Its time for the first public opening of Test Car 2 in 2022.
Once again the wife and I are using the Mess coach to its full potential. Staying on site for this bank holiday weekend. First task on arrival Thursday evening, setting up barriers and signage.
On to Friday with Dave and I opening the doors.
Jerry also made his public debut loaded with test equipment for the Test Car.
For Dave and I that was our weekend, assisted by Nick, Ross and Richard various times throughout the weekend. Saturday was completed with a chippy as the trains ran in to the night.
Eireni and Michelle manned our new sales stand, all proceeds going back into the wagons, many thanks to those who purchased, visited and supported us.
On the wagon front, Nick completed the underframe paint of the Bogie Bolster and refitted the remaining floor planks on Saturday. Final task is to paint the bogies, the request has been sent to the Ops department who hopefully will be moving it out of the dock to allow completion of the vehicle.
Sunday, Nick and Ross replaced the final side sheet requiring replacement this year, this being on the west side of B786348.
On to Monday and the Mixed traffic event with the mixed freight in operation.
After many failed attempts to pin down the colour for the Brutes, I decided to turn chemist and mix our own, using up some of the left over enamel paint from previous projects.
More than happy with the colour match.
The brake handle was also painted yellow towards the end of the day.
There has been so many images/videos from the event but the following from Jason Cross gives a flavour of the event. including some dodgy wagon fitters at the end.
We shall once again be opening the Test Car next Saturday for the bus rally, with Jerry on site the sales stand open, please come and say hello.
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.
As mentioned in the last update, Ross and I are having a week to focus on my 1988 Escort van, christened Jerry. Amongst that a splattering of other projects, weather permitting.
On to Monday, with the prep work carried out over the weekend, we jumped straight into it, well if I’m honest we didn’t. First I dropped off my recently acquired steel wheels for refurbishment. Followed by a spring clean of B954268 but more on that lower down.
Then we jumped straight into it! A wipe down to remove contaminants that may have settled overnight, whilst Ross mixed the primer/sealer. This was applied thinly and will require a second coat, but we shall have to wait 8 hours.
What to do with this time? We decided before the week that we would look at those little nitty-gritty projects that need to be progressed.
The BRUTEs (British Rail Universal Trolley Equipment) Entering service in 1964 means they did see steam but only just. Our main intention, like our collection as a whole, is to maintain them and evoke those memories for people of the National network gone by.
We selected those that required light conservation, with the aim of undercoating one a day, given the above weather caveat.
It was given a wire wheel and then rained. It’s ready for primer and better weather.
I’m staying on site in our luxury Mess coach and for the evening was joined by Nick and also Owen from Chasewater, Owen is responsible for a certain set of Coal Hoppers, so we had a night of Pizza, talking wagons and painting box van side panels.
On to Tuesday, second coat of primer for Jerry.
The main event for Tuesday however was a visit by fellow Railway enthusiast turned brake van owner, Ollie Simons.
What originally started as a paint enquiry quickly developed into a opportunity for Ollie to view some of our fleet and specifically our two BR standard brake vans.
Ollie is the mastermind behind the Wardle Road Youtube channel and Facebook page. He has recently extended his hobby from OO gauge to 12inches to the foot gauge. If you have not seen his work or his channel, We throughly recommend it.
For his visit we warmed up B954268 and spent a day talking wagons. Ollie’s video from his visit is below;
The weather once again hindered plans, so we stripped Danny for paint and Nick arrived to add Gloss to the side sheets.
One of the advantages of staying onsite is the opportunity to see the behind the scenes workings of the GCR. A morning of loading the ballast hoppers and prep of a tamper.
On to Wednesday, and the main target for the whole week.
If you have not guessed already, we are heading for……………
British Rail Yellow, Golden Yellow, Warning panel Yellow, BS381C 365, call it what you wish, its safe to say its Yellow.
However the start was delayed by a faulty pressure switch on the compressor.
This gave me time to assemble the sign-writing templates as the weather once again decided no primer for the brute.
With the compressor repaired Ross mixed the paint.
Then applied 3 base coats.
Unfortunately, two areas reacted poorly and after a break for lunch this was sanded and reprimed
Once the primer had dried 3 layers of yellow were applied.
Although once again remedial action is required to the rear left wheel arch.
Thursday and for me the first time this year with the sign-writing brushes. I’ll let the images do the talking;
The lettering is applied as per BR14222 Painting and lettering schedule for British Rail road vehicles. Issued in 1986, this does state signwriting and the use of imperial units for the unladen weight.
The only addition being the vehicles name.
