Author: Dave Bower

Welcome to another update from the team at Quorn. We continue to progress the Bogie Bolster D, Jerry and preparations for next week’s Diesel Gala.

Saturday morning and the two Class 37’s thundered past our Mess coach rattling the teacups, doing a shakedown run ready for next weeks’ Diesel Gala, ensuring we were fully awake and ready for the day ahead.

Matt got stuck into painting under the wheel arches of Jerry before fitting his refurbished correct steel wheels. The van now looking much more ‘period’.

We had a visitor, Luke from Dorset who spent some time measuring up our Warflat 8127 in preparation for building a Gauge 1 model.

I joined Richard and Nick progressing the underframe painting on the Bogie Bolster D, there really is a lot of it !

Matt continued with the work on Jerry, primer coating the inside of the rear of the van.

Sunday, Nick and Richard continued with the underframe black painting on the Bogie Bolster, whilst I made a start preparing the Test Car in readiness for opening to visitors during next weekends’ Diesel Gala. Richard popping in to help out with a little intercom system cable repairs.

With the primer dry Matt applied a coat of BR Grey to the rear of Jerry, touched up the yellow edges and cleaned the rear van door windows.

We had a visitor from the Ford Escort Van Forum, which distracted us for a while admiring his very tidy blue Mk4.

With the majority of the underframe on the Bogie Bolster D now in black, Nick oiled the brake rigging and made a start replacing floor planks; by the end of the afternoon he had restored over 3/4 of the bolster floor.

In the late afternoon sunshine Jerry visited the Test Car; and looking forward to next weekend and another opportunity for us to open up Test Car 2 to visitors.

Why not pop in and see us at Quorn & Woodhouse 29-30 April or 1 May, at the south end of the station yard past the signalbox. We will be open as follows:-
Friday 29 April – 10:30 to 16:00
Saturday 30 April – 09:30 to 17:00
Sunday 1 May – 09:30 – 16:00

The team will be on-hand to tell the story of this unique coach, it’s use as a Test Car based at the RTC Derby, and to demonstrate the process of slip/brake testing.

Keeping up the momentum from last weekend, Matt continued with undercoating on the Bogie Bolster D B928135 during the week, completing most of the inner frame structure.

The weekend saw most of the team progressing both the Bogie Bolster and Vanfit B780282.

Saturday started with some template preparation in readiness for signwriting once the frame painting of the Bolster, and the fitting of the new side panels to the Vanfit are completed.

I then joined Richard to continue with scraping, cleaning up and vacuuming the remaining inner frame at the south end of the Bogie Bolster. The flooring hasn’t been removed from the end section as it had previously been attended to and the replacement planks bolted in place.

Primer was then applied.

Our attention then turned to the Vanfit B780282 for which two replacement side panels had been cut, primed, undercoated and painted a couple of weeks ago. About half the bolts holding the two side panels came out quite easily, whilst the remainder required seeing to with a grinder and/or a hammer & chisel.

By the end of the afternoon we had extracted all the bolts ready for the side panels to be removed.

On Sunday I removed the chalkboard and door holdback catch. The chalkboard was almost as rotten as the panel it was attached to. A new board was therefore required, so an offcut of ply was cut to size, sanded and primed.

Matt & Nick then helped final removal of the rotten panels before scraping, cleaning and vacuuming out the frame edges.

A metal primer was then applied to the inner surfaces of the frame.

Once the primer had dried, the panels were offered up to the frames, unfortunately a small amount needed to be trimmed off the top each panel to give a snug fit. Sealant was then applied around the edges of the frame before carefully sliding each panel in-turn into place, starting with the panel nearest the door.

Holes for the bolts were then drilled through the ply, bolts fitted and nuts tightened ensuring an even level of tightness around the panels.

The final jobs of the day were to re-fit the door hold back catch and trim any excess sealant from around the panel edges.

Thanks for reading, tune in next week when we will hopefully have the weather to progress the paintwork on the Bogie Bolster.

