Tag: 452718

Hello and welcome to a damp and chilly weekend of progress at Quorn. We dismantle a very corroded vacuum brake cylinder to provide parts to save other cylinders; and make a start with the signwriting on tank 3621.

During the week I spent a day at Rothley helping the C&W team with some finishing touches to TSO E4982 which was needed for Santa Special duties over the weekend.

The weather was not kind to us on Saturday, so Harry, Charlie and myself worked in the dry overhauling vacuum brake release valves to put into stock.

Ross made a start removing the studs from the very corroded vacuum cylinder; some of which were very stubborn and needed a bit of heat to release.

Once the studs were removed the trunion sections were cut around the edges and will be cleaned up and stored as spares.

The next step was to cut off the cylinder dome, cutting from the inside using the lower edge of the dome as a guide.

Centurion ‘Loades’ demonstrating what could be an alternative use for vacuum cylinder parts !

As the day brightened up Ross cleaned up the edges of dome before this was also put into store.

The steps that we use to access the Mess Coach have suffered somewhat with rot and need some urgent repairs; in the meantime we moved the steps normally used for visitor access to Test Car 2 into place next to the mess coach.

Sunday saw more of the team on-site and despite the cold start good progress was made with the tanks.

Mark, Tom and Oliver cleaning and drying out the chassis end pockets on 3854 ready for paint; and Dan finishing off the Overhead Warning sign on 3606.

Ross took a look at the re-wiring of the big welder, however on powering-up it became clear that we need a bigger generator to provide it with enough power to work.
The piston was removed from the Lowfits’ 18″ vacuum cylinder that was started last week and found to be in good order; the marking on the piston confirming that it was last attended to by the Mid Hants Railway in 2008.

With a little help from Nick aligning the template, I marked out and painted the speed rating stars on both sides of tank 3621.

Using a bit of spare 3/16″ plate, Ernie flame cut a circle big enough to use as a patch repair for the dome of the 18″ vacuum brake cylinder. Once cut, the plate was placed on an old steel car wheel, heated and given a few blows with a hammer to create a dish shape.

Nick cleaned up the top of the cylinder and the patch laid in place; Ernie and Ross then made a start welding using the smaller welder.

Dan picked out the Empty-Load changeover valve lettering on both 3606 and 3621; whilst I added the Commuted Charge Star and logo square to both sides of 3621.

Oliver, Tom and Mark did some gutter clearing on the Mess Coach and also Test Car 2. They also applied some red-oxide to the cleaned out chassis pockets on 3854.

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

Hello everyone, and welcome to the new look Quorn Wagon & Wagon website. As the website wasn’t ready last week, this update will cover two weeks of work. The website took a liittle more work than initially expected but we’re really happy with how it came out.

Last weekend, we removed the holed vacuum cylinder from 3689 and took a look at the brake rigging as the handbrake was difficult to operate and the brakes did not release cleanly. Charlie and Oliver took charge on the wagon, oiling and working the brakes. Eventually as with the other Esso tanks we split apart the system and found the sticky link. Usually with these its a bolted link right up in the top of the underframe that usually misses lubrication. We got the bolt undone (a surprise in itself!) and manage to get the link down to take it back up the yard for cleaning.

While this was done, a 21 inch vacuum cylinder from stock was prepared to be fitted, with Ernie and James dressing the studs from the cylinder while Harry and Charlie cleaned the cylinder, piston and dome cover. All surfaces applicable got a coat of red oxide primer.

Speaking of red oxide primer, Mark, Oliver, Tom and Ernie coated the last sections of 3854’s barrel in red oxide, after first preparing the surface. Hopefully we can get undercoat on it, however I suspect we have lost painting weather for the year now.

Towards the end of Sunday we got the overhauled cylinder fitted to 3689, but lost the light before getting it connected up. I also measured up the tyre profiles for 3689, which mostly measured up as new.

