Category: Updates

  • 03/07/19 – A mid-week Con.

    A mid-week update,  it happens occasionally and today is a very good reason to have a separate post.  Just myself and Nick in attendance and it was all my fault.  Last week I had an opportunity that could not be me missed and purchased my largest railwayana item to date. This resulted in an 08:00 departure from Quorn, with a 7 Ton Lorry, North to Barnsley.20190703_093022

    Just off the M1 and outside a farm already loaded on to a forklift, 1959 built BD4304B Fiberglass Container. Built by Mickleover Transport in a batch of 6.

     

    All loaded and secured we made the run back to Quorn and having been sat on a farm for many years the container was once again on another forklift.

     

    At this point, we would like to thank our friends at Kenway Construction for the loan of their vehicle, a superb help to our cause.

    Now safely on the ground, the Container takes a temporary place in the compound to allow us to restore it in preparation for the arrival of one of the Conflat-As and its eventual home.

     

    I also took the opportunity to take some measurements of the lettering in readiness for making the signwriting templates and to answer my curiosity having seen the very container in Don Rowlands British Railways Wagons book.  In his book, there is evidence of branding but the image is too low quality to read.  The answer………………20190703_134929

    Having exposed the branding it also confirms its livery of BR Crimson with Golden Yellow lettering.
    Inside was more evidence of it BR past and its solid condition.

     

    Further opportunity was taken to do a touch of signwriting on the Shocvan and we are so tantalisingly close to the completion of this vehicle, just need to Dot the I’s and Cross the T’s

     

    The eagle-eyed amongst you will also notice that once again I have applied Shock markings and have not been happy with there position.  Some extra Bauxite and White paint I am much happier.

     

    That  concludes this special Midweek update as always more this weekend.

  • 30/06/19 – Lines and Squares

    A small team Saturday, consisting of Nick and Ross.  As Ross stated last week the second coat of gloss for the boxvan was sprayed. Gloss was also applied to the door ends and areas covered by the doors when closed.   

    The northern headstock, eastern sole bar and parts of the western sole bar also received bitumastic paint.20190629_183514.jpg
    On to Sunday, much cooler weather and a full complement, both the Shocvan and Test Car 2 were hit from all sides.  Nick completed the sole bar painting on the Shoc as I tidied up the lining of TC2. 

    Dave, Ross and Jake looked over all the finer details door edges and inner frames. all areas of overspray. The gangways and the solebar.

    I also painted the lettering on the spec plate, Ross added the OLE warning flash and Dave painted the details on the reducing valve.

    All of this completes the body side of “2 Car” and the request has gone to the Ops department to turn it.  Not only will this allow all of you to see our work in the flesh but will also allow us to begin it all again with the other side.

    Whilst most of the above was continuing I turned my attention to the Shocvan,  applying the Shoc boxes, we are going for the post-1964 livery and the stripes as applied to our other shock vehicles has made way for the boxes.  I also added a black patch for the branding and assorted shades of black for the data panel.

    Nick also painted the Lamp irons and Vacuum pipes as well as cutting and priming a pair of Chalk Boards, my last task stanley knife blade in hand to remove the overspray from the windows.

    That concludes this weeks update. As always we shall continue next week.

  • 23/06/19 – BLUE!

    23/06/19 – BLUE!

    Painting has occurred this weekend. Lots of painting. The main focus for this weekend has been, of course, Test Car 2. Last week, we got the Flame Red painted around the coach, which left the Rail Blue for this week. The Flame Red  and the white lining had to be masked, so Matt, Jack and I popped down on Friday afternoon to mask off the red and white with masking tape and brown paper, ready for Saturday.

    Saturday arrives, and to start with the Red and white overspray got a gentle key by Dave and Matt while I thinned down the blue paint ready for application. Jake was arriving slightly later, so I had to utilise a stand-in assistant.

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    I applied the first coat of blue, with Jake applying the 2nd coat all over. I then applied the 3rd coat over and around the gutters, and Jake finished the 3rd coat on the bottom of the coach.