All the best, Dave

Well what a weekend! Sunshine, Scarabs, sacks, parcels, barrels, goods trains, shunting, tractors, a crane, painted panels, a new arrival, and on top of that an awards ceremony.

Friday saw Richard and myself at Quorn helping with preparations for the Railways at Work Gala weekend ahead. Visiting Scarabs, James’s ETB438E and Chris’s WLD720 arrived, and Madge was woken up. We collected the trailers and positioned them in the yard. We also tidied up the parcels storage van in readiness for some unloading demonstrations.

Barry also arrived with his very smart Austin Van.

RAILWAYS at WORK 2022

Saturday, and with the whole team on-site, the pick-up goods made an early departure from the yard behind Standard tank 80080, leaving us time to get the Scarab’s started and some parcels loaded onto the trailers.

Whilst myself, Ross and Jake donned our period working dress, Nick and Richard progressed applying some Bauxite top-coat paint to the next batch of van side repair panels.

It was great to see so many visitors at this Railways at Work weekend, many of whom were very interested and keen to talk about the vehicles & how goods were transported in the past. It all seemed to pass very quickly, probably because we were all kept busy in the glorious sunshine loading and unloading parcels from the pick-up goods, the vans and the road vehicles.

The police helped keeping road vehicle movements running smoothly, and made sure the local trainspotter was kept in order.

In between the shunt movements Jamie and Pat provided demonstrations of wagon loading and unloading using the railway’s 15T Crane DRA81549, Single Bolster wagon B916549 and Jamie’s tractor.

Apart from one minor repair required to one of the side doors of shock wagon B724570, all went really well and everyone enjoyed taking part in what was a fabulous weekend.

As proceedings drew to a close on Sunday and the pick-up goods was returned to Quorn by D123; it was great to get the whole Railways at Work team together at Quorn & Woodhouse for a ‘team’ pic.

Alongside the Railways At Work Gala, this was also the weekend of the Heritage Railway Association Awards. We were nominated and shortlisted for the Morgan Award for Preservation, for our 17 vehicle long Van Train.

Members of the Quorn Wagon & Wagon team went along on Saturday evening to the Burlington Hotel in Birmingham to find out if we had won in our category.

We are pleased to say we did indeed win, which marks a second Morgan Award win for us!

We’ve also had a new arrival to the road vehicle fleet this weekend, Matt showing off his F reg Ford Escort van F572NNO; stay tuned to future updates to see what we have in store for this period van.

All the best, Dave

Welcome to another update from the team at Quorn; this week we continue with the work on the van train, enjoy the Quorn Swapmeet, and fill some more sacks ready for the Railways at Work Gala.

Saturday saw Nick, Ross and myself on site in the morning; although cold it was bright and dry so we gathered tools and equipment making our way down the yard.

Whilst I progressed with the signwriting on the replaced side panel of  B779978, Nick and Ross continued where they had left off last week and completed the fitting of the new side panel on Vanwide  B784409. Sealant being applied between the panel faces and the steelwork of the wagon before bolting it into place.

Once B784409s new panel was in place, I marked out and applied the black for the data panel in readiness for signwriting tomorrow.

Matt joined us in the afternoon, bringing with him some newly acquired sacks, which we promptly set about filling with old clothing, underlay and cardboard.

These will greatly increase our collection of sacks that will be used in re-enactment events and goods loading demonstrations at future galas.

Make a note in your diaries for the upcoming ‘Railways at Work’ Gala, 19-20 March 2022, more details here:- Railways at Work 2022

Our attention then turned to B763305 for which we had made new doors a few weeks ago. With the scaffolding in place we set about removing the old hinge nuts and bolts, most of which put up quite a fight to being removed, therefore needing some extra persuasion from the grinder.

We left a couple of bolts in place on each door to hold them until tomorrow when we’d have time to complete the removal and replacement.

Sunday morning felt quite a bit warmer; we started the day browsing the Quorn Swapmeet that had set-up in the yard early.

As the sun came out Nick, Ross and Richard got started on the removal of the doors from B763305.

