As mentioned in last weeks feature we are back on site at Rothley this weekend. Our focus for the coming weekends being the routine maintenance of our engineering fleet in support of the GCRs plans to resume passenger services.
Those who follow the GCR and Rothley C&W Facebook pages will be aware of the arrival at Rothley of our 8 Dogfish Ballast hoppers.
Nick, Ross, Dave, Jake and I on site, first task was to check the 32 axle boxes.
Also on the list of tasks was the oiling of brake rigging and the ballast door mechanisms.
All the loose/rotten foot boards were then removed.
Arears of bare metal on the step board supports were Red Oxided whilst Ross began the manufacturing of new steps.
A number of the supports were also straightened.
On to Sunday and the same team on site. Th manufacture of the 12 new step boards was completed, then they were painted in wood preserver and fitted.
We then inspected each vehicles condition. Focusing on the essentials for them to operate as intended.
The key aspect being the operation of the doors. These were tested and correct operation ensured.
Inevitably leaves and other items that had collected in the wagons was subsequently dropped on to the floor. So this of course had to be cleaned up.
This concludes the tasks required to get these vehicles fit for operation. There are a few out standing items, most notably overhaul of the powered braking systems. These remains out of use as to do them at this time would delay the vehicles return to service. They will of course be done at some point in the future as well as a repaint for each vehicle but this will be after the Railway returns to passenger use.
The Shark ballast plough was also brought up with the rake, this will be tackled by the C&W staff as it is not one of our vehicles. Another set of vehicles will be brought to Rothley for us to look at next weekend.
So once again the country is plunged into a National Lockdown, Thursday we received word that the GCR would once again ban volunteers on site unless carrying out essential roles.
Starting on Monday, Nick and Michael on site with paint removed from the catwalk followed by blowing down and removal of dust
This was followed by application of metal primer to all of the bare metal areas.
Next day for Nick and Michael was Wednesday and the application of Dark Grey undercoat, all of the tank, filler cap, discharge valve, running boards, buffer beams, and sole bars all painted.
Thursday afternoon was when the message reached C&W that the restrictions of the first lock down would once again be required.
Nick & Michael on site for the final time this week, the task being the application of Gloss, to the grey blank canvas.
Unfortunately that is were we must end this update, once again a vehicle in Gloss ready for signwriting. We will of cause return to our weekly profiles and features and return when we can.
A new year is upon us and we continue as we always have, keeping you up-to-date with our activities. As our end of year review confirms we have completed tank 51408, or as it is now known number 1408, this update wraps up the final days of 2020 the story of its completion and the first projects of 2021.
From our feature image at the top of this update it will now be clear we have gone for the steam era vacuum fitted livery of Shell-Mex and BP ltd, as stated in our previous update although not prototypical for our China Clay slurry tank it fits in with ours and the GCRs aims. So back to Monday and my favourite activity, signwriting. Templates assembled, chalked, marked out and applied. By the end of Monday East side lettering, yellow of the commuted charge symbols, fast traffic stars and the base for the BP shields were applied.
Nick progressed and completed the underframe preparation.
On to Tuesday with Nick, Ross, Jake, Michael and I joined by Brandon. The main task being the painting of the underframe.
Whilst this was being undertaken Ross focused on a replacement mounting block for the east side wagon label clip. This was fitted and then painted.
Once the underframe was complete out came the undercoat with brake lever ends, foot valve operating handles, water filler pipe, roller bearing covers, hoses, dummies and lamp irons painted.
Once this had dried top coats were added white to all but the roller bearing covers which went yellow. The filler pipe is also waiting a suitable shade of blue and Red was applied to the Air Brake Pipe
Nick then when round with the black gloss touching up missed areas.
For me, continuation of the signwriting, west side running number and details completed. Shell shield undercoated and first colour added to it and the BP shield. Numbers were also applied to the tank ends. Ross adding a base for the OLE warning flashes beside the ladders.
Wednesday and the signwriting marathon continues. Dave and I with mahl sticks and brushes in hand. Dave focusing on the sole bar details, Load, Tare, Wheelbase, foot valve plate, registration plate and owners plate.
For me, the final signwriting for the Shell and BP shields.
I also applied the OLE warning flashes and the builders plate.
Not just Dave and I on site, Nick and Michael continuing with the preparation of 3436. Completing the wash and scraping the underframe.
Nick and Michael also painted the end of the water fill pipe and discharge valve blue, fitted the vacuum hoses and painted the brake distributor isolating handle and test point red on 1408.
That, as stated above is 1408 complete.
On to Thursday (New Years Eve). 1408 being moved out of the shed allowing 3436 to enter.
Michael and Brandon then focusing on the contiuned preparation of the tank.
This once again revealed the Barrel number and test date.