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    While Jake and I painted the Test Car, Dave, Nick and Matt continued work on the internal cladding of the Shocvan.

    And then onto the exterior

    After lunch, we unmasked the Test Car.

    With the coach left with it’s paint drying in the sun/hot weather, Jake and I assisted with the van.

    On Sunday, more painting took place. For Matt, the signwriting of the Test Car beckoned. For me, I got the spray gun out again and gave the Shocvan a coat of undercoat, and then in the afternoon, gloss. The gloss will need another coat next week, but it is a start.

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    Next weekend will see another coat of gloss applied to the Shocvan, the headstocks and other details painted and the lining tidied up on the Test Car. Then we’ll have it all to do again on the other side! Join us next week for more Test Car adventures!

  • 16/06/19 – Red, White and………..not yet!

    So we begin the same way we spent the week,  looking at the weather forecast.  With favorable conditions until 16:00 we went for it.  Whilst Ross thinned down the paint in preparation for spraying Dave, Jake and myself prepared Test Car 2 for paint.  Masking tape applied where required, this being 3/4″ thick correct for the lining.  The white gloss that was left exposed was keyed and the resulting dust removed by tac cloth.

     

    Once complete Ross started his task, the application of the BR Flame red.  3 Coats in total.

     

    Whilst Ross and Jake took care of the external surfaces Dave continued with some tasks inside.  Once complete the vehicle will be available for public display and we have had some interpretation boards made up to tell the story of Test Car 2 specifically and some details of the DM&EE Test Fleet in general.  Dave added a board to the equipment rack that will be used to mount some of the displays.

     

    Nick and myself turned to the Shocvan cleaning down and red oxiding were required and trimming down excess material.

     

    This brought us to the exciting part of the proceedings, de-masking the Test Car.  This is so there is no risk of the tape damaging the paintwork and when the blue goes on all of the Red will require masking so its a clean sheet to work with.

     

    If you haven’t guessed by now we are applying the DM&EE livery carried from 1974 until the mid 1990s:20190615_141420With all that can be accomplished on the Test Car complete the whole team turned to the Shocvan.  Measuring and cutting the new plywood sides.

     

    These were then primed

     

    And with everything then drying some final cleaning tasks in the Test Car and the removal of a few of the Vinyls on the other side.

     

    On to Sunday and the test car has been left alone to cure and harden all attention turns to the Shocvan.  The primed sides cut previously were lifted into place one by one.  The large end sheets had recesses drilled for the rivets located in the vehicle ends.

     

    The new ends replaced by the Locomotive department had holes marked and drilled.

     

    Once all of the holes had been picked up the side sheets had sealant applied and they were bolted into position.  Although a short part of the update, in reality, this was Sundays task in a nutshell.

     

    Finally, Dave continued with the interpretation displays within the test car.

     

    This concludes this update and we are all looking forward to applying the Rail blue to the test car, of cause the Shocvan also marks the final van in our collection for the van train although our aim is still 17.

     

  • 09/06/2019 – Grey Days

    09/06/2019 – Grey Days

    Welcome to another update from Quorn. It has been a bit quieter for us this week as Nick was away camping, which left Matt and I on Saturday. Jake joined us on Sunday, with Nick coming to inspect on Sunday evening.

    Due to the weather, Saturday was a small jobs day. Matt and I initially went to B&Q to get a few supplies such as fluorescent light tubes and round headed wood screws. We fitted a new light tube in the saloon of the coach, which had been broken during a jumper removal. Having the folded and painted the defect book holder in weeks previous, Matt sign wrote them in the comfort on the Test Car. Once sign written  and dry, we fitted them to the BR van currently stopped due to wheel damage (B954268) and the LMS brake van, situated in the down lieby (M730562).  Having sorted these vans out, we then journeyed to Swithland to fit the defect book holder to the Southern brake van (S56010). The 2 operational brakes have also been kitted with PCV first aid kits. We are planning to build some boxes for these, some they look more period appropriate.