On to this week then, Saturday was pretty much a wash out, with the yard under 3689 a pond meaning we couldn’t get working to reconnect the vacuum cylinder. In a gap in the rain, we got the cylinder from 3689 stripped apart, using the Volvo to press the piston out of the bore. Harry and Charlie started to clean down the cylinder in the shelter of the garage. This one is definitely a case of looking worse than it is, but there is still some distance to go on that cylinder, maybe might be an opportunity to crack out the soda blaster.

In the afternoon we looked in the van train for any spare 21″ domes as we have 2 in need of repair. we found a further one, so its possible that we can make 2 good ones out of 3 holey ones!

Sunday was a much better day, we started by shunting out the Lowfit, taking the opportunity of a clear middle road to use the Volvo to lift the cylinder out of the wagon. The cylinder in the Lowfit had been damaged by a load in the wagon, filled with water and had subsequently holed through.

To ease rebuilding an 18″ I took the opportunity to take a rolling ring piston rod to make it into a guide rod to use when lowering a piston back into a cylinder. I cut the eye off the end and then drilled a cross hole for a bar to tighten/loosen the rod. We used it, to great effect, on the replacement 18″ cylinder for the Lowfit. The piston behaved exactly as described in the overhaul spec which is encouraging!

Using the Volvo again to lower the overhauled cylinder into the wagon, it was bolted back into the wagon and reconnected ot he brake system. Unfortunately, when we tried to test the system we found a the north end of the train pipe under the headstock is a little more akin to brandy snap and was letting the vacuum out. Another winter job for the list.

Nick and Tom walked back down the yard and got 3689 ready to test after which the team went up to test the brakes, after they were knocked back a half hole on the adjuster as the block gap was too tight to spec.

Charlie looked at the release valve removed from 3689, which to be honest I thought was more use as an anchor for a dingy! Mark and Oliver also got stuck in selecting a valve to look at..

The test went well, and the system passed with flying colours. After which we put everything away and had a celebratory cup of tea!

Thanks for joining us, and do let me know what you think of the new website. Cheers, Ross!

Hi all, welcome to a Railways at Work weekend update. Whilst some of the team supported the event, the rest continued with work on two of the tank wagons; and at Rothley the C&W department team have progressed repairs to the Lowfit and also the Steel High.

At Rothley the repair work on the wagon end sections of Steel High B724570 was well advanced. Thanks again to Jamie, Pat, Kyle, Rob, Noah and Steve.

Also the C&W team had welded new metal into the dragbox of the Lowfit B452718, (thanks to Pat for the photos)

On Friday preparations for the Railways at Work weekend involved getting the barrels and Brute Trolleys out of the van train at Quorn.

Over the weekend Mark, Tom, Ernie and Oliver continued to progress cleaning down and applying red-oxide primer to tank 3621.

Oliver had a birthday celebration; and of course there was cake involved….

Tank 3606 also received attention with some primer and undercoat applied to underframe areas.

The Railways at work is always an enjoyable weekend; here’s a selection of our pics.

and the Railways at Work team.

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

Hello everyone, and welcome to another update from Quorn. Now that I’ve come back from the frivolities of my wedding and from staffing HydroFLEX at the Greatest Gathering, I’ll give you a run down of what has happened for us this week.

At Rothley, good progress had been made by the C&W team on both the Lowfit with its previously poorly dragbox and the shock absorbing High Goods with its rotten corrugated end being replaced for some spare good material. Additionally, the Lowfit chassis has received more black paint and the chassis for the Palshocvan body had been needle gunned and primed, getting it ready for the body to go on. Thanks to Jamie, Pat, Kyle, Rob, Noah and Steve, we’re looking forward to having these back and getting them in traffic.

The week prior, the tank train had applicable vehicles receive a bearing exam and all vehicles had their brake rigging oiled.