I continued with the signwriting on the new side panel of B784409, fitting the pre-prepared template, and chalking up ready for signwriting.

Once complete I joined Nick, Ross, Jake and Richard progressing the fitting of the new doors on B763305. After a trial and checking the locking bar position some routing was required to inset the P-brackets so the doors would catch and lock into place smoothly.

After reconfirming the door-fit, holes were drilled and the hinges were bolted into place.

The P-brackets for the locking bar and lock plates were then primed and fitted onto the doors.

Nick also attended to trimming and neatening up the sealant around the edges of the newly fitted panels.

With the side panels on B779978 and B784409 complete, and the new doors fitted to B763305, we look forward to next weekend preparing for the another batch of van train work; the new side panel on B854782 still needs signwriting, and B777171 needs some side panel attention; so until next week, thanks for reading & all the best.

Hi all, welcome to this week’s update. Just a quick reminder, if you haven’t seen a copy yet of the March issue of Trackside Magazine, it’s well worth a read, we’re featured in a fantastic six page spread.

The blustery weekend started early for us, with Nick receiving a call on Friday advising that our temporary workshop at Quorn was affected by storm Eunice; a quick inspection in the afternoon revealed no serious damage, just a ridge plate piece that was flapping in the wind and thankfully nothing had become detached.

Saturday therefore started with Nick and myself making necessary repairs to the workshop roof, firstly erecting our scaffolding tower, then manufacturing and fitting a repair cap plate and adding a few extra rivets to ensure the end of the ridge piece can’t flap in the wind again.

Just as we were finishing the roof repairs the heavy rain set-in again, so our plans to start fitting the prepared van side sheets had to be postponed, we retreated to the mess coach with a cuppa to decide what to do next.

Thankfully the rain eased and after an early lunch with Matts’ help we made a start replacing the load bed floor of the old GCR pickup truck, the ownership of which has recently transferred to our group. The floor was decidedly rotten, not really surprising as it has been languishing out of use at Rothley for over two years.

After the floor had been removed and the framework channels cleaned out we measured up, cut and fitted some second-hand but solid ply floor sheets from our stock.

With the load bed repaired this truck will be extremely useful for us for moving things around and providing a large and stable working platform.

Matt has been asked whether he could help with some information and images about Collico containers for an upcoming article for the Great Western Trust; therefore his collection was suitably posed in the yard in between the showers.

Unusually we have to wrap-up the update early this weekend as we all have other priorities on Sunday.

Look forward to cracking on with the van side and door fitting soon, weather permitting; so until next week, all the best.

Hi all, welcome to this week’s update from Quorn. After completing the cladding on the temporary workshop building last week, we were keen to make use of the under-cover working area and get back to progressing some wagon work. With most of the team on-site the building was adorned with a period sign that Matt had sourced, it’s now officially for ‘British Railways – Company Vehicles Only’

Before we started Nick and myself inspected the van train to take note of exactly which side panels and doors need attention. Most of the work is needed is on the weather beaten west side of the vans, and although most can dealt with by sanding and repainting, the worst ones will need panel or door replacements. Armed with the list, we decided that priority one had to be the replacement of the west side doors on 1952 Vanfit B763305 which are decidedly rotten especially around the lower hinges.

We prepared the inside the new workshop by rigging up some temporary lighting and moving in two steel flatbed trolleys that provide an ideal workbench to make the new doors on; previously acquired sheets of ply were then fetched ready to start marking out and cutting.

Whilst marking out the first door sheet we found that the ply had started to delaminate along a short section of one edge. Not wanting to waste precious plywood, we set about gluing and clamping the affected edge which was then put aside to dry overnight.

The second sheet was ok so this was marked out and cut to size, the offcuts being used for internal framing and hinge supports. The edges were all sanded, clamped together and the first door was assembled.

