservative applied before final fitting.

Another potential problem with one of the side door opening retarders was noted. It appears that rust build-up between the spring seat and the underframe had caused the retarder to wedge itself into the frame. The rust was duly chipped out allowing the retarder to spring back into place.

With the area of shade disappearing by early afternoon we concluded work on the floor having now got 3/4 completed.

The external restoration work on Brush Electric Vehicle, Kiki has been started; removing the rotten floor panel, nose panel, electrical control equipment cover, broken seat and the battery box cover/seat mount.

The battery box cover was cleaned up and sanded.

A new floor panel was made from a ply offcut.

The battery box cover, seat mounting and floor panel were primed.

The fibreglass nose panel was sanded.

We hope to have Kiki ready to show off at our Quorn Wagon & Wagon Open Weekend in July.

Our OPEN WEEKEND event will be 22 – 23 July 2023, featuring:-
– A showcase of restored wagons,
– Typical 1980s Test Train with the Heavy Tractor Group Class 37,
– Test Car 2 guided tours,
– Visiting Wagon Groups from around the country,
– Freight train operating,
– Normal Passenger Service with steam and diesel traction,
– Real Ale Bar.

Come along and meet the team who have a passion for turning dilapidated wagons into something a little more presentable.
Here’s a couple of before and after examples:-

We’ll keep you posted with more details of our event nearer the time, in the meantime stick the date in your diary to come and visit us; 22-23 July 2023.

All the best, Dave

Hello and welcome to another Bank Holiday update from the team at Quorn. This week we have made a start on the next wagon for our Mixed Freight.

12T Pipe wagon B740654, built in 1953 at Swindon to diagram number 1/460, was saved from Booths scrapyard and came to the GCR way back in 1988. It is therefore about time for it to receive some well deserved TLC from the team.

The first job was to assess the state of the wagon. Inspection revealed that it needs a new floor, most of the door planks and all the end planks need replacing due to rot. One set of door hinges are seized so the door won’t open.

We set-to measuring up for the replacement wood.

The East side door planks were removed.

Replacement planks were selected from our stock pile of re-useable treated timber. Some of which had to have nails removed before cutting to size.

Once cut to size the new planks were inserted into position and bolted into place.

The doors are fitted with retarders that help control the speed at which the door opens. It was found that these were the problem causing the door not to open. Removing the retarders, adjusting and re-fitting rectified the problem.

Next we moved on to the south end; the planks were removed, grinding and chiselling the rusted and seized bolts as necessary.

Over the years the build-up of rust and muck at the bottom of the end stanchions had slightly twisted the end kerb rail; this was straightened before measuring up and cutting new planks for the end of the wagon.

The stanchions were needle-gunned to clear the old paint.

The new planks were duly slotted into place and bolted up.

The top plank was painted with wood treatment before the capping rail was re-fitted. The south end lamp bracket was also re-fitted.

With the needle guns out, we also cleaned up the south end headstock, east side framework & fittings, and made a start on the west side frame.

The pipe wagon B740654 looking somewhat better by the end of the weekend, but still a lot to do.

Other work we have progressed this weekend includes connecting up some of the water piping in the Mess Coach.

The restoration work on Madge has also been progressing, stripping the dash, removing all the instruments, cable loom, clips etc and taking it back to bare metal. A couple of small repairs will be needed, in the meantime a coat of protective primer has been applied.

Thanks for reading, we’ll be here again next week when it’s also the GCR’s fantastic 1940s Wartime Weekend, where the 1940s are brought back to life with an evocative commemoration of life in wartime Britain, from Friday 2nd to Sunday 4th June 2023.

Hello, this week the team have attended to a ShocVan roof.

Firstly though some mid-week news; Ross and myself took a trip up to see the Barrow Hill Engine Shed Society. Paul Beardsley had visited us last year in Test Car 2, and subsequently invited us to talk to them at one of their monthly presentation sessions. On Thursday after they had shown us around the Roundhouse and sidings, we spent a very enjoyable evening talking to a group of 25 society members about our wagon restoration work at Quorn and also Test Car 2.

With the sunshine over the weekend we took a look at the roof of Shocvan B852838. This van had been restored in 2017 and after 6 years service we noticed that the roofing felt sheets had started to crack and shrink at the joints and roof hoops causing concern that it’s not as water tight as we’d like it to be for storing our re-enactment parcels in.

The old roof covering was removed, carefully extracting it from where it had been stapled to the roof edge laths.

The roof end hoops were removed. Thomas and Dan got to work cleaning them up and painting them with primer.

Some of the roof edge bolts had pulled through the plywood; the nuts were seized therefore these were cut off. Replacement bolts were fitted with penny washers to hold the roof sheet down.

Some of the roof edge laths had rotted and split. We cut new pieces to size and fitted these; G-clamping them in place before securing.

We decided to again use our tried and tested method of roof covering with an old tarpaulin cover sheet. The roof was lightly scraped and cleaned before the cover sheet was dragged over into position.

Once the sheet had been smoothed out, which was made a bit easier with some sunshine to warm it; the roof end hoops were re-fitted with sealant along the edges.

The edges of the sheet were pulled tight and stapled to the underside of the new laths paying special attention to the length above the doors. An extra flap was left to provide a water run-off above the doors.

All the edges of the sheet were then trimmed.

Nick had also taken delivery during the week of a replacement (second hand) wheelset which is destined to go under our coal hopper B425356 which is currently out of traffic due to thin flanges.

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

A diesel themed weekend for the team, we’ve welcomed visitors into Test Car 2 during the Spring Diesel Gala, and started investigating the problems with the Test Cars’ generator.

During the week we opened Test Car 2 as part of a University group visit to the railway. Ross, Richard and myself providing engineering students with insight into the groups work, the Test Car and railway wagons.

On Saturday the Test Car was readied again to greet visitors to the Spring Diesel Gala.

It’s been great to see so many interested visitors in the Test Car which also provided a great viewing area to see the varied traction in operation this Spring Diesel Gala.
The star of the show being the unique visiting Clayton, Class 17 D8568.

Whilst I was busy entertaining visitors in Test Car 2, Ross and Nick fitted and painted a replacement tiller to BEV Tug 9804 ( also known as Kiki ). Those of you who are old enough to remember late ’60s kids TV may recognise the connection between our Electric Tug’s names; Hector, ZsaZsa and Kiki.

Ross also took a look at the filters on Test Car 2. We think the diesel tank may need to be cleaned out, and the fuel system given a good flush through.

Sunday brought a few showers through the day, however we again welcomed a good number of visitors into the Test Car, with Richard and Ross helping out providing an insight into the Test Cars’ history and wagon testing.

Over the weekend we’ve also had our model slip/brake test train on display.

The OO Gauge model of Test Car 2 has been superbly made by Kev Nolan who has very kindly donated it for us to display and help us explain the slip/brake test process to visitors.

The other models making up the typical slip/brake test train are on loan from our friends at West Hill Wagon Works.

Throughout the weekend Hector has been keeping a tight reign on his train of restored Brute trolleys.

Join us again next week when we will hopefully return to some wagon work; all the best, Dave