Category: Updates

Hello all and welcome to this week’s update from Quorn. We’re not getting ready for more wagons, just more progress! Both the Conflat and 3689 have recieved some attention, and we’ve also been finishing off some jobs that have been hanging around.

Daniel spent some time on the Conflat, scraping and priming the kerb rail getting it close to be prepared for its floor, which is now on order.

Dave got set up varnishing the two Esso plates in the Test Car, which are now ready for fitting to 3606, while he did this Charlie cleaned up the ash from last week’s fire.

Ernie finished up the headlamp from the Rothley shunter, making a ring portion from a piece of copper and soldering a lens back in.

Ernie’s soldering skills also came in handy to fix the compressor’s expansion tank which had suffered a slight blow out… Charlie removed the offending article and refitted it.

Once repaired, Dave got the needle gun out and finished of the west side sole bar on 3689, which then got a coat of primer.

Charlie fixed up the steps from the mess coach, which went rotten and got replaced with the steps from the Test Car. With us opening the Test Car up at the upcoming Diesel Gala, we are in need of another set. Once stood up, the steps were moved round to the access door and finally fettled for height and stability.

Dave had an unwelcome visitor to the lovely varnished finished on the Esso plates, so ended up doing a small touch up.

I tested a new toy to try and undo a buffer mounting bolt, which undid with ease despite the liberal coat of paint. The new impact gun was also used on the ladder bolts with were turned around to give more foot room on the rungs.

Ernie did some welding on a small trailer rescued from the undergrowth and attempted to weld up some steel access steps, but they are too far gone to carry on fixing. Nick and I had to hold the welding screen due to the wind gusting.

Mark and Dan carried on where Daniel left off on the Conflat, finishing the kerb rail and painting the tops of the solebars. Tom and Oliver hoovered and painted the pockets on 3689.

In some of the inclement weather on Sunday, Dave and I finished off the diesel heater install but adding two more vents and some ducting to spread the heat around the seating area.

Ernie took one of the side rails from the Conflat into the coach to measure up. Tom, Oliver, Mark and Dan primed inside the chassis on 3689, which only leaves the east side solebar to needlegun and prime for the chassis to be ready.

In the dry spells of Sunday, Charlie mowed both the dock and the strip of grass between the mainline and our siding, with an appropriate look out.

That’s where we wrap up this week. Both Dave and I are away for the next two weeks, so there will be no update from Quorn over that time. Do not fear though, we do have something going out in our usual slot so keep your eyes out for that.

Hello and welcome to this week’s news from Quorn. The Lowfit gets a first coat of Bauxite; Conflat-A B507489 had some attention, Tank 3689 progresses, and the lettering is completed on 3606’s Esso plates.

The area where the water tower top had been moved from last week was levelled and more track ‘biscuits’ and clips were recovered. Charlie managed the bonfire to deal with the pile of scrap timber tidied from the area.

The east side label clip was removed from tank 3689 as this was mounted in the wrong place so would be foul of the builders plate, and also it was mounted on an smaller wood block that standard.

We took a look at Conflat B507489, and the jack-rust that had bent up the end kerb rails. An air-chisel and needle guns were used to clear out as much of the rust as possible from under the bent up sections of angle. The largest sledge hammer was then employed to flatten down level the kerb rail at both ends.

The inside and outside of the Lowfit’s four doors were treated to their first coat of Bauxite Gloss.

The Red paint we had been using for the Esso plate lettering was previously not laying on evenly, not covering well and taking rather too long to dry; so after some searching we found some lettering Enamel of the correct colour. A test was done to check that the new paint would not react with the original, then Ross and myself applied the red lettering’s second coat to both of 3606’s Esso plates. The coverage was notably better and the paint had dried within a few hours. The next stage for these plates will be a coat of varnish.

Ernie made a start on some lamp repairs to the Rothley shunter’s headlamp that lost it’s lens last week.

Ross and myself then turned our attention to the west side solebar on Tank 3689; with needle guns out again about 3/4 of the solebar was cleaned up, and all the flaky paint removed back to bare metal, Ernie then followed applying some red-oxide primer.

Nick touched up a few areas of the black gloss on the underframe of the Lowfit, and made a start on painting the inside of the kerb rails, again in black gloss.

Whilst Ernie had the red-oxide primer out, he painted the inside of the vacuum cylinder piston he’d cleaned up last week.

Thanks for reading, join us again next week, all the best, Dave

Hello everyone and welcome to another update from Quorn. This week we’ve had a good weekend sorting out the vacuum on 3854 after one of those 5 minute jobs and the Lowfit has had its coat of undercoat finished and the underframe glossed in black.

We started the weekend as ‘QWW Patrol’, helping to repair one of the mineral wagons in the train after the drawhook was found to be loose and rotated 90degrees. Nick and Charlie enacted repairs and Jamie from C&W came to sign it off prior to it running this weekend.

Dave has also made a start two more Esso plates for 3606 which had been set up in the Test Car. Starting with laying out with the chalk, paint the blue and the first coat of the red.

Charlie, Nick and I started to look at 3854’s working vacuum cylinder which has previously been re-assembled with the release valve out of position. Initially we thought we’d simply lower the cylinder down, rotate it round to the right position and then lift it back into position. It became apparent that it would actually be easier to drop the cylinder off the wagon and re-build it.

With the weather being quite poor, Ernie opted to stay in the coach and work on some more lamps, this time a few examples of the oil lamp found in Mk1 brake coach emergency cupboards.

With the cylinder in the garage, we stripped it down, fitted a new guide bush and new bottom joint ring, reassembled the cylinder and got it fitted to the wagon. Using the test rig, it was tested and passed with flying colours.

