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We start this update with the announcement that we have reached 100 rail vehicles. Number 100 has been on the railway for a number of years and was transferred to us earlier this year. Currently carrying the number 771908 the vehicle is in fact 781908, a 1960 Wolverton build diagram 1/211 Palvan from lot 3310.

On to the update, it has been another busy one for us, with Dave carrying out some midweek work, applying primer and undercoat to B765272’s east side. Followed by a touch of gloss the day after.

Dave and I popped to Rothley to complete the east side of our little Mineral Project. Our thanks not only to C&W for asking us to do something unusual but to the Windcutter Group for giving permission to do that unusual thing to one of their vehicles.

Not content with signwriting one vehicle we headed to Quorn and the west side of 765272. Dave applying the left hand details whilst I applied the right and XP square.

So why this hybrid scheme I hear you say. Well quite simply thats what was applied to the vehicle. Looking through Paul Bartlett’s excellent site we come across the following image of the vehicle in 1979, removing the metric and condemned markings results in the steam era appropriate scheme above.

Next task on the list, application of underframe black, yes you guessed it, to the underframe. Jake and Dave doing the honours, between spots of rain.

I also applied matt black to the west side data panel in preparation for dates to be applied.

I then completed Dannys repaint. Rear axle, steering arms, inner chassis and some detailing, including the inside of the front wheels.

That was until the curse of the Green paint came back to haunt us. After completion of work mentioned below the new replacement tin, for the one that got thrown over me a few weeks ago, was squashed into the ground. We shall no longer be attempting to paint anything in that shade of green again.

So what squashed the paint?
I am pleased to say Hector did.

Ross spending the day looking at the original batteries, this confirms 3 dead cells as advised by the previous owner. Whilst we look at replacements for these, Ross jury rigged a temporary solution to begin bringing Hector to life.

With 51 volts available nothing seemed to be working until the key is physically held in the on position. This allows you to motor the vehicle.

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What is missing however is the 12v supplies and the ability for the key to latch. This has been found to be a faulty inverter, which takes the incoming supply and drops it to 12v, a new and a spare have been ordered.

But that did not stop us having a little bit of fun.

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We took Hector to the station after getting the handbrake to work on the left hand wheel, this is temporary until we look into the Hydraulic brakes in more depth.

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Next task was to sand down the ends of 765272, New volunteer Steve having the honours with air supplied from the test car.

I applied the details to the data panel and painted the brake cylinder.

Whilst Dave started the sole bar signwriting.

After Steve had worked his magic, I followed up with primer on the bare areas. This included etch primer for the south end vent, which we took back to bare metal due to the paint condition.

It was then on to glossing the ends. the majority of the gloss and undercoat was intact and with the surfaced keyed Steve went for it.

Dave and I began the east side signwriting. Same order as the west side.

This was followed up by a re-coat of the head stocks. Painting the north swan neck and refitting the Instanter couplings.

There was also time to fit a notice to the other tug, this is a replica of those applied to BR platform tugs and was kindly sent to us. Thank you Andy.

Only a few finishing touches to apply next week. We will let you know if we are able to manage them.

Welcome to this week’s update from Quorn; and welcome to Steve who joined Nick, Ross, Matt, Richard and myself over the weekend.

We start by reporting some progress along with the Carriage & Wagon team at Rothley during the week, with a new livery and identity being given to a Mineral wagon which is currently out of use due to structural issues. It is being cosmetically restored to compliment the Class 10’s new livery which will be revealed by GCR (C&W Rothley) in due course.

B765272 which had been progressed last weekend, received undercoat and Gloss from the wagon fairies to its west side during the week.

On Saturday Nick and Steve made a start on the east side of the van, erecting the scaffolding then re-bolting the north end panels.

Next the replacement doors were finished off and fitted to the east side. These had been started by the previous owner and came with the van when it was transferred to us last year.

Matt and Dave got their signwriting brushes out to put the finishing touches to the corporate branding and identity onto Danny. Matt did the number plate.

Whilst Dave applied the ‘British Rail’ legend and Danny’s name.

After last week’s clutch failure on Danny, Ross made a start removing the stubborn flexible drive coupling so that the gearbox could be taken out to get to the clutch.

With the gearbox out it became very clear what the problem was, the clutch release bearing and operating fork had disintegrated into many pieces. New parts will have to be ordered including a new clutch assembly. Dave then took the opportunity to clean up the gearbox whilst it was out ready for a lick of paint.

Matt and Dave took a trip to Rothley in Jerry to apply a couple more items of signwriting to the Mineral Wagon. Matt painted the STOVE lettering whilst Dave attended to the north end NCB legend.

Matt also found time in between other jobs to apply a grey panel to Nicks’ box storage trailer, followed by marking out ready for the next stage; all will be revealed next week!

