Author: Dave Bower

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

Hello and welcome to an Easter holidays update from the team at Quorn.

The big news this week is that our two ex.VTG, 1966 built TTA tank wagons have finally arrived from Gascoigne Wood (near Selby). The first to be delivered was 60879 (original number 1919) on the 3rd April, the second 60874 (original number 1802) arrived late on the 3rd and was unloaded on the 4th April 2023.

A total of thirteen wagons have been saved from the last batch of twenty-two, 4-wheeled tank wagons to operate on the mainline network. These two and another 11 which have been saved by the National Wagon Preservation Group at the Dean Forest Railway. They were latterly used for aviation fuel transportation between Grangemouth and Prestwick Airport.

We plan to restore both the tanks into a 1960s period livery; 1919 will be used by the GCR as an additional water carrier tank, whilst 1802 will be restored for inclusion into the tank train.

Making the most of a couple of days of sunshine during the week, the undercoat was applied to the plate wagon E212315.

On Good Friday, Nick, Mark, myself, Dan and Oli were on site and we got to work with the gloss Bauxite paint on the plate wagon.

By the mid-afternoon the plate wagon was looking much smarter.

Dan and Oliver helped me with our first good inspection of the new arrivals; our Vehicle Condition Survey forms were completed for each tank wagon. Overall they are in very good order with only minor work being required to make them operational.

On Saturday with just Nick and myself on site a few areas on the underframe were attended to in preparation for paint, including some stubborn rusting where the label clip block had rotted away. The air line was used to clean down any debris.

As the sun came out and things began to warm up, I made a start on giving the plate back its identity. The previously prepared templates were chalked and aligned on the wagon side doors; the numbering was then outlined to give a neat chalk template for signwriting.

The running number, load capacity, tare weight and wagon name were then applied to both sides.

On Sunday Nick, Mark and Dan continued with work on the plate; the non-original steps on the west side that were added for its crane jib runner duties by BR, were removed. The east side ones having been removed prior to preservation. The east side label clip and block were replaced.

Next it was out with black container paint and brushes to tackle the west side of the underframe.

Both headstocks were also painted.

Despite the typically wet start to the bank holiday Monday weather Nick, Mark, Dan, Oliver and Tom managed to complete the painting of the east side underframe.

At the end of the Easter weekend we have a very respectable looking plate wagon E212315.
The last few bits of signwriting on the underframe and detail painting are on the agenda for next weekend.

Join us again next week; all the best, Dave

Welcome to April’s first update from Quorn. Time for a bit of a tidy-up, but we couldn’t resist continuing with work on the bare plate wagon E212315. It was also great to see trains running past us at Quorn again after completion of the bridge repairs.

Danny was called upon to help with the tidying up trips to the skip.

Seeing as the Hydrovane compressor trailer had been so useful last week, we decided to extract it from it’s long-time resting place on the dock to make it more accessible for use.

The dock space was cleared of some foliage and the old floor planks from the Plate wagon were used to make a bed to allow us to tidy up the spare van body sections.

The Hydrovane compressor has found a new mobile home being secured onto the back of the pick-up.

We then got stuck into needle gunning the remaining areas of the Plate E212315

A start was made measuring up and working out what lettering and numbering templates will be required for the signwriting once the Plate is painted.

We continued on Sunday with the final preparations of the plate E212315 ready for painting.
Door tops and bottoms had any paint removed.

Door and body-end inside faces were scraped.

The needle guns were used to remove any last bits of stubborn paint around the door hinges and buffers.

One of the door centre stanchions was noted to be a little stiff so this was freed off.

The whole wagon was then swept and any remaining dust and paint debris blown off with compressed air.

With paint brushes in-hand and paint kettles charged we set too with the Primer.

Well, we did say we would be painting a ‘plate’ today!

Back to the wagon and the painting continued.

By the end of the afternoon the doors, kerb rails and body ends were all in primer.

Thanks for reading, join us again on the 10th April for the Easter weekend update.

Welcome to our Quorn Wagon & Wagon update from the first week of March 2023.

1937 built LNER Plate wagon E212315 arrived at the GCR way back in 1997, and has been seen over the years operating in many mixed freight formations; however we thought it was about time we made a start on some well overdue restoration work.

The first task was to remove the old rotten floor planks, which revealed quite a lot of loose underframe surface rust, however the framework itself was found to be in very good overall condition.

Mark, Tom, Daniel and Charlie all helped Nick & Ross scraping and cleaning the underframe.

Once the underframe was scraped, cleaned and swept, a start was made applying bitumen paint to the inner faces of the framework that will be covered up once the new flooring is fitted.