    After viewing our 3 most recently outshopped vehicles, we returned from Swithland. The weather dried up, so we started to mask the windows using a window film obtained from Toolstation. After much struggling and faffing the windows were masked. Doing the masking gave the the bodyside time to dry allowing us to continue filling the final few areas on the coach.

    On to Sunday, and it the hope of getting paint on the coach. First though, a bit of light sanding and cleaning down. jake use the blowgun to get rid of the heavy areas of dust , and I used some tack cloths I had bought in the week that helped to remove the dust from the bodyside.

    Then I painted.

    and then painted some more.

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    Only issue being is that the weather, being British and changable, started to rain before I could to the lower line. However in a gap in the rain, I completed the lower line but not without some damage to the paint already applied.

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    Finally, the 2 lines were done.

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    That concludes this week’s work. Next week we are planning to continue with the repaint of the Test Car, with the next stage of the livery being applied. Thank for reading!

  • 02/06/19 – Independent Test Car

    More mid-week work but not from me this time.  Ross has been popping in of an evening pressing on with Test Car 2.  First the removal of the stickers and vinyls on the dockside.

    Once the lettering was removed, the task of preparing the bodywork for paint was started, Nick also joining in after work to assist and focused on the roof. 

    I was not idle in the week either having ordered and collected the paint for the vehicle.  We also had a delivery of our next few projects. The 2 LNER Steel Highs E281882 E280364, the iron ore tippler B385782 and back from the loco shed; our centre shock shocvan B854782 . This has had significant repairs to the two ends, our thanks once again to the loco department for their excellent work.

    On to Saturday and work continues on preparing Test Car 2,  Dave continuing the work started by Ross in the week. 

    Whilst Dave was sanding away the rest of the team returned one of the overhauled vacuum cylinders to its position under the center Shockvan20190601_104030.jpgOnce back in position all of our attention turned to the Test Car.  Due to the poor condition of the inward opening door on the “A” End or the Slip End as its known the decision was taken to change it for another held in stock.  This was trial fitted and due to some accurate measuring previously, fitted with no problems at all.

    The door was removed so I could carry out my major task for the day.  A set of edging strips were fitted either side of the Slip end doors when they were modified from outward opening to inward opening.  Unfortunately, the weather has not been kind to these and the usual bulging due to rust had occurred.  I removed the internal trimming and handrails before de-riveting the edging strips themselves.

    Once cleaned up and straightened, red oxide was applied to all parts a wooden backing applied and the strip screwed back into place followed by refitting of the hand rail.

    Whilst the new door was off Dave took the opportunity to sand it down. 

    Jake also assisted with some of the coach prep whilst Nick replaced the rotten step board. 

    The final task for Saturday to refit the new door and admire the prep carried out

    On to Sunday and continuation of the body prep.  Red Oxide being applied to areas requiring it and once dry the filling began.  Dave and Nick also continued with some of the detailing, cleaning out window runners and prep around the end components.  I also had another go at cleaning the windows in preparation for applying the window film as we will be spraying the vehicle.  As part of our sanding down, we were able to see the layers of paint applied over the years, right down to the first application of maroon when the coach was built. 

    Unfortunately, the weather had other ideas and attention turned to dryer activities.  Ross and Dave took the lead on giving the generator some TLC. With the water and oils checked, the battery charged it was coaxed into life.

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    With it running smoothly, the leap was taken and for the first time since at least 2010 the shore supply was switched off in preference to the generator supply.

    The compressor was then tested as well as the 240v supply all successful.  The compressor was also connected to the main reservoir and charged.

    The last task for the weekend was to vacuum test the shocvan and after 8 hour the brakes were still hard on and so deemed a success.  20190602_192401

    That concludes this weeks update and our hope is for better weather so progress can continue with Test Car 2

  • 26/05/19 – Shunted around and about

    26/05/19 – Shunted around and about

    First an update on mid-week work,  Matt has been on earlies and as usual been popping in after his shift. Tuesday he completed the signwriting by adding the wagon plates and completing the East side circuit marker on the Shockhood. 