Sunday saw further progress with the east side doors on van B765272, the door locking bar & respective P-brackets were fitted, and the doors adjusted slightly to close neatly. Any bare wood was then treated.

Underframe and headstock scraping was also progressed in readiness for painting.

The protection plates were then fitted to the lower corners of the doors and undercoated. This side of the van is now ready for a repaint at some point.

Whilst Dave, Ross, Steve and Richard progressed the van, Nick and Matt made a trip up the motorway to a farm in Tupton near Chesterfield to collect our new acquisition, Hector; with thanks once again to Kenway Construction for the loan of the truck.

So lets meet Hector, he’s a 1988 built Lansing battery powered 3-wheel tug, F729CUA.

He was unloaded along with battery pack & charger with the help of the Volvo and our Brush Tractor and trailer.

We didn’t waste much time in getting to know Hector, firstly putting some air in the tyres, the tipping him up to remove the quantities of farm related muck and foliage that he’d acquired in his time at the farm.

We then tried giving him a tug with the Brush Tractor to try and free off the seized brakes.

Unfortunately this didn’t work so Hector was tipped up again to remove the wheels so the drums could be attended to.

With Hector back on his wheels and movable it was time for his first spin around the yard, although he needed a little help from our Brush tractor because his power equipment and batteries need some attention.

Thanks for reading, join us next week to see what we have in store next for Hector.

Hi all, and welcome to another update from a rather crispy Quorn Wagon and Wagon. This week we’ve progressed the van train and yet another support vehicle. First though, the Bogie Bolster is finished! Matt had finished the red stripe on the bearing end caps last weekend, which was the last thing to do before the wagon is released to traffic. It’ll be good to see this in the next mixed freight!

Okay, and now onto Saturdays work, with Nick, Matt and I on site. Nick concentrated on scraping and then applying a coat of PVA to the next van in the rake, B765272.

Matt finished the signwriting on B777728, which completed the repaint of that van. Another few vans had their signwriting attended to as well.

Matt then went on to finish off a small pet project, a new sign for our gate.

I finished off re-assembling Danny, by putting more bolts in the panels that were re-fitted last week. I then adjusted his brakes and the brakes on the Tug. Sadly, no pictures of this!

On to Sunday, with Dave rejoining us after his holiday. Nick and Dave both started by applying primer to the panels that had been PVA’d yesterday.

Matt and I got stuck into finishing the repaint of Danny. Matt started by applying the BR Double Arrow to Danny’s skip.

I started de-greasing the engine, ready for it to be painted. This was done by Dave and myself.

Unfortunately, I also managed to apply most of the tin to Matt, his trousers and the floor. That stopped any ideas of a second coat on the engine and diff! Sorry Matt!

Once the east side of the vans was in shade, Nick and Dave took out the southmost panel on the east side. This was only held in with 5 bolts and hadn’t been sealed to the van. This has now been fully bolted and sealed.

We finished the day with the obligatory big tidy up and a small photoshoot for the 3 BR vehicles. There is still a little bit more to do on Danny, including a very new requirement to replace the clutch!

Thanks for reading and catch us next week to see what we get up to, fingers crossed it will be a bit cooler!

Welcome to this weeks’ update from the team at Quorn with Matt, Nick, Ross, Jake, Richard and myself all around during the weekend. The first job was admiring our superb new team flag that Matt had sourced.

Saturday, and we can report the completion of two box vans, being B784409 and B777171, receiving final signwriting after bodyside door & panel replacements and repairs.

Progress was also made with the signwriting on B783082, the right hand panel detail and Circuit Symbol yellow circle being applied.

Nick made a start on the next van needing attention, B763305. The bodyside panels were scraped to remove the distressed and loose paint.

The Volvo received some attention, pumping up a tyre that appeared to have deflated due to a sticky valve which was probably disturbed when we checked the tyre pressures last week. Ross also took a look at the hydraulic lift locking pin mechanism which was being temperamental, an actuator split pin had come adrift causing the pin to drop out; replacements fixed the problem.

The Bogie Bolster D B928135 also received our attention this weekend; after purchasing some more Lithium EP3 grease for the axle bearings, the east side axleboxes of the wagon could be dealt with.

In turn I removed the axlebox covers, and as we found on the west side, the insides of the covers had been painted; therefore the covers were thoroughly cleaned and all traces of paint removed before refitting and the pumping in of some new grease. By the end of Saturday the north end bogie was completed.

The group had a new arrival on Saturday, a 3T Brush Electric Pony. This was quickly trialled by hauling the recently refurbished Brutes.

Making the most of Sunday mornings’ sunshine, Nick & Ross progressed with the body side panels of B763305. Applying a coat of 50/50 PVA sealer, then allowing to dry before a coat of white primer.

