A small, wordy update this week, as Nick and I have been playing postman! TPO drops hasn’t stopped play though, as we had the before the first drop on both Saturday and Sunday.
Saturday saw the top capping wood on the north end removed to be made new. This bit of wood had become quite delicate, due to the covering wood that had been put over it. this covering wood trapped the rot and allowed water to sit in there and make things worse.
On Sunday, we transformed the North end veranda into a lovely open air patio! We have taken the decision to make the frame work of the North end veranda wall fresh. The access doors had to come off, end then all the bolts fixing the planks to the steel uprights. The bottom bit of the frame was entirely rotten (but has been recovered as a pattern) and the mortice joints had rotten so the posts simple came away in my hand. With the end framework and cladding out, we chipped the rust away from the steel. this was pushing the wood work towards the body of the van, closing up the doorways which made the doors bind.
Whilst Nick and I were dismantling the north end, Jake made some good progress at cleaning the drainage channels on the south end veranda. the only thing left to do at the south end is to paint red oxide in the channel.
Whilst all this was going on, Matt was concentrating on the interior. After fitting the interior cladding last week, the time has come to fit capping quadrant the the edge of all joints. this is the only van to do this on, as it is an original design choice by the SR. Matt has nearly finished the capping, with 3 long bits to put down the uprights.
Next week we go on tour (for one day only) and work continues on the SR brake! Thanks for reading!
This weekend work continues on S56010, during the week a new nogging was manufactured which was the final piece required to complete the west side. This was trial fitted adjusted and the final side planks fitted.
Once the planks were installed the internal plywood liner was fitted.
It has been decided that the vehicle’s incomplete air brake system will be removed fully. This began with the removal of the Main Reservoir gauge pipe and the Brake Valve exhaust pipe when the west site was dismantled. The main train pipe branch which fed the brake valve was removed and the hole plugged with a large coach bolt. With the pipes which entered the vehicle removed the sole bar Main Reservoir and Main Train pipes were then removed.
The supporting brackets on the solebar were removed and the remaining welds ground flush.
Once removed the areas of bare metal were red oxided.
Whilst the air system was being removed the veranda doors and the corner noggings that include the door latches saw attention. All Noggings were removed and areas of built-up plate rust removed. A number of door repairs were also carried out most notably the South East Veranda door which Ross is particularly proud of, work included a lot of fine woodwork to get the door to fit up and close effortlessly.
Back inside I began manufacturing and fitting finishing trim around the edges of the plywood lining.
The Stove base plate was also red oxided, black glossed and the stove base fitted as well as the steel lining which surrounds the stove and protects the wooden walls of the van.
This vehicle has been without a stove since its arrival on the GCR and Guards will be happy to know this is being reinstated as part of this refurbishment.
Finally, we had a visit from a gentleman that contacted the GCR soon after the Model Rail event. Robert’s father was a Goods Guard in the 1950s, he was involved with the training of Windrush Generation Guards and unfortunately, this was disliked by the union. It basically resulted in ill health and Robert lost his father when he was aged 12. All that remains are memories and a single image. Robert visited the GCR during the Model Rail event and noticed M730562 and instantly recognised it as the same type of vehicle in the image of his father. He was placed in contact with Nick and came to visit us over the weekend. We presented M730562 in a condition that his father would instantly recognise, complete with Guard’s Journals, lamps, timesheet, rulebook and other items required to fulfil the role of a Guard. The opportunity was also made available to recreate that image of his father.
Its moments like this that remind us why we restore and maintain these vehicles. We are sure Robert enjoyed his visit. We certainly did and it was great to hear the memories he has of his Father, Thank you Sir.
A bumper update from Quorn Wagon &Wagon this week, as we’ve had an impromptu work week. Matt and I took some days off work, and we all made the most of the bank holiday weekend.
Work on the LMS brake van, M730562, has finally been completed and was shunted out to the south end of the van train today (Bank Holiday Monday). On Wednesday Matt finished off the upholstery and a few little jobs inside. As the van was removed from the dock, Jake finished painting the east side underframe and the long running boards.