    On Wednesday the finishing touches to the underframes of both vehicles were applied, drawing a conclusion to their repaints.

    Apart from the end chains for the hood, the Shochood B is ready to return to traffic. The Medfit still requires a floor, but this should be dealt with at the weekend thus returning the wagon to traffic.

    Thursday / Friday and something a little different, Matt has been helping the station with a project of theirs, turning a mobile toilet into something that doesn’t look so out of place in a “1940s Goods Yard”

    On to Saturday and as mentioned above a Floor for the Medfit.
    The planks were cut to length

    Laid the entire length of the vehicle and marked up,  35 planks in all

    Once marked up Jake had the task of drilling the holes and the planks were refitted and bolted into position.

    Once complete Matt returned to the “Blue Caravan” whilst Nick and Jake manufactured label clip blocks, fitted them, as well as replacing the vacuum hoses.

    On to Sunday, and with it the completion of the Medfit. Jake, Nick and Ollie finished the vehicle by painting the backs of the doors and ends with black bitumastic paint.

    Whilst this was taking place, I was improving the security of the GUV by fitting an additional lock to the our access door. (No pictures of this of course) Matt had intended to continue working on the “Blue Caravan” but the rain put the kibosh on that until later in the day. Instead he amused himself by making the 9 defect book holders for all the brake vans on the railway. The brake vans have recently received defect books, so the holders will be a welcome addition. Having cut and bent the platework into shape, Matt the primed them and left them to dry.

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    With many hands, we also put back together the 18″ vacuum cylinder taken apart during Goods Galore, fitted a new sealing ring and rolling ring. We also took a cursory glance of a cylinder taken from the Shocvan currently in the shed at Loughborough. We know this had been overhauled recently, but erred on the side of caution and took it apart to inspect it. Finding nothing amiss, this was re-assembled and place back into store, to await the arrival of it’s van.

    On to Monday, and Matt had stayed quite late on on Sunday to complete the signwriting of the “Blue Caravan”, so we looked upon the fruits of his work, whilst taking the time to remove the chalk from the now dried paint.

    Monday hasn’t been a very productive day, due to shunting taking place in the south yard at Quorn. With no ‘new’ wagons received from Swithland, our attention turns to our temporary base, Test Car 2. This has been moved into the dock in place of our GUV, so that we can commence a small project to smarten it up, as requested by the railway. I won’t say what the Livery is, but it will be appropriate to the vehicle, and it has carried the livery before (which narrows it down to 3 in its Test Car guise). While Nick was sorting out few bits in Loughborough to progress another Cylinder overhaul, Matt and I set everything back up including steps to vehicles and shore supplies reconnected. We also tidied the Test Car and generally tidied around our area.

    As the Medfit and Shochood are ready to depart, they have been shunted ready to move to Swithland, on the south end of the middle road at Quorn.

    That finishes off the update this week. Next week we are plunged into war. Let’s see what we can get up to despite it!

  • 19/05/19 – Chassis and Essays

    As we reach the final stages for both the Shochood and the Medfit I took the opportunity in the week to tidy up and finish the shock stripes.  In our haste to apply them last weekend, we applied the west side in the wrong position.  This was no big problem and very quickly remedied.  The stripes were widened and the excess then painted bauxite.  Any tape bleed was also tidied and a Circuit marker circle applied.

     

    As the weather was forecasted to be poor on Friday a small team of Nick, Jack and I re-sheeted the vehicle on Thursday and fitted the securing chains. 

    On to the weekend. I was crewing the Class 37 on passenger duties whilst Jake and Nick continued to scrape down the two vehicles.  Bitumastic paint was also applied to the sole bar and headstocks of the Shochood. As well as a new label clip and block.

    After my duties on the 37 were complete I began on the essay that is the Shochoods lettering.20190518_170636

    The west side was completed sometime after the sun had set.60382576_324543074884281_3449779313388290048_n.jpg

    On to Sunday and more of the same for me.  The East side of the Shochood and both sides of the Medfit.