Matt continued signwriting with the number panel and Circuit Symbol on B783082, this completes another box van.

I carried on with the south end axleboxes of the Bogie Bolster D B928135; Jake had also popped in and lent a hand with a bit of grease pumping. Once the axlebox covers were refitted, a white undercoat was applied.

Whilst the primer was drying on the bodysides of B763305 Nick turned his attention to scraping down the bodyside panels and doors of the next van, B786348, then applying a coat of PVA sealer before the white primer.

With the Bogie Bolster D B928135 nearing completion we decided it was time to do a full vehicle inspection and brake test. The old Vacuum Brake test rig was awoken and coupled to the wagon, then full brake operation and leakage tests were completed. A few items were noted including a missing axle upkeep split pin, a dry coupling, a missing vacuum pipe dummy seal and a small leak from a vacuum branch-pipe, all of which were attended to.

Whilst the coupling was being oiled, Matt applied the No.1 wheel identification arrow.

With the white undercoat drying quickly I was able to apply the yellow gloss to the axleboxes. The final item to be completed next week will be the red bands on the east side axleboxes before the wagon can be signed-off to go back into traffic.

A busy weekend with a number of wagons reaching completion helped boost team spirit and the sense of achievement, so we celebrated by raising 3-flags for the 3 completed box-vans.

Thanks for reading, all the best, Dave.

Good evening all, and welcome to another blog post from us at Quorn. This week has been a busy one, including one new arrival, and several vans having had their west side repaint completed. We’ve also added another BRUTE repaint to the growing number.

Firstly, Nick has taken delivery of a 1988 Mk3 Transit van. Christened Tom, the plan is for it to match Jerry. There is currently no timescales for this, it needs a little bit of work before we can get to that stage.

Dave has progressed the repaint of the van train, first applying a layer of PVA to a panel on the GW Shocvan. We are trying this to seal the panel, so we’ll see what happens with that. This PVA solution dried relatively quickly so Dave then applied undercoat to both north end panels.

Both Matt and Dave also did some signwriting on the vans and once Matt had finished that he carried on the repaint of BRUTE number 3, or QW1284. This got a coat of our Trolley Blue and later in the day the details applied, like yellow brake handle and black for the chalking area.

I concentrated on the Volvo, removing the very tired and broken exhaust silencer and trying to sort out some of the niggling issues as a result of that. The exhaust silencer was very rotten and damaged and I’ve come up with a temporary soltuon until we can find a new silencer. I also tried to push grease into all the grease nipples I could find.

After painting Gloss on various vans, Nick and Richard got started on the next two vans to in the queue; B777171 and B783082. The doors and panels got scraped, then spot primed/PVA’d. I also got in on the action with the PVA solution.

That marks 4 more vans with the west side having had a repaint, these being B784409, B850498, B779978 and B780282

Matt and I also took some time to mock up our stand for our visit to Gwili Railway’s Rail Oddities gala next week. We’ve looking forward to visiting and Jerry is looking forward to making more railway friends!

Thanks for reading, Matt and I will report on our trip to Gwili, and we’ll see what we can get done on Sunday. See you then!

Good evening all, and welcome to this week’s update from Quorn. Dave has been attending to a BRUTE, Nick and I have repainted the west side of 2 vans, and Matt has sorted out the west side bearing end caps on the Bolster.

Nick and I started preparing the 2 selected vans, B852838 and B854782. Scraping the frame work and giving the previously glossed woodwork a key.

Dave set to work upon QW1282, attacking it with a brush cup on an angle grinder. Later some degreaser was used on the base to remove the caked on stuff that was there.

A brief interlude for me saw Dave and I repair a small MIG welder we had been donated in order to repair some of the mesh on the BRUTE. Admittedly with both need some more practise, but there is now more meshing attach than when the BRUTE arrived so that can be classed as a win!

Dave got to applying the primer, whereas I rejoined Nick to start painting the very familiar purple/red shade of undercoat to the two vans mentioned.

By the end of Saturday, Dave had finished priming the BRUTE and Nick and I had finsihed undercoating both vans. Sunday saw Matt join us after a work doo on Saturday. My first job on Sunday was to fit a new radio in Jerry, to be a much more period appropriate looking item. Jerry then went to join some other younger Fords in the main yard.

Matt sorted out the end caps on the Bolster, masking, keying and applying the red band to the caps. We are led to believe that the red band denotes that lithium based grease is used in the bearing.

Before starting the Bolster, Matt mixed up a further batch of paint for the second BRUTE which Dave started applying.

Nick and I applied the gloss coat to the shock vans, starting with B852838. We finished the day by applying a layer of undercoat to the next van, B780282. Between them, Dave and Matt had the Brute finished and with the other it really does look splendid!

Thanks for reading, and join us again on Sunday to see what we get up to!