Tank number 9293, tested to a pressure of 25 PSI on the 18/07/1958 again we believe 0/2150 160 to be an order number.
Ross and I focused on 977107. Beginning it’s preparation for the long awaited repaint.
Having removed the OLE warning flashes from 3436 Jake then took some time to clean them up ready for there refitment. One had see to much of the elements and it was my last task of 2020 to touch up the red on that one.
On to New Years day and preparation being the order of the day. 3436 for Michael
977107 for Nick an I
This included removal of lettering and OLE warning flashes not forgetting those under the modern yellow warning triangles.
Saturday and not really any more to say than preparation continues. Michael on the tank.
Nick, Ross, Dave, Jake and I on the coach.
At the end of the day the tank was complete and is now ready for paint.
The coach is also ready for primer to the bare metal areas in preparation for filler to be applied.
We also took a moment to retrieve a short section of Mk1 Coach Roof originally from CK M15208 components of which were used to build RVPs Diesel Brake Tender, the intention being that this will be used to replicate the Enamel Esso plates for 3436.
I have a plan and will work my usual metal work fabrication magic to see what we end up with, but as always there is a little maths
Sunday and the final day for this update after a quick wipe down the coach received primer to all of the bare metal areas, Nick, Ross, Dave and I on site.
Once the primer had dried the first fill was carried out.
This will see a few sands and refills but of cause this will be the focus of next week.
Finally I took an opportunity to mark out two areas to be cut from the roof section, which will create the Esso plates for the tank and a look at the coach with filler applied and awaiting the next step.
Unfortunately for me and a few others its back to work tomorrow but there will be some progress in the week which we shall let you know next week. To complete this update a view of our completed vehicles at Rothley.
So 2020 has come to an end, a happy new year to you all, of cause our usual Sunday update will be following but as is now our tradition, time for the statistics of the last 12 months.
Loads of welding and new steel Loads of conduit & wire 500+ rivets 14 full repaints 9 Colico boxes 7 van sides 5 vacuum cylinders 4 new doors 4 conflat chains Tier 4 restrictions 3 refloors 3 doors reinstated 3 HRA awards Tier 3 restrictions 3 youtube videos 3 buffers 3 trailers 3 WH Smith signs 2 headboards 2 partial repaints 2 national lock downs 2 containers 2 ropes 2 roof repaints 1 dolly 1 Mountsorrel tank 1 Global Pandemic 1 roof retightening 1 loading shovel service 1 new arrival 1 shed 1 reroof 1 container corner bumper 1 temporarily restored goods shed 1 Cl.27 engine door 1 70s Ford Transit 1 60s Morris Commercial Van 1 Small Dumper 1 Hugely successful “time travelling” photo charter Walking Britain’s Lost Railways -1 WWI tank
So what have we completed? Despite the global pandemic we have had a really good year with 17 vehicles / containers / trailers completed. Below are the items from the past 12 months, number 17 however will be the focus of the first update for 2021 so I’m afraid for now we are keeping the reveal of that one under wraps until the weekend.
First of all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all, as it is that time of year, what better way to spend it than working on wagons! 51408 being our Christmas focus.
With B439708 now complete it was moved out of the shed on Monday.
With Nick, Ross and I, joined by Michael Sutton and Brandon Morley we continued the previous Sundays marathon scraping session.
Nick uncovered the tanks specific details. Tank number 10872 tested to a hydraulic pressure of 50lbs per square inch, tested on 09/07/1965. The remaining details ON 2552 NO1 we believe to be an order/lot number.
Monday ends with the east side striped, 3/4 of the North end and roughly 3/4 of the west side.
Tuesday and the scraping continues, Nick, Ross, Jake and I completing the West Side, North end and the south end almost complete. The top including the tank filler and breather was also attended to.
Wednesday, with Nick, Michael and I on site, and the final day of scraping, sanding and cleaning. With that complete we are ready for paint.
Thursday, or as some have come to call it Christmas Eve, again Nick, Michael and I on site applying the Etched Primer to the tank and tank mounts.
A brief respite for Christmas day and then back to the grind Saturday, sorry that’s Boxing day. The application of dark grey undercoat being the task of the day. Nick, Jake and I in attendance.
I also sign wrote a pair of OLE warning flashes for the Iron Ore hopper.
Sunday, a Full house with Nick, Ross, Jake, Dave and I in attendance joined by Michael. The aim being the application of the top coat. Gloss black being the colour of choice, we are going for a steam era livery although not prototypical for our specific vehicle it is more in keeping with our aims and that of the GCR.
The previously sign written OLE warning flashes were also fitted to the Hopper and the bolts painted white.
Finally for this bumper edition. Our next project receives a wash before it enters the shed after 51408 has left of cause.
So that completes 6 days of wagon fun and as always we shall let you know what we have been up to next week.