     

    Nick and Ross worked on the chassis of both vehicles.  Completing the scrape down and spraying the rest of the underframe.  Nick followed Ross with a brush touching in those areas missed by the spray.

     

    I continued with the Signwriting as Nick and Ross looked at the finer details.  Swan necks, axle end covers and any other areas that required touching up.

     

    With the bulk of the body side lettering done I moved on to the sole bar details.  Repair plates, vacuum stats and brake change over levers.

     

    We are tentatively close to the completion of these two vehicles.  A few last signwriting and paint items as well as a floor for the Medfit, with a 3 day weekend thrown into the mix all is looking good for them to re-join the fleet very soon.

     

  • 12/05/19 – The Joy of Painting

    Welcome to another update from Quorn Wagon and Wagon. This weekend has been Goods Galore, with our goods vehicles rattling up and down the line. This doesn’t stop us however, and we have had a very productive weekend. Not one, but two wagons were painted up into gloss! The weekend also marks the return the service of the LMS box van, which made its debut in the parcels rake.

    Firstly Nick, Jake, Dave, Matt and Jack set about the Shochood B and the Medfit with Scrapers and wire brushes. Whilst this took place, I was inside the GUV preparing the paint and spray gun for the spraying session. Once I’d prepared everything, I went to assist RVP with connecting the LNER Gresley to the mains for display for the weekend.

    Once scraped, Dave and I went round and painted any areas of bare metal and the tops of the wagons in red oxide primer.

    It was then time for tea! Jake has now been with us for a whole year, so to celebrate he brought in a cake to share with us!

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    After tea was drunk and cake consumed, I began spraying the wagons in undercoat and then handed over to Jake for him to complete the rest of the Shochood and the all the Medfit.

    While Jake was spraying, Dave and I started to make something I dreamt up. With the 2 compressors we now have (the Hydrovane and the one in TC2), I believe that we have sufficient capacity to run 2 spray guns at the same time. As such Jake could be painting one side, whilst I spray paint the other. For this I thought about making a manifold that can be hung from/mounted to the wagon so that we easily run a hose down either side of a vehicle. Dave and I ferreted around in the various boxes of fittings left in TC2 and managed to put something together where we can use any of the air hoses we have on site. This was put together and leak tested successfully.

    To finish off the day, we removed 2 doors and a spare vacuum cylinder from storage  and placed our spare brake van stove back into store in the van train. The 2 doors are destined for the Yellow Coach to be reinstated in the luggage area.

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    On to Sunday, with glossing being the main order of the day. Jake had to spend the day revising for his upcoming GCSEs, so I took the lead with the spray gun and got the Shochood and Medfit painted into gloss. A personal best was set for 2 wagons painted before tea at 11.00! Prior to spraying the Medfit, Mat and Nick fitted its Bodyside Chalk boards. Caption competition time?

    With the wagons hardening off in the lovely warm sunshine, the team set upon the vacuum cylinder retrieved from the van train.

    Once opened up, the cylinder was found to have surface rust on the bore, and the piston stuck in its halfway position. The cylinder has been stored on its dome for around 20 years, so this is a lesson in the correct way to store a vacuum cylinder (vacuum cylinders should be stored with the piston rod removed, the with bottom of the cylinder lowermost). As the cylinder was stored incorrected, the seal had been compressed into the bore and the piston, making it very difficult to remove the piston. Like the last cylinder, an application of penetrating fluid and a sledgehammer had the piston out. Matt began cleaning the piston and cylinder using a wire brush on the grinder.

    I cleaned up the gland seal retaining bush and refixed it to the base of the cylinder.

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    Whilst cleaning the components of the cylinder, we were asked to assist with the turntable demonstration, where the turntable had got stuck. Matt lowered himself into the pit with our pinch bar to un-stick the turntable.

    Out of the turntable pit, Matt, assisted by Jack, started to paint some of the details on the wagons, starting with the sheet hoops of the Shochood. Jack stayed on the floor and painted the chalkboards on both wagons.