A start was also made on scraping the side doors which revealed some original paintwork, numbering and lettering.

On Sunday I joined Ross & Nick to continue with the Plate underframe work.

The framework along the middle section of this wagon is 2″ lower than the side frames, therefore wooden battens are fitted on top of the frame longitudes to support the flooring planks that are laid across the wagon. These battens were all found to be rotten when the floor was removed, therefore replacements are required.

Ross and myself set about recovering some old floor planking, removing nails, measuring up and slicing to make the replacement battens.

Nick continued with the bitumen painting of the underframe inner surfaces.

The new battens were trimmed to give neat joints between each other, then marked and drilled for the mounting bolts. Our small pillar drill was temporarily mounted to the wagon underframe to help the process.

The replacement battens were all fitted in place with temporary bolts. They will be removed again next week for painting and final fitting once we have obtained some new coach bolts.

Join us again next week for some more Plate work, all the best, Dave

This week the team has been split, with Madge getting the attention at Quorn whilst the Coal Hopper saw progress at Rothley.

The Coal Hopper has been at Rothley for a while now and the decision was taken some time ago to get it painted before we move back to Quorn. A few weeks ago, Dan, Tom and Oliver scraped the wagon down. During this week, Thomas painted the inside of the hopper which then leaves us with the outside and the underframe. The underframe painting will come later, so Ross and Nick focused on the outside of the hopper. With Nick spotting, Ross made good time in spraying the hopper into the now familiar pink dark red undercoat.

Matt and myself were joined by Jack to make a start on Madge’s restoration. The garage was tidied and our collection of Scarab spares sorted through to see what may or may not be useable.

Once we had the garage workspace cleared we got stuck into the careful dismantling and labelling of parts from Madge. The first goal being to remove the cab so the terminal tin-worm that has taken hold in some of the panels can be attended to.

The cab doors were removed followed by the nose end, bumper, windows, seats, cab floor and nose end partition panels. She is now looking somewhat naked.

The next stage will be to unbolt the cab structure and remove so we can fully assess the panel work required, especially around the lower edges.

Back at Rothley Ross with Mark spotting, painted the hopper with 2 coats of Bauxite Gloss.

Nick with Dan and Tom took the wheelset swapped out of 3711 back to Quorn. When back at Rothley, Nick with Mark, Dan and Tom got the paint bruhses out, painting around the top of the hopper, and touching in some areas not easy to get with the spray gun. The team then moved onto black gloss on the underframe.

Ross took a look at the bearings on the ‘new’ wheelset fitted to 3711. A visual inspection and a grease purge is all that was required.

Lilibet helped out with some rubbish removal trips to the skip, showing off the new yellow British Railways livery on the shortened trailer that Matt has been working on.

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

We’re thankful to be out of the elements in the workshop at Rothley again this weekend. This means we have been able to progress the paintwork on 3711 and also take a look at the brakes on sister tank 3436.

3436 shunted into the workshop next to 3711.

With the shed foreman keeping a close eye on things throughout the weekend, Ross & Nick got stuck into the removal of the vacuum cylinder from 3436.

The vacuum release valve was removed and dismantled to find an amount of wet sludge inside, so Ross cleaned and rebuilt this with new seals.

The vacuum brake cylinder was dismantled and apart from cleaning this only required a new rolling ring and dome seal.

The vacuum cylinder was re-fitted and the branch pipe re-connected.

Whilst Ross and Nick were busy with 3436, I concentrated on the signwriting on the west side of 3711.

Then the tank-end numbers.

Sunday, and Ross joined me with some signwriting on 3711, finishing off the bodyside numbers and the solebar details.

Tom also helped with some detail painting, whilst Dan and Mark helped Nick with the removal of the vacuum cylinder from 3711. Although we had overhauled this cylinder a few weeks ago, when tested we found a problem with the partial brake application suggesting that the rolling ring was leaking past, therefore it was likely to need an oversize ring. An appropriate rolling ring was fitted and the cylinder re-instated under the wagon.

With the Class 10 shunting locomotive being operational today to move some grampus wagons to Swithland sidings, we took the opportunity when it returned to use its vacuum to carry out a brake test on the tank wagons.

Despite the showers the tanks were shunted out of the workshop.

5209 was also still at Rothley, so was duly coupled to 3436 and 3711 making this the first sight of our ‘TRIO’ of Esso tank wagons together.

The vacuum brake tests then being carried out successfully on all three tank wagons.

With a few small jobs still to do on 3711 before it can be released to traffic, but I think you’ll agree it does look a little different from when it arrived from Meldon Quarry in September 2021.

Join us again next week to see how we get on; all the best, Dave