On to this weekend then, and after my time away its nice to see the amount of progress that has been made. Before the trains started running, Charlie (with Nick as lookout) mowed the grass between Road 1 in the South Yard and the running line.

Dave got started on the east side Shell logo, getting it chalked up and completed in the morning.

Ernie and I got the Esso plate jig out and welded the plate brackets back on to 3621. We started on the west side, and the jig made the work really easy, though the height from the ground did add a complication. I modified the jig to allow a bit of access to the bottom ring from the top which made the east side lugs even easier. the west have been fulled welded, and then received a dose of wire brushing by Nick and painted with a coat of primer by James. I ran out of 3.2mm electrodes before finishing the west side, but we can catch that at a later date.

Dave got the west side Shell logo on 1919 and touch up the green on the BP logo. This is among the last jobs on this tank, though we will be varnishing each of the logos on this tank. That leaves us to complete our paperwork before handing it over to Jamie for its acceptance FTR. I measured the flange height and thicknesses, which were showing a nearly brand new P5 profile. Dave applied a wheel 1 arrow to the tank to assist us in future inspections.

3621 had its lid securing turnbuckles freed off and oiled courtesy of Charlie and Ernie, plus an extra pipe stub in the filler neck was removed and blanked and Nick got the scaffolding down to 3606 to scrape the the tar residue from around the filler neck and around the top of the barrel. This needs a bit more scraping and a bit of degreaser before we can paint it. I went round 3606 with the big ratchet to make sure that all the side support bolts were tight. I’ll be adding a blob of weld to each exterior bolt to ensure that they don’t come undone.

Ernie used an angle grinder to clean up the support remnants on 3606. Nick, Charlie and James took the washer tin over to 3854 to put new washers in the brake system where they were missing.

Lastly, Charlie and James gave the BEVs a clean and a charge before Railway at Work next weekend. Do come down to the railway next weekend to experience the sights, sounds and atmosphere of a by-gone era, showing how goods and passengers were moved around the network. We’ll be there helping to tell the story. Join us then!

Hello everyone and welcome to this week’s update. This week, we’ve followed up the undercoat on 1919 with a gloss coat and continued the re-assembly of 3606.

1919 first then, although windy, Saturday was a perfect day for painting with it being dry and warm out so came the spray kit. With eight litres of thinned down paint, I applied a solid first coat to the tank barrel and sole bar all round, with the west side underframe getting a look in too.

Charlie cleaned up our spare direction switch for the Brush Pony trucks, and also cleaned up the top of the underframe on the Lowfit, making good work of the whole frame and applying some red oxide primer.

With the paint drying on 1919, our attention turned to 3606. We’ve had a sample bend section supplied to check which was close, but required some alteration to fit, which was carried out between Nick, Ernie and I. Some bends were altered and a section of material let in to extend the front section. this can now go back to the supplier so that they can make the full foot wide support pieces for this tank.

The heating coil pipe on 3606 was also completed, with Nick and Ernie having to recover one of the cutting rings from the compression fitting being used to complete the work. The bent sections where fitted together, then I welded them to the bosses on the tank, as would have originally been done.

That wraps up this week; next week maybe another coat on the 1919, or it could be something else. Lets see what the week and the weather hold for us. Thank for reading

This week the team at Quorn work on the Esso Tank Wagons 3606 & 3621, and Lowfit B452718, helped by a group of Young Rail Professionals (YRP).

It was also a great pleasure to welcome members of the Salisbury and South Wilts Railway Society who were visiting the GCR.

On Saturday Mark, Oliver, Tom, Daniel and Charlie got stuck in to some scraping, wire brushing, sanding and needle gunning on Tanks 3606 and 3621.

The Young Railway Professionals team worked on the Lowfit underframe, again with scrapers, wire brushes and a needle gun.

Ernie, Ross, Dan and myself set to work making 16 steel brackets that will be used to mount the Esso plates on tank 3621. After measuring up the existing brackets on tank 3606, some steel plate strip was cut into lengths and the holes drilled.