With most of the team here we took the opportunity to get our heads together (over a cuppa of course) and collate some thoughts to feed into the planning for the Railways at Work gala which will take place 19 – 20 March this year.

https://www.gcrailway.co.uk/Railways-At-Work-Gala/

Sunday saw Ross, Nick, Richard and myself continuing with the timberwork for the van repairs, and despite the very blustery, wet weather we were able to progress well inside our workshop. The ply sheet edge repair we had glued on Saturday was unclamped and thankfully dried very well, so this was tidied up with a quick sand.

The second door for B763305 was marked out, cut, and assembled, including internal diagonal braces required for these doors.

The original doors on this early BR Vanfit B763305 were planked rather than ply sheets of the later vans, therefore in order to retain the correct external appearance, we routed the outer face of the ply doors to represent the planking with a V cutter.

With the timberwork on the doors for B763305 finished we turned our attention to preparing new side panels for B779978, B784409, B850498 and B854782, all of which need one of their eight panels replacing.

Each van was inspected and the panel sizes measured, then four more sheets were brought into the workshop and in-turn marked out, cut to size & sanded.

After a quick tidy-up, and putting up some extra lighting, the outer faces of the two doors and six prepared panels were painted with wood primer.

We look forward to next weekend and progressing with undercoat and gloss paint on these panels, then planning the fitting; fingers crossed for some better weather for this.

All the best, see you next time.

Our focus this weekend has been progressing the assembly of our temporary building that will provide a much needed covered working area for the team.

Eddie, Richard, Ross, Jake, Nick and myself were on-site on Saturday, making the most of the dry conditions we modified and attached a replacement section of roof supporting angle, before continuing fitting the roof sheets; some tell-tale weathering of the roof sheets helped us work out which ones fitted where.

We completed eight of the twenty roof sheets and one ridge capping before running out of serviceable J-bolts; more have been ordered but they won’t be here until next week.

Having come to a halt with the roof, our attentions turned to an offending lump of buried concrete that was fouling the door, Eddie successfully chipped away at this until it was clear. Richard and myself then drilled-out all the old pop-rivets from the end frames, some being more stubborn than others.

Some of the side cladding panels unfortunately had graffiti, this was cleaned as best we could before starting fitting, by the time it got dark one rear end panel and the full length of the east side were fitted in place, re-using the old j-clips. Some further securing with pop rivets will also be required.

Seeing as this weeks update is a little light on wagons, I thought a Saturday morning’s sunrise pic of a couple vans and a brake on the Quorn turntable would be good.

On Sunday with Nick, Ross and Eddie on-site work continued with the rear and west side cladding panel fitting, and some primer paint was applied to cover the remains of graffiti that could not be cleaned off.

By the end of the day all side cladding was fitted and secured, Ross and Nick also managed to salvage a few more J-bolts so four more roof sheets were fitted too.

Now, we are one-up on Monty Python’s trainspotter, Arthur Jackson, and we can quite rightly say, we have “two-sheds”. Arthur ‘2 Sheds’ Jackson

Join us again next week, all the best.

Our first full weekend of 2022 with most of the team on site started slowly due to the torrential rain on Saturday morning, however we kept ourselves busy labelling up some toolboxes and sorting some sacks ready for filling to create some additional theatrical loads. It was great to see Matt who has been absent recently due to struggling with health issues, nothing terminal but his involvement will be reduced until fully recovered.

Once the rain had eased Nick and Jake took a look at the north end screw coupling of Palshoc van B855667. The coupling that had been fitted temporarily last year during its restoration was slightly long being of the type more suitable for use on coaching stock, this meant that when coupled to an adjacent van there was a large gap between the buffers. A correct wagon type screw coupling with a shorter loop had been sourced and was fitted, centrally adjusted and oiled.

Matt, Ross and myself made a start of filling the theatrical load sacks with old clothing and carpet underlay to boost the amount of typical freight loads that can be used during demonstrations and upcoming events this year. A total of twelve sacks were filled and tied.

The next challenge was making space in a theatrical load storage van for the sacks, luckily it was just a matter of re-arranging what was in there and packing things more neatly.