Now we have finished the LMS Brake, we have started the Southern Brake Van (S56010) with gusto! This is the 3rd concurrent brake van we have done this year, and we now appear to be settling into the swing of things when it comes to brake van sides and their rectification. The Southern brake has not been attended to for at least 10 years, and this has shown in the bodywork. The way the body is fashioned means there are a lot of areas for water to sit and cause rot and decay.
Thursday and Friday were spent stripping the rotten side planks of the brake, cleaning and chipping the steel T-section uprights that connect the floor to the roof and removing the expired upholstery. Once one bit was removed, often a few more bits cames along with it, leading to the phrase in the title! Matt found an original interior wall panel underneath another, where the livery applied was the cream and bauxite we have been using in the BR brake van, and the LMS brake van. Measuring the demarcation line shows it at 3ft 5.5inches, which is only 0.5inches less than what we have been using. Rain (read massive deluge) did also stop play for a while on Friday.
Saturday arrives, and so does our replacement wood! Our timber merchant, Harlow Brothers of Long Whatton, have sorted us out again, and have cut, machined and tanalised the planks needed for this van. Cut to length and rebated into the corner section, they fitted a treat and look great! We were also able to strip some of the body planks from a Southern PMV body being broken up behind the loco shed at Loughborough. These were cut down to replace any boards fitted next to the ducket.
Sunday saw the same action taking place on the dockside, with 6 body planks being replaced there, and some of the interior plywood cut and fitted. Monday saw little jobs being undertaken, including refitting all the veranda door tops, lower floor quadrant cutting and fitting, filling strips manufacture, and a door plank to replicate and fit (I’m proud of that one, but took no pictures during the manufacture!)
I finish with some night time shots of the Yellow Coach and that south yard. Both Matt and I, both living an hour away; both in Lincolnshire, made use of the bunkroom in the Yellow coach and stayed a few days at the railway. it’s not very often you see views like this, and I’m sure some of the passengers on the evening trains were surprised to see the lights still on.
Once we’d finished our daylight work, Matt and I tidied the mess area in the coach and used our limited upholstery skills to manufacture a new seat base for the mess area. One of the cushions was missing when Nick and I first started using the coach as a base for our wagon restoration activities (around 2012). At that time this didn’t matter as there was just Nick, myself and Alex (Nick’s son), and the occasional visitor Now, we find ourselves in need of some extra sitting space for a larger team, and our visitors. We can now seat 18 around the 2 tables!
We are happy with our progress, and are thinking about organizing a proper work week next year!
LMS Brakevan M730562 has been putting up a fight since we started almost 2 months ago. The light, however, is at the end of the tunnel, it is also now entering the van. The replacement Glass effect perspex arrived Monday and I took advantage of a week of earlies. Tuesday and Thursday I removed, cleaned the frames, fitted and sealed the glazing for the veranda ends.
On to the weekend and Nick continued the painting of the underframe. Including the Westside steps and Eastside solebar.
The main task undertaken was the replacement of the Ducket glazing. The frames were removed, we originally thought this would be tricker on the westside as these were riveted, but thanks to once being employed by the RAF with a tour on an aircraft structural repair unit it didn’t take me long to whip out the 32 rivets.
Once removed the window mastic previously used was removed from the frames and Ducket, the bare metal areas were then red oxided before new mastic and the glazing was fitted to each frame. These were then fitted to the Duckets and the mastic trimmed and shaped to the fill the gaps. Finally, the Bauxite and Cream top coats were reapplied.
Top coats were also added to the Handbrake standard, Vacuum hose swan necks, steel stove surrounds and Vacuum brake valve. The Vacuum gauge was polished and a 1940s style coat hanger was also fitted.
I also took a moment to apply the correct running number to the LMS box van and popped into Rothley to Carriage & Wagon to see how B954546 was progressing.
The weekend saw the GCR commemorate 50 years since the end of mainline timetabled steam and the final service 1T57 having been hauled by 70013 Oliver Cromwell. I of cause commemorated in my own style dressed as a disgruntled employee of the London Midland Region, precisely 50 years to the day.
Saturday also saw Nick and Jake key and paint the handrails on M730562.
On to Sunday, I started with applying coats of white to the veranda ceilings, With Nick and Jake turning their attention to the underframe first scraping down and applying bitumen.