With Sunday having the better weather, the team were out in force to try and get some more paint on the Lowfit, firstly finishing off the undercoat on the drop sides, then moving onto the underframe, applied a good coat of gloss black.

I used a new to us tool to measure the bore of a vacuum cylinder we had found in the bushes to check whether its worth use bothering with or not. Ernie started cleaning up a piston found under Madge’s trailer, which wasn’t as bad as first thought.

The team also continued the side project of tidying up the area around between the dock road and the boundary fence. Tidying up some track ‘biscuits’ but also ended up moving the water tower top, mainly to be able to open up the walkway on that side of the siding.

Dave got a sander out and gingerly sanded 3689 to try and finally confirm its departmental identity, which has now been confirmed as DB999088.

Lastly, we’ve been very kindly donated some late 1990s/early 2000s Diesel Era magazines which aren’t readily available in the UK. These are for sale on Dave’s eBay account, so do take a look and spend a few pennies if you are interested. All proceeds do go back into the wagons and support us in their care.

Thanks for reading, and join us next week to find out what we get up to! Cheers, Ross

Hello and welcome to this week’s news from the team at Quorn. Tank 3621 is getting closer to completion, there is progress on tank 3689 and we continue with vacuum cylinder repairs.

Charlie, Dan, James and Oliver did some site tidying-up.

Mark and Tom continued with the needle gun work on tank 3689’s underframe.

Oliver and Dan helped Nick remove the spark guards from tank 3689, this will allow access the underframe areas below, and also to clean up and make any repairs to the spark guards.

I applied the Commuted Charge Cc logo to both sides of 3621.

Ernie continued with the vacuum cylinder weld repairs, with Ross helping pressure test each stage of work; the soap solution highlighting any small pinholes which were then dealt with.

The heater was put-on for a while in Test Car 2, and the previously sign-written Esso logo plates were given a light key over the front surface. Ross and I then applied a coat of gloss varnish which was left to dry overnight.

Dan cleaned up the first of the vacuum cylinders to have it’s repairs completed and tested. He then applied a coat of re-oxide primer.

Ernie continued with the second vacuum cylinder, welding and low-pressure testing for leaks. The cylinder held the low-pressure for a couple of hours confirming successful completion of the repairs.

The Empty/Load changeover symbol was applied to the east side of tank 3621.

The weather wasn’t kind to us on Sunday, however in between the showers Ross & I managed to fit the two varnished Esso plates to 3621; whilst Ernie made a start on some lamp repairs.

We set up the next two Esso plates in Test Car 2 and gave the surface a light key ready to receive their sign-written logos.
These two plates will be fitted to tank 3606 once completed.

Thanks for reading, join us again next week; all the best, Dave

Hello everyone and welcome to another update from Quorn. This week has been one of defect clearance, cleaning and finishing off vac cylinder repairs, including a new improved special tool! Its also been lovely to see the tank train running on Saturday for as part of the firing school. Okay, lets jump in to what we’ve done..

First job was to fit a flip down stop board in the four foot of the dock road to protect the vehicles in the siding, and the people working on them.

Ernie arrived with a new plate to use for pressure testing vacuum cylinder domes once they have been repaired. This also means we can test 18 inch domes as well. Thanks to Ernie for sorting this out. Between Ernie and myself we got the plate sorted and made two o rings to act as the seal between the plate and the dome.

Ernie also worked on another tool used to push out the guide bush in the bottom of the vacuum cylinder.

Charlie, James Oliver and Dan started tidying the area outside the coach beyond the dock as it was starting to look quite untidy and overgrown. Some equipment was re-sited and a lot of brush clearance was done.

Mark, Tom, Oliver and Dan finished off washing the vans in the yard. Mark and Tom then moved over to needle gunning in the pockets of 3689.

Nick and I cleared some of the defects noted against the vans when they have their Fitness to Run exams. A few handbrake rack bolts, underkeep bolts and a handbrake chain. With a bit of assistance we also change two buffers on B784409 on opposite corners.

I had managed to get hold of some soda media in the week and finally had the opportunity to try out the soda blaster, firstly on a vacuum cylinder, but also on 3689. It made a bit of a mess, but thankfully its water soluble! We’ll keep experimenting on this to find out what its best to use it for.

We pressure tested the latest cylinder and found a few further pin holes, however the new plate worked a treat!

Thanks for reading, and join us next week to see what we get up to! Cheers, Ross

Hello and welcome to the news from Quorn this week. We continue with vacuum cylinder repairs, Esso barrel plates and some housekeeping.

James, Nick and Ernie all having a bash at needle gunning the repaired 21″ cylinder to check for any more pitting/holes. Thankfully only pitting was found.

Ross and Charlie assembled the new welding screens.

I gave one of Esso barrel plates a second coat on the red text, the other one was done by Ross on Sunday. These will get a coat of varnish before fitting to a tank.

A damaged 15″ cylinder was retrieved from storage in the van train. It was stripped down and assessed. All quite good, however one of the cylinder lugs has broken. This will require sending away for repair. Ross removed the release valve studs from the cylinder, one of which needed a little heat to release.

I fitted the freshly painted 3D printed builders plates to tank 3621.

The Commuted Charge panel and star were also given a second coat of yellow.

We are also trialling our own make of Overhead Warning flash plates as an alternative to signwriting them on.
In order to assess how well they stand up to the good old British weather, one has been fitted to the south end of the garage building.

Mark, Tom and Oliver started cleaning the corrugated ends of the vans in the yard, in preparation for a freshen up later in the year. they look loads better for just a wash.

Tom also brought in cake for his upcoming birthday. Happy birthday Tom!

Ernie and Ross pressure tested the cleaned down 21″ cylinder finding a few small pinholes which will need to be rectified.

That about wraps things up there, join us next time where we should hopefully be mounting some Esso plates to a wagon and probably many other things!