Whilst I was working my magic and with the sun in the sky, Ross was finally able to apply primer to the Brute. So much for the plan of doing one a day!
After primer, Ross tended to Jerry’s wheel arch in appropriate attire.
Friday, with all but Jake on site. For me and Ross, applying the lacquer to Jerry. First step as always, blow down then mix
Then application.
With that done the door was locked, mainly to stop me from prodding the soft paintwork.
With the hint taken I cleaned primed and top coated my wiper arms.
Nick was on van sides, assisted by Ross after work on Jerry, preparing B784409s North west side for removal.
Dave took on the task of sign-writing B780282 after its side sheet replacement last week.
Richard made a start on B928135 painting the outer frames, whilst I looked at the inner frames.
In a moment of madness, likely due to the sun, I modified a men at work sign to give warning of Nicks hammer habits.
Then to wrap up the day there was enough time to start removing some of Jerry’s masking.
Saturday just Nick, Richard, and Ross on site. Nick and Ross continued the side sheet replacement, removing the old one, scraping and painting the metalwork, and then fitting the new side.
Richard continued painting the solebar on the Bogie Bolster, with Ross assisting once the Vanwide was finished. Nick had a visitor in the afternoon, Dillon James and his wife. Dillon from the Mid Hants Railway wagon group was up visiting family and popped in to say hello and reminesse over Nick’s photo albums.
On to Sunday with Nick, Dave, Richard and, I on-site. Dave assembled the templates and then sign wrote B777171
Dave also applied the data panel dates to B784409 whilst Nick painted the nut heads around the replaced panel.
With their individual tasks complete, Dave and Nick joined Richard on the Bolster progressing the underframe repaint.
This was interspersed with a task on the Test Car. Due to some jack rust under the South West corner, that door had become stiff to open. So a touch of chiseling, hammering and packing the door hinges we now have a smoother operating door. This is in preparation for the GCR Diesel Gala when we will be opening the Test Car for the first time this year.
Dave also replaced the eastside wagon label clip block on the Bogie Bolster
For me and ably assisted by my wife Michelle, we demasked and refitted the removed components from Jerry. As well as brand new period appropriate number plates.
I also sanded down and painted the rear bumpers.
Apart from steel wheels and a polish that’s about it for the external alterations.
Finally we cover Monday, Nick and I on site. Focusing on the Bogie Bolster. Sign-writing for me. Back of the templates chalked and affixed into place.
Templates marked to transfer the chalk line
Then painted, including wagon plate a brake release stars.
Painting of the underframe was the order of the day for Nick.
We also did a few details. Vacuum and Air pipes as well as the identification plates on the removable Bolsters.
With that, that completes this update, my congratulations for staying with me. I’m going to let someone else write next weeks update.
Evening everyone and welcome to another QW&W update. This weekend we’ve had most of the gang around for the weekend, so have been able to do a fair amount of work progressing several projects.
Dave and Richard continued work on the Bogie Bolster, painting the interior of the sides and ends which have been sat in undercoat all week. Dave also did an extra coat of gloss on the exterior of the sides and got the stanchions.
Nick and I made a start on removing the rotten side sheets from B777171. As with the last tranche of side sheets we’ve replaced, these have been ready for some time sat in gloss. Removal was a mixture of impact gun, and angle grinding, with the side sheets eventually free around mid morning. The frames were scraped and painted by lunch time, after which the side new side sheets went in with only a minor modification needed.
Matt continued the prep work on “Jerry“, which I assisted with once the side sheets were fitted to B777171. Jake also helped degreasing Jerry when he popped in.
The first task for Nick and I on Sunday was to cut the next and last 2 van sides we are replacing this time around. This is another panel on B784409 and a panel on B786348. These were cut, and then Nick painted them with wood primer. I moved onto applying some bitumen paint to the Bogie Bolster so that we can start getting the floor down again. Dave and Richard continued their work on the Bogie Bolster; scraping, wirebrushing and painting areas of the underframe.
Unfortunately, removing of the sealant applied while fitting the side sheets yesterday caused more damage than we’d have liked, so Dave re-coated the panels and then the frames of the van.
Matt continued with the prep of Jerry; sanding the roof, applying some filler and rust remedy. After all this Michelle and I assisted Matt in wiping Jerry over with panel wipe in ‘the garage’, ready for an exciting week ahead!
Matt and I have both had some leave from work, so will be on-site working on numerous projects throughout the week, the rest of the team will be back at the weekend. Join us then for a bumper update!
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.
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.
So after the excitement of last weekend, and with glorious sunshine, during the week the opportunity was taken to progress an item of rolling stock that has been waiting for better weather. I am of course referring to the Bogie Bolster.