Another weekend of our residence at Rothley, this time working on the China Clay Slurry tank, 51408 , the Yellow Coach, ADB977107, and the Iron Ore Hopper, B439708.
Dave started by painting the roller bearing endcaps yellow and putting another coat of white paint on the handbrake ends and vacuum swan neck, appropriate and this is fitted with a through pipe only. This concludes the ‘exterior’ work on this wagon, which only leaves the painting of the ‘interior’ of the hopper in bituminous black paint. Jake and Nick undertook this task.
Dave and I then looked at the brake rigging on the tank, with the aim of making the handbrake work better. We reset the ‘A’ gap on the slack adjuster which has resulting in a much better handbrake.
Eddie concentrated on the scraping of the Tank wagon. While Dave and Matt sorted out another feature for the tank. During a visit from one of the GCR’s Health and Safety Reps on Saturday, a ground level filler connection was requested, to take the form of a standard carriage filler connection. The tank already had a suitable pipe fitted to the top of the access walkway, so all was required was the fabricate a pipe to drop it down to solebar level or just above. After some scrounging for suitable fittings, Dave and Matt whipped up a pipe and fitted it to the wagon.
I concentrated on the Yellow Coach, removing the end Jumper plugs and conduit. This will make painting and looking after the coach ends easier, and means I can re-use the parts to make a jumper to power the coach from the Test Car, if required.
Jake finished off the painting of the inside of the Iron Ore Hopper on Sunday, which concludes work on this vehicle. It will be shipped outside the shed tomorrow to clear more room to work on the tank. It’ll be the first time the vehicle has run on the railway, so it will be a treat to see it run in the mixed freight as and when that happens
We all then dropped onto the tank, scraping the barrel down to the bare stainless steel ready for the etch primer. The paint was, for the most part, easy to remove with the scrapers we had. Power tools can’t be used on a Sunday, but I don’t think a power tool would have helped us. We did briefly try a sander, but found the scrapers removed the paint much quicker.
With the Christmas period now upon us, we have a few more opportunities to get down to the shed so keep your eyes peeled for some mid-week updates in the coming days.
£5 from your purchase will go towards us and the Buccaneers whilst the rest will help Claire to increase the size of her premises and begin glass making workshops.
Secondly a reminder that Madge, Jake and I, along with a number of others from the GCR will be joining Rob Bell on his show Walking Britain’s Lost Railways. This will be aired on Friday 18th December 8pm, Channel 5.
On to the update, in the week, Dick has been working on the Hopper, painting the Sole bar
Saturday and for me a full day of Sign Writing . Ably assisted by Dave and Eireni. Templates were chalked, applied, drawn and removed.
Running number, Gross weight, Tare, Wheel base and to top it off full instructions on how to open and close the hopper door applied. At the end of the day all that remained was the East Side door closing instructions and a wagon plate.
On to the Tank and the end shields, welded in position as part of its brake testing test bed days, were removed, returning the vehicle to its more traditional look.
The tank was then lifted to fully inspect the Gloucester Pedestal Suspension and ensure free and correct operation.
Opportunity was also taken to inspect the underframe and look at the brake rigging.
When the wagon returned to terra firma, suspension compression and buffer heights were measured as a base line, the wagon will be taken for a rattle down the siding during the week and the measurements then rechecked.
The inevitable scraping down of the vehicle then began, with Eddie taking the lead.
Back to the hopper and the door handwheels, down and up lock operating handles and vacuum swan necks were painted white.
On to Sunday and all hands to the Hopper. Dave and I completed the signwriting. The end of the essay and door operating wheel for me.
For Dave the final wagon plate and tidying up his efforts from Saturday, an excellent start for someone who has never signwriten before.
Nick and Jake concentrated there efforts on the underframe. Nick scraping with Jake following and applying the bitumen.
Dave and I also moved on to the underframe. First with the scraping followed by Dave assisting Jake paint the underframe.
I followed with the white undercoat applying to hand brake and axle box ends.
Dave’s last task was to clean and polish the fescalised portion of the Oleos
This moves the Hopper tantalising close to completion. B439708 has never ran on the GCR, since preservation in 2005, having played second fiddle to alot of other projects it’s time is finally upon us.
That completes our update for this week, and as always, more next week.
Our secondment to Rothley continues, first our thanks to the guys at Rothley C&W and the Operations department, A4513 and B954546 were moved out of the shed, with the tank continuing on to Swithland and replaced with another wagon, more on that shortly but first a pair of images of our completed vehicles with thanks to Jamie Swanson.
So on to the one brought up from Swithland, apart from the 3 Rudds, our youngest wagon in the fleet, although this does mean a build date of 1965. The former china clay slurry tank number STL 51408
Before it enters the workshop, the usual green detritus was washed off.