    With the paint again left to dry, we then went to Rothley to assist in removing 3 coaches from the train in preparation for their annual exams this coming week. In doing this, Matt became the last person to use the current Rothley ground frame before it gets removed this week, in the S&T work week.

    Whilst at Rothley, we also looked upon progress on the Yellow Coach, with 2 new doors fitted at the south end of the vehicle, and 4 heater patches welded in, the coach is well on its way to recovery.

    There is still a fair amount left to do on the coach, including the ends and a “new” set of double doors in the luggage area. Back to Quorn, and the paint had gone sufficiently hard for Matt to apply the shock stripes to the Shochood B.

    The vehicles are nearly ready for traffic now, with the only thing left to do being to paint the underframes and apply the lettering.  Thank for reading this weeks chock full update! Join us again next week where we will hopefully have the Shochood B and the Medfit completed!

  • 06/05/19 – Brakes hard on.

    500954 has left us to have its actuating arm welded at Rothley and will return to traffic as part of the Parcels rake at the upcoming Goods Galore gala before it joins the rest of the vans for future events.

    On to this weekend and first a trip out to collect a Hydrovane Compressor kindly donated to us, this will be a great asset for the future and our thanks go out for this kind donation.20190505_182152

    Due to the changeable weather, our attention has turned to the vacuum system of the Shockhood B.  This had been isolated sometime ago and was picked up during our routine maintenance. The vehicle has an Empty / Loaded change over valve which once selected to the loaded position introduces an additional 15″ cylinder into the brake system as well as the standard 18″ cylinder.  When we last looked at the vehicle we connected the 15″ Cylinder direct to the train pipe of the vehicle.  After replacing the south end vacuum hose we carried out a brake test. 

    This performed unsatisfactorily even after the replacement of the release valve.  We swapped the direct connection to the 18″ cylinder and again this did not meet with expectation.

    The piston gland seal was replaced and again no change to its performance. So with a new release valve, gland seal and a missing nut replace from beneath the cylinder the issue must be internal.

    With a plan formulated for Sunday,  we removed the release valve from the 15″ cylinder as well as the now redundant pipe work.

    The final job for Saturday was a spot of signwriting for Renaissance Railcars20190504_215306

    On to Sunday and we dropped the 18″ cylinder from the Shockhood.

    The cylinder was last overhauled in 1993 and its internal condition was remarkable only the seals were in very poor condition.

    With the seals replaced the cylinder was reassembled and the top of the dome painted in bitumastic paint.  Once it is refitted this area will be inaccessible.  Once together the cylinder was refitted, plumed back in and a test carried out.  This time the cylinder held until we released it after a tea break.

    With a boost in confidence, we turned our attention to the Medfit and again cylinder out.  This time however we lifted it out.

    This one shows the importance of sealing an out of use cylinder,  the Shockhoods was sealed when isolated keeping the elements out of it, the Medfits however left to the open and internally it was very poor.

    With a scrape, wirebrush and then Red Oxide it was time for another tea break.

    This allowed the Red Oxide to dry so we could reassemble the cylinder with another full set of seals and it was refitted to the vehicle.  The two vehicles were then connected to the test rig individually, the cylinders operated a number of times and then the brake finally destroyed and left.

    I finally brought my latest bit of signwriting out into the sun.IMG-20190505-WA0000.jpg

    On arrival Monday the vehicles still had their brakes applied. Hardly any drop on either cylinder.

    Our task, however, was gala prep.  Next week is, of course, Goods Galore and a few of our vehicles are in operation.  We were asked by the Operations Manager to look over not only our vehicles but all those in operation.  It also gave us the opportunity to complete the Winter Maintenance of E280364 and DB916549.

    Back at Quorn and to complete the day I manufactured a blanking plate for the now redundant 15″ cylinder on the Shockhood and Nick manufactured 2 chalkboards for the Medfit.

    As I mentioned above next weekend is Goods Galore so feel free to come down and see a substantial number of our collection in operation.