Wednesday I popped in and after a quick sweep down, I started with the Metal Primer.
First applying it to the bolsters
Then on to the West and South end
Thursday and joined by Richard we continued what I started the day previous Richard applying undercoat to the East and North Sides
I did exactly the same as I did Wednesday but applied undercoat to the Bolsters and the West and South sides.
Richard also following the primer with undercoat.
This completed the midweek work with the above frame areas now all in undercoat ready for gloss
To Saturday with Nick, Richard, and I on-site, along with some gloss. The same procedure as the rest of the week, Bolsters for me and body side for Richard.
Nick also started lifting planks to begin looking at and tidying the frame tops.
The lower half of the bolster stanchions were also primed, undercoated, and glossed.
On to Sunday. Nick, Ross, Richard, and I are on site. First job continuation of the floor removal.
Nick and Ross scraped and vacuumed the frame top.
Richard followed with primer.
I also followed with primer although started on the upper stanchions first.
Following up the primer, a layer of undercoat.
Unfortunately, despite the clocks moving forward by an hour we ran out of light. All the upper frame structure primed and 2/3rd in undercoat.
That concludes this update and as always we shall bring you more next week.
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.
Hello everyone! After the excitemnt of fitting the new doors to B763305 last week, we’ve started looking at the other vans to see which of those need new sheets. B777171 and B780282 have both been selected to have two panels each to be changed, both panels also being adjacent to each other.
Dave kicked off by continuing the signwriting on B854782, it being the only van that didn’t get signwritten last week. There is quite a lot on this van, with us having gone with the Later style BR-era livery when this vehiicle was painted.
Nick and I, assited by Eireni, checked the measurements for the panels we are about to change. Over the years we’ve got quite a few measurments jotted down for the van body panels, but like the age old expression goes measure twice, cut once! B784409 has also been selected to have another side sheet changed, but for this we had to dismantle it’s internal racking. This will initially be stored, but then redeployed.
With four sheets of ply retrieved from storage, we set to work cutting them to suit the aperture. Once cut, Dave sanded the sheets then Nick and I treated them to a coat of wood primer, coating the front faces and the edges.
I, unfortuantely, couldn’t be onsite Sunday but Nick continued on the side sheets by painting them into undercoat. Nick also straighten out some of the racking dismantled yesterday. Dave washed and polished Madge, ready for Railways at Work. Matt was also onsite and sorted some of the prop items for the gala. Nick and Dave also removed a piece of the Plate that was dangling off. This will be re-attached when we get round to doing this wagon.
Next weekend is our Railways at Work gala, come and see us and the railway come to life with a pick up goods and a Mixed freight. We’ll be re-enacting and Madge will be on static display.
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.
Good evening all, and welcome to another update from Quorn. This week, being as the weather has been quite good we’ve go on an replaced some of the side sheets on some of the vans in the Van train. If you’ve been following our progress we cut, prepped and painted some plywood sheets some weeks ago for B779978, B850498, B784409 and B854782, all of which we deemed to be the most in need of replacement. Eddie has also spent the weekend continuing the prep on the internal surfaces of the Bogie Bolster which is really comming together, and I’m looking forward to painting.
Nick and I made a start on B854782 where we whipped out the side sheet with relative ease, the impact gun again make its usefulness apparent. In not too much time, we had the sheet out and Nick was scraping the frame of the old sealant and any other contamination. By this point Richard had arrived, and assisted me in drilling and attaching the new side sheet to the van.
Moving onto B779978, well in our stride. Again the side sheet was removed and the new one fitted. Both of these now needs signwriting to replace any markings lost.
We ended Saturday by undoing most of the bolts on the GW-designed Shock Van, and Sunday was more of the same. Having now done it, its probably the easiest van to have replaced a side sheet on. All the bolts undid with just the impact gun, no need to grind or split nuts and only bolts up the sides of the sheet.
Richard and I then made a start on the ex-VEA. We’ve not replaced a side sheet on one of those before, so it was a bit of a learning curve. In this case, the impact gun didn’t help, the coach bolts ended up spinning in the wood. Out came the grinder to slit the nuts and then the hammer to push the bolts through. Some of the bolts were hidden behind the top door runner and took a bit more work to remove.
By the end of the day, we had the new panel sat in the hole, and fastened to the van by 2 of the bolts behind the top runner. Next weekend, we’ll start with un bolting that, applying sealant and then bolting the panel in fully. After that we might be moving on to fitting some doors, exciting stuff! Thanks for reading, and see you next week!