The first plate was marked for the bend position, heated and bent to shape. This was then checked against the existing brackets.

The remaining 15 cut and drilled plates were then marked, heated and bent to shape.

The blanked off heating coil bungs on tank 3606 were cut to get the bungs out with a view to making a replacement section of pipework.

Red Oxide was applied to some of the cleaned up areas on tank 3606.

Sunday saw Harry, Charlie and myself continuing with cleaning up areas on 3606 and 3621 followed by more red oxide primer.

All in all another busy weekend with progress on the Esso tanks.

Join us again next week as we continue with the tanks, all the best, Dave

Hello and welcome to a bumper update from the team at Quorn; reporting on two weeks work on the TTA Tank 1919. It was also great to see the mixed goods running again for the popular Goods Experience event.

Last week progress was made with the headstocks and sanding the tank barrel. The remains of the last stubborn sticker adhesive took a bit of removing.

Two discarded picnic benches were recovered from Rothley and given some tlc. These will be put to good use by the team at Quorn.

A donated vice was attached to the heavy framed workbench.

This weekend started with a snapped brake release chord on the Dogfish in the mixed goods, which was given a temporary repair before Witherslack Hall arrived to take charge of the Goods Experience event train. The release chord will be fully replaced in due course.

Work then continued on tank 1919, sanding, wire brushing, scraping and needle gunning the solebars.

Followed by a coat of red-oxide primer; and a bit of much needed tlc for some paint brushes.

With the needle gun out an opportunity was taken to clean up some of the Lowfit underframe.

Monday and we were treated to a couple of customary Bank Holiday showers, however there were sufficient dry spells to continue with solebar and underframe scaping, wire brushing, sanding and red-oxide painting more areas on tank 1919.

A bit of tree pruning was necessary to get a couple of overhanging branches clear of the tanks; of course firstly making absolutely sure there were no nesting birds.

One of the theatrical prop bicycles was repaired using parts obtained from a local car boot sale. Some of the rod type brake linkage needed a bit of re-shaping to fit and operate smoothly.

Tank 1919 is progressing much closer to being ready for undercoat painting, lets hope the weather is kind to us next week !

Join us again next week when Quorn Station Yard will be busy with the 1940s Weekend, for full details see the GCR website here – https://tickets.gcrailway.co.uk/events/103217

All the best, Dave

Hello and welcome to a sunny weekend update from Quorn; we’ve continued with getting tank 1919 ready for paint and completed a small repair to part of the brake rigging on the Lowfit.

Lowfit wagon B452718 is due to go to Rothley at some point for underframe repairs, in the meantime we need to progress other jobs which include a repair to a broken part of the brake rigging. One of the twin operating arms has a fractured spacer and a missing spacer. To make the repair easier, on Saturday the arm was removed from the wagon.

The spacer attachment areas were cleaned up and a new spacer cut from a piece of tubing.

The arm assembly was then clamped together and welded up.

The rigging arm was then treated to a coat of red oxide primer, followed by a coat of gloss black.

Dan continued with his work on the A-Type container, cleaning up more of the metalwork and applying red-oxide primer.

The main focus for the weekend has been needle gunning, sanding and scraping of tank 1919 to progress closer to being able to apply paint.

Where bare metal was revealed, red oxide primer was applied and when dry the north end headstock panel had grey undercoat.

On Sunday the sanding and scraping continued on tank 1919, also a couple of areas on tanks 3621 and 3606 were attended to.

Again any bare metal areas on all 3 tanks were treated to some red oxide primer.

The repaired brake rigging arm was re-fitted to the Lowfit after straightening the locating pins.

The sticker glue residue was removed from the west side of tank 1919.

Next week with most of the team away, we’ll be taking a break from reporting any activity until we’re back for the Bank Holiday bumper weekend at the end of the month.

Cheers for now, Dave