Between coats of white and the spots of rain, I chalked and painted the signwriting to the West side of the vehicle and Nick refitted the Wagon Label clip to the East side removed for planks to be replaced.
Still a few more final details to apply including new windows but the end is now in sight. Oh, and what of Ross you ask, his view is slightly different to ours as he continues to enjoy the Sun in Greece.
Welcome to another update from Quorn Wagon and Wagon. This weekend has seen the van train running, the station reverting back to 1968 and the LMS brake van painted into top coat. The BG (81382) has also been outshopped this week, and looks marvellous (well done to Jamie Swanson and Patrick Newborough, it looks excellent)!
The weekend has seen the LMS brake painted up into top coat (bauxite). On Saturday Morning, I began by sanding the dock side of the van, whilst Nick set up the scaffold tower, and scraped the West side of the van. Once the van was sanded, it got a quick blow down with the air line, in preparation for the application of the wood primer.
Some of the veranda wood had also been stripped of paint, so these got a quick spray of primer too. The primer was given some time to go off, and then the undercoat was applied all around, including the ends, and verandas.
Whilst I was spraying the undercoat, Nick found that he could peel the paint of the LMS box van (M500xxx) as the bitumen paint underneath the top coat was getting warm in the sun, so he spent a while doing that, and then in every other opportunity in the weekend.
On to Sunday, which saw the van having the top coat applied, including in the veranda. The verandas on the van are quite large, which make them easier to spray. The BR brake was a pain, due to only being the width of a person, so the air pipe and my clothing kept catching the wet paint.
After the top coat was applied, it was left to go off. The new planks got a second coat, then both the van sides got a second coat. Matt follow me around with a paint brush, picking up areas the spray gun couldn’t get into. He also painted an inspection hatch he’d made in the interior. In addition to this, he’d also manufactured a new wooden backing plate for the wagon label clip for the dock side of the van.
We have also cut out the interior seat side panels, which can be fitted next week.
Next weekend should see the van’s handrails picked out and the windows changed all round. These have been ordered (in glass effect perspex) and we await delivery.
Work continues on M730562 despite the rain. As Nick was alone Saturday he spent the time cleaning the inside of the van and filling over the screws.
Sunday was business as usual with Ross and myself joining Nick. With the wet weather, there was no chance of starting the external repaint of the vehicle. So attention turned to the inside. I sanded the filler applied by Nick. There were a few remaining activities on the outside of the van and during breaks in the wet Nick and Ross carried these out, mainly one final bolt for a handrail and a few missing screws.
Attention then turned to second coats of Cream and Bauxite.
Nick also manufactured and fitted a new seat base for the East side as the original was removed for previous work and was too fragile to refit.
We also made some BR style door signs there use we shall reveal in the next update.
Finally, we have made some positive steps towards Identifying the LMS van that has recently joined the collection. Our thanks go to Phil Hetherington and John Hall for their efforts so far and we have reached a likely identification.
The story so far sees a number of 500XXX vans being condemned at Barassie of these one makes it too Inverkeithing infact of all 1000 Derby built D1891 diagramed vans only one makes it to this location. Inverkeithing is on the Rosyth Branch so is the nearest BR location identified by a 4 digit depot code to the Naval Dockyard at Rosyth the location our vehicle was purchased from. This single-vehicle was 500954, a number of other avenues are being looked into which hopefully will take this likely identification to a positive.
Matthew 7:25 “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.”
Another weekend, another update from QWW. This weekend sees us continue work on M730562, which seems to be becoming a bit of a saga!
Following last weeks stripping of side planks, we have taken delivery of the new, replacement side planks from Harlow Brother’s Timber merchants. We took them a sample of an existing board taken from the side of the van, and they have cut the boards to size, machined the edges to have the rebates and bevels, and finally pressure treated the board to tanalise them. The only thing left for us to do was cut them to length and fit them to the van!
Saturday saw all the side planks fitted, and the long bottom hand rail refitted to the East/Dock side of the van.
