Tag: 505313

  • 13/04/25 – A “Goods” Experience

    13/04/25 – A “Goods” Experience

    Hello all, welcome to our news from Quorn. A busy week with various activities, making progress with two vans, a vac cylinder, a sticky release valve, some general housekeeping and also Madge.

    It was also great to see some of our wagons out running in the mixed goods for the first of the Goods Experience Day events; and we wished Charlie a Happy Birthday for next Tuesday, with cake of course.

    During the week Nick and Tom dealt with a sticky release valve that had been reported on Conflat B505313. The valve was replaced with an overhauled one from our stock. The faulty valve will be subsequently overhauled and put back into stock.

    The roofs of two of the four vans that had their roof sheets replaced over the Christmas period were painted by Dan, Harry and Nick. P18422 and B779978. The other two will be dealt with when we have got some more paint.

    Ernie finished of cleaning up the previously assembled vacuum cylinder, then gave it a coat of re-oxide primer. By the afternoon the red oxide had dried allowing a coat of black gloss.

    After tidying up the garage, Jack, Charlie and myself got stuck into some needle gun work on the cab floor framework of Madge, taking it back to bare metal. After cleaning down, this was followed by a coat red-oxide primer.

    We also applied some black to the previously primed rear hubs and brake drums. The inner faces of the rear wheels were painted too.

    Ernie spent some time sharing his many years of experience, teaching Harry and Charlie the art of chisel and drill bit grinding. Both of them getting quite a bit of practice as we have very many blunt drill bits and somewhat used chisels.

    The tidying up continued throughout the weekend; we also had some very kind donations of tools, a vice, storage racks and two sturdy workbenches from Richard, thank you.

    Mark and Tom also sorted out and recovered quite a few paint brushes.

    Madge’s rear wheels were re-fitted and some further needle gun and scraping was carried out inside Madge’s cab and also on some of the inner areas of the rear framework. This again was cleaned down and treated with red oxide primer.

    That wraps up this update, as a reminder the Test Car with be open for the next two weekends:

    – Road Rail Steam – Saturday 19, Sunday 20 and Monday 21 April 2025

    – Spring Diesel Gala – Friday 25, Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 April 2025

    Find us at the south end of the station yard at Quorn, through the gate just past the turntable.

    Pop in and see us for a guided tour of this unique piece of railway history, and find our how & why British Rail tested goods wagons.

    Along with our popular Test Car 2 booklets, we also have a new booklet covering the history and use of another British Rail Test Coach, Test Car 1.
    Both are available from a member of the team at Quorn, or when you visit the Test Car, only £5.

    Keep and eye out for our Donations Lamp outside the Test Car; your support is very much appreciated.

    For more info about these events, and more, please see the GCRs website – https://www.gcrailway.co.uk/whats-on/

    Thanks for reading! all the best, Dave

  • 24/11/19 -Well, they all suck(ish)…

    Welcome to this week’s update from Quorn Wagon and Wagon. Nick, Matt, and Jake start the weekend. With the van train now stood down for the winter and stabled in the yard, Nick and Jake started the brake overhauls.  The first task was to replace the life-expired vacuum hoses, with 11 changed on Saturday. Replacing the hoses allows us to baseline the train and see if there are any other underlying issues with the vacuum equipment.20191123_155655

     

    Despite the forecasted weather, the rain held off long enough for Matt to apply the signwriting to B505313

     

    As the forecasted rain arrived, steel plates were placed over the vulnerable areas and Nick and Jake applied gloss red to the vacuum swan necks.  This completes B505313 however there are a few items to complete on the Container before the ensemble is released to traffic.

     

    Sunday saw Nick, Dave and I undertaking initial vacuum testing on the van train. We liberated the vacuum test rig and transported it down the yard to the van train. Starting at the south with the fish van, B87674, we methodically worked up the train testing each van individually to see if the vacuum was functional, and how long the cylinder reamined applied for. During testing, you can tell where there are leaks, and often you can hear them, despite the noise of the test rig.

     

    6 additional hoses were changed today, and the vehicles which require further attention have been identified, with 8 vans requiring a cylinder overhaul. These will happen, weather dependant, in the coming weekends. We’ll soon rattle through them, and the van train will, all being well, be released to traffic with functional vacuum brakes. With the leaks fixed, we are at least, halfway there. Thanks for reading, and join us again next week!

     

  • 17/11/19 – Loaded and Secured

    17/11/19 – Loaded and Secured

    Unusually this update begins on Thursday with a trip to Medstead & Four Marks.  The reason for the visit, to pick up some Conflat chains.  Our thanks go to the Mid-Hants Railway Wagon group for offering them to us, they were in far better condition than our own. 