In contrast to the previous day’s rain, the bright sunny start to Sunday saw Nick, Matt, Ross and myself make our way to Swithland sidings to attend to the securing ropes on container B55897B that is loaded in Medfit B458484 in readiness for it’s possible use during events in January. Although blocks and sleepers actually do the main task of holding the container, in order to give the prototypical look the ropes are fitted as per BR20427, Instructions for the loading and securing of containers on rail vehicles.

The visit to Swithland also gave us the opportunity to take a look round some of the wagon fleet that we haven’t seen for a while, it’s always good to keep a check on how things may be deteriorating but thankfully no major issues were noted, although it’s clear that some wagons will need to feature in the future work plan before too long, such as the two Tube wagons B732357 and E301588.

Once back at Quorn Matt and myself took the opportunity to have a cursory walk round the van train that was stabled in the sidings at Quorn. The paint on a few of the chalk boards was noted to be cracked and peeling off vans B780282, B786348, B850498 and B852838, mostly on the west side which seems to suffer more from the weather. The boards were sanded and repainted.

Ross continued with the inspection of the vans to determine which ones are going to be priority for attention to body side panels in the coming months, again an issue mostly on the west side of the wagons.

In readiness for an upcoming event in which the 17 strong van train is required, the operations department arrived with a Class 08 shunter to carry out a full-train brake test. D4137 was duly coupled to the south end of the vans and thankfully all was in order with the brake test.

We then concentrated on clearing up the yard ready for a temporary structure to be erected for which we have now received permission from the railway to proceed with. The Volvo was rather reluctantly coaxed into life to assist with moving a few heavier items, and it was great to get Madge started after a long period out of use, although she didn’t start first time, this was down to using a bit too much choke; once she’d fired up she ran smoothly.

The end result of the yard tidying was a nice clear area ready for the next stage.

Our afternoon was spent in the company of Nick Brodrick, editor of Trackside Magazine who came along to meet the team and see what we’re up to.

Needless to say this involved some photographs, thankfully the afternoon sunshine didn’t disappoint.

Thanks for reading, join us again next week; in the meantime stay safe.

We start this weeks update by wishing Nick a very Happy Birthday. As we tried to warm up on a chilly but bright Saturday morning, Ross, Jake, myself and young Thomas (who joined us for the first time) eagerly watched Nick and his first challenge of cutting up his cake to go with our cuppa, thanks to Ross for his excellent Carrot Cake.

Making the most of the dry morning we finished off chiselling out the stanchion holes in the replacement the Bogie Bolster, bolster top timber that had been started a couple of weeks ago. We then cleaned up the top face of the bolster plate and did a trial fit of the timber ensuring all holes were aligned.

The original timber of this south end bolster was decidedly rotten prompting its replacement, however the timbers on the other four bolsters are thankfully in a much better condition.

The bolster plate was treated with some bitumen paint before placing the timber on top.

As most of the original securing bolts had wasted we had to source some replacements from our bolt collection, however most needed a die-nut running down the threads before fitting through the top plate, timber and bolster.

The stanchions were installed and retention chain ends secured.

As the rain set-in on Saturday afternoon we started measuring up the floor at the south end which also needs a couple of replacement timbers; but we’re now another step closer to having the bogie bolster ready for painting…. once the weather allows.

Sheltering out of the rain we turned our attention to further cleaning up and tidying work, plus some electrical equipment checks and repairs, making use of the newly installed and very useful electrical equipment workbench in the mess coach.

After the excitement of yesterday, today has been a bit quieter. Ross spent the day manufacturing brackets to fit a AC to DC converter in the electrical cubicle. This will be used through the winter instead of the ailing batteries on the coach.

Nick removed the rotten timber from the end of the Bolster, ready for a new one to take its place.

Richard also returned to us after some time away recovering from the effect of COVID-19. After a quick tour around how we’re setting the place up, he set to work with Nick cleaning out the ends of the Grampus. The dirt collects in the ends around the hinges and on top of the headstock. This holds onto the moisture and accelerates the build-up of rust.

Now that the power supply was fitted, we turned on all the lights on the coach. Ross went to a position of safety on the other side of the line to take a picture.

Join us again next week, all the best.