On Sunday, Nick and I refitted the rest of the handrails to the vehicle, and fitted new capping wood to the ends of the planks, adjacent to each access doorway. We believe the the capping wood isn’t an LMS original, and was added later by BR. We opted to replace it with some hardwood, as these support the vertical hand rails used by the guard to access the vehicle from ground level. Meanwhile, Matt was carrying out shunting demonstrations at Mountsorrel’s running weekend. There he formed a train using the wagons we have based up there, and the Midland Brake.
Work continues on M730562, the replacement wood has been ordered and is due in the week, in preparation Nick and Jake have been removing the life-expired planks.
Unfortunately, one of the bolts on the west side was located behind the boarding beside the internal locker. So my first task was to cut and manufacture an access hatch as this will be a reoccurring issue.
Once complete my attention was turned to the seat backs for the Guard. I removed the old layers of upholstery. This exposed the frame which required some repair and reinforcing.
Both the east and west side were repaired and trial fitted
Of interest are the layers of upholstery removed, unfortunately, none dating back as far as the LMS. How do we know? The first layer above the base horsehair is clearly marked with its manufacturer this, of course, being British Railways. Successive layers having the British Rail Double Arrow logo on the reverse.
Sunday continued with Nick and Jake removing life expired planks as well as re-securing all of the internal planking which has detached from the floor due to worn fasteners.
Ross and I started to upholster the Guards seats continuing the work I began Saturday, Foam and vinyl was cut to size. The vinyl matches that applied to the vehicle during BR usage. The vinyl was sewn into a box shape to fit over the foam backing and stapled into position.
Once the seat backs were completed a base for each seat was created and foam and vinyl covers again manufactured and sewn. The seat backs were trial fitted but not fitted fully.
The seats were then also trial fitted although again not fully fitted, this will be done once all internal and external work is complete. The vinyl will be affixed to the seat base hence its baggy appearance. As a trial, we began planning the side cushioning for the seat sides.
The final task was the replacement of the Starter motor in Nicks van, this is vital as this is the vehicle required to collect the wood for next weekends tasks.
This weekend we haven’t managed to achieve much, mainly due to the heat. On Saturday, Matt made a visit to the Mountsorrel Heritage Centre at Bond Lane, to assist in the signwriting of their Midland Brake van. It looks marvellous and awaits a few final details before it is release to traffic
At Quorn, Nick and I were working on the Midland Brake’s successor, the LMS brake M730562. Initially, we started on the west side (where it was shady) where we replaced the stepboard that runs the length of the body of the van. we had sourced a quite twisted bit of wood that had the right dimensions. This was trimmed, and clamped into place, ready for drilling. The board was drilled and then the underside was painted in black bitumen paint. The plank was then bolted into place and again coated in black bitumen paint on the top side. the next step for this board is the kickplate backing.
As the sun moved around and the day got hotter, we moved round to the dockside. There, we began to remove the handrails and capping wood from the dock side of the brake van, in preparation for some planks to be replaced. We are currently sourcing the replacement wood for this, for which we had the remove a plank. This took a surprising amount of disassembly, both inside and out, including the stove side seat base.
On Sunday, Nick and I effected a repair to the South-west step board, used by the guard for access. The metal plate that supports the end of the axlebox cover flap had rotted, so the step board had to be removed in order to replace the plate. I coated the replacement plate in red oxide before it was refitted. Whilst this occured, Matt started signwriting the van’s number above the ducket seat on the side of the van that is fitted with the seats/storage benches.
Matt mainly concentrated on the interior of the vehicle, removing a redundant batten of timber, and making a cover plate for the bit of capping that was displaced. We think the batten of timber was part of a lamp filling table, which would have had a zinc top. We removed it because it interrupted the demarcation line between the cream and the bauxite, and had no purpose. Matt also touched in some areas of the cream paint that had been bled into with the removal of the masking tape used when painting the bauxite.
We finish the update on an announcement. We have recently acquired an LMS van, from the David Clarke Railway Trust. M500604 (was M501438) is in use a nut and bolt store for the Windcutter Group, a purpose it will still continue to serve. we plan to re-clad the van to that the van can be released to traffic. The van is also still holding the interior of the packing van, B854782, so we are loath to start working on it whilst these items are held under cover.