    Friday saw the December issue of Rail Express hit the shelves with an article looking ant our work on Test Car 2IMG-20191115-WA0000

    On to Saturday and I continued with the signwriting started last weekend.

    Nick drilled and attached the chains to the Conflat whilst Ross and Dave drilled and secured the additional rails placed on the vehicle last week.

    Then the main event, before the light failed and after I had completed the high-level signwriting we lifted BD4303B on to B505313. With the subframe missing we had to first lower the container on to a set of sleepers.

    The Container was then lifted from each end and the sleepers removed.

    Once sat on the rails the Container was secured to the Conflat.  Earlier before the lift Nick and Ross also applied the identification plate above the door.

    To allow the lift I left off the branding and applied it Sunday as well as a few other signwriting finishing touches.

    Nick, Ross, Jake and Dave applied Bauxite to the Conflat. adding heat to cure the paint as they went along.  Sufficiently drying the vehicle before the rain started.

    All of the conflat chains had reached the end of there threads although reasonably tight we took some steps to resolve. We couldn’t move inwards by a ring as the chains were not long enough so our next option was to shorten them.  We did this using an old BR trick, one of the links was heated in each chain and bent.

    With the shortened chains we resecured the container. Jubilee clips were also added to prevent inadvertent loosening.

    With it also being the Last Hurrah we saw a few of our vehicles in operation.  Notably the Vans.

    The van train is now stabled in the yard at Quorn in preparation for the Winter Brake overhaul and to finish Ross and Dave serviced the Test Cars Generator.20191117_144934

  • 10/11/19 – The Last Paint

    10/11/19 – The Last Paint

    Another weekend and another washout. Once again we move up the line to Rothley to look at ADB977107.  Some more welding from the C&W team has enabled us to complete the fitment of the west side windows. Nick and Jake fitted the glass and clamping wood.

    Whilst Matt followed, fitting the trims and finishing strips as well as the backrest in the main saloon and the heater retaining strap in the kitchen.  Matt also refitted the toilet trims and skirting boards.

    Nick and Jake then moved onto removing the first of the windows on the East side ready for future welding.

    Matt’s next task was to do a little exploratory work, looking at the feasibility of reinstating the east side luggage doors. The outer skin and inner ply were removed. Matt then stepped in through the opening; the first person to do so since conversion into a mess van.

    The hinge positions were clearly visible, the lower recesses for the luggage doors were still there, just packed with wood and a steel angle added at the bottom to retain the riveted skin. The Z irons were in good condition so Matt pressed on and cut out the additions, decision made, luggage doors will be refitted.

    On to Sunday which was much less of a wash out, in fact quite the opposite! Nick was at the Loughborough Remembrance Day Parade, which left Matt and I to get on with the painting of the Container; BD4303B. Painting is a bit of the gamble this time of the year, but we appear to have gotten away with it. We began by removing the sheet and drying off the container where necessary. Matt assembled the scaffold tower while I thinned the paint and assembled the gun and pot. Once dried I began spraying.

    Stopping to observed the two minute silence, I continued until 11:45 when I had finished spraying the container. From then, it was a waiting game to see if the paint would go off. Matt and I then began working on B505313, sanding the chain boxes and painting them in red oxide. Nick, now in attendance, painted the interior metal surfaces in Bauxite, and then the body ends. The red oxide sufficiently dry, I painted the chain boxes in undercoat, and then continued to the ends with assistance from Nick.

    Matt by this point had just got back with the printed templates for the signwriting on the Container. Having chalked up, he then started signwriting.

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    After tidying everything away, having a customary cup of tea and admiring the container some more,  we went home! Thanks for reading, and I shall finish with a picture of the container, before we lost the daylight.

  • 03/11/19 – Quorn Wetter & Wetter

    Once again the weather has conspired against us. So a trip to Rothley to progress ADB977107. The C&W team has been carrying out body repairs when the time has allowed. Progress has been such that we are able to reassemble interior fixtures.

    Before we began, Jake applied bitumastic paint to all the bare metal areas on the inside of the vehicle’s skin

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    Jake and I then focused on the main saloon.

    Nick with assistance from Jake also, rebuilt the toilet window

    Ross with a little assistance from new recruit Will as well as Nick made progress with the Kitchen.

    Ross also checked the batteries output, unfortunately, these are life expired

    20191102_184852.jpg

    We can also show the progress of B954546 currently a volunteer project at Rothley. The cladding has been replaced, new duckets manufactured and glass windows fitted all round.