Work on B439708 continues with the South East corner support and ladder removed, straightened and rewelded into position. The lower portion was also replaced, manufactured from two suitable L angle pieces.
Undercoat was applied to the upper surfaces red to the hopper body and deck.
White undercoat to the door hand wheel and operating handles.
The galvanised through pipe was also primed and undercoated.
On to Sunday and with brushes in hand we applied the Gloss coat to the hopper.
With a morning of painting complete we again turned to the tank. With two unserviceable buffers, South East and North West, bolts were removed with hot spanner assistance.
Once removed the area of the headstock was scraped and metal primer applied.
This allowed the replacement buffers to be fitted.
Vacuum pipes were removed and new pipes prepared.
New Vacuum dummies were also fitted to replace those missing.
It was also good to see trains return to the railway. Santa Specials and Winter Wonder Lights.
My favourite activity next weekend as the signwriting brushes are due to come out and as always we shall let you all know what we achieve.
First thing to mention in this update is the wonderful production by Jack Shaw, ‘This Is Quorn’. Jake, Matt, Dave and I all have starring roles, along with Wilbur and Madge. I’ve embedded the video below, but you can also view this on the Quorn and Woodhouse Station Facebook Page here, where you can also give them a like.
Another point of order before the main event, we have been successfully shortlisted for this year’s Heritage Railway Association Awards in two categories; the Morgan Award for our 3 container restorations and the Small Groups award. Best of luck to all of those also shortlisted for an award this year!
Right then, now onto the main event, this week we’ve again been at Rothley focusing our efforts on the Yellow Coach and the Iron Ore hopper. Matt and Dave first went to Quorn to move Madge’s trailers out of the main yard.
Jake and I finalised the termination of the wires added to the Yellow coach, continuity testing each wire before identifying it on both ends become applying a crimped terminal. That finishes this stage of the modification. Dave very ably made a new lacing bar for the cubicle and then undercoated the ceiling in the guards office.
Once complete, Dave joined Nick, Matt and Eddie in scraping the hopper. A tedious task, but once that has to be done before painting can commence. Special attention was paid to the door linkages to clear the years of muck and detritus away. As we are at Rothley with the hopper the opportunity was taken for its axlebox exam, done of course before the underframe is painted.
Some of the bent corner post on the hopper were also attended too.
Sunday saw the hopper concentrated on again, first finishing up any missed areas of scraping. The hopper was then moved outside for all of the flakes of rust and paint to be blown off. While the space was vacant, Dave swept up all the bits of paint and rust that had fell on the floor.
The five of us descended armed with paint brushes to apply a much needed coat of red oxide primer. Its been a while since we’ve all brush painted an entire wagon, I know for one my arms are aching! A certain amount of fun and hilarity was had; a good tonic for the current situation.
The end of the weekend sees the hopper body in an all over coat of red oxide primer, ready for next weeks coat of undercoat. Join us then and see how we get on!
We begin with a statement, to clarity our access to the tops of vehicles such as roofs and tanks are via prebuilt staging or scaffolding , this is positioned both sides of a vehicle therefore reducing the distance if someone were to fall, this is compliant with the Working at Height Regulations 2005 and specifically relates to Article 6 Para 5. In addition we allocate a spotter to watch personnel to ensure they do not place themselves in a position of danger. Our images do not readily show these scaffolds and platforms in place as our focus is on the vehicle its self, and usually once the work has been carried out. We are more than happy to discuss our High Level Access Arrangements and share our Risk Assessments with anyone willing to openly discuss this with us.
So, once again we begin in the week, Thursday this time as I popped in to sign write B852838, lettering was applied to both sides were required.
Once complete, I woke Madge up and added a H to my trailer thanks to information provided by Peter Smeaton.
I also took the opportunity to line the trailers up for posterity.
On to Saturday and the main task being the removal of Jack’s tank from the tankflat. This is leaving to join our good friends at Up’ an’ at ’em History. This will become part of there bespoke World War I history sessions and events.
Ross and Eireni focused on Danny. Refitting the newly refirbished steering box and reassembling the vehicle. This was to allow a test of the fully rebuilt vehicle. The first movement by it’s self for over a year.
I continued on my trailer adding a number plate light. Whilst Dave and Jake rebutuimened the deck.
Most importantly however we celebrated Jake’s 18th Birthday with a specially baked cake. Happy Birthday Jake.
Back to Rothley Sunday. I continued on A4513 applying the Shell / BP lettering as well as the south end running number.
I also tidied up the sole bar plates and applied the Vacuum release stars to B954546.
Jake tidied up and repainted the springs and axle boxes of A4513
Nick and Eddie began to prepare B439708. Begining the process of removing loose paint, rust and other detritus.
That concludes this week’s update. More as always next week.