    Sunday with the threat of rain, Ross and Dave cut down some plates to use as load distribution plates for Nicks container once lifted on to the Conflat. It transpires that we decided later that additional sections of rail shall be used to support the weight of the container.

    The main task for Sunday was the rectification of Test Car 2’s incorrectly assembled buckeye draw gear. The buckeye was removed, supported by the loading shovel the draw hook and bar removed and the offending article lowered rotated and fitted correctly.

    Whilst the majority of the gang worked on the Test Car, I looked at the chain boxes on B505313 these had fallen foul of the water trap that they are. With the bottom of each removed at an earlier date and the lack of suitable welding facilities, I riveted steel plates to the back of each in areas that had been eaten away.

    As a none structural skin, this gives a solid backing for filler to be applied. In the future, the skin of the chain box will have to be replaced but at this time we have gone for this option.

    As the rain that was forecast did not materialise and what ended up as a day of sunshine we sheeted BD4303B whilst it was dry. This will keep the wet out until the weather gives us the opportunity to apply the gloss crimson.

    Also on site Eddie, Harry, and James who took the opportunity to tidy our surrounds and a good job they did in removing the many items of waste that wagon restoration inevitably generates.

  • 20/10/19 – Rain, Resin and Bitumen

    Work once again continues on the Conflats and Nicks Container. More sanding on BD4303B. All areas were completed including profiling the door repair where the hinge will be going.

    More prep on the underframes of B505313 and B507489 also continued and the opportunity was taken by Jake to undercoat the inner rail of both Conflats.

    On to Sunday and what was left of the Stacking plates on 4303 were removed whilst Nick blew down the Container ready for the repaired areas to be sealed.

    Jake got out the spray gun and bitumen and completed the underframe paint of both Conflats.

    The triangular plates manufactured last weekend were fitted.

    The final task for me was to apply resin to all of the repaired areas to seal them before paint.  Unfortunately, the rain had other ideas before all areas were completed.

    Hopefully, it will be drier next weekend, fingers crossed

  • 13/10/19 – Con-tinuing despite the rain

    Back to the grind, work continues on the Conflats and Containers. B505313 and B507489
    both receiving bitumastic paint to the solebars and headstocks,  This being applied by Jake, Harry, and new recruit James.

     

    Eddie had the job of toning down the wood preserver applied last weekend.  A touch of bitumin worked into the planks.

     

    Dave and I continued with BD 3403 B. Gradually sanding down the areas filled, unfortunately, the door with the large repair had an area of the old fiberglass delaminate, this was cut out, filled and fiberglassed by Dave.

     

    Whilst I continued sanding

     

    Sunday and rain, Dave took the opportunity to overhaul our stock of vacuum release valves ready for the Van Trains Christmas brake overhaul, more on that in December.

     

    I manufactured repair plates for Nicks containers end door,  which was fitted once the rain stopped. 

    I also, with Daves’s help, bolted in a wear plate for the end door.  This tightened the whole installation, closing the doors up very well.

     

  • 06/10/19 – Autumn Gala

    Welcome to another update from us lot at Quorn.  This weekend has been the Autumn Steam Gala, which means Travelling Post Office demonstrations.  Most of us are TPO crew, so have been busy running the TPO train.  The van train has also been running at the gala, at the full strength of 16 which is the longest it has been for many years.  Progress however, hasn’t stopped for the weekend.

    New recruits, Eddie and Harry continued work with Nick on the Conflats.  The rails, fitted to B505313 last week, have been cleaned down and primed.  On Sunday, these were painted in black bitumen paint.  The decks of the Conflats have been swept down, hoovered and painted in the first coat of wood preserver.

    Meanwhile, the foundations have been laid for the start of the Quorn Wagon and Wagon Travelling Post Office Display team.  I have taken another bike in storage out of the GUV and resurrected it.  Matt blew up the tyres and I too it for a test ride.  Whilst at Loughborough to get the TPO, Nick and I liberated the frame of another GPO delivery bike.  It is intended to build this back up to increase our number of bikes from 2 to 3. Matt is able to borrow the bike from the station, and I have the resurrected one.

    72132980_1488209611318785_4995616306112757760_n
    Image courtesy of Jack Shaw

    On Saturday evening, we had a visit from Jason Cross asking if he could test some new acquisitions which can be used at photo charters. Test Car 2 was used as a test subject to try the new lights. Thanks to Jason for the use of the pictures, they look fantastic!

    Thanks for reading this short update, there will be more progress made next week. Why don’t you join us then!

  • 29/09/19 – Steel, Wood, and Fibreglass

    Work continues with the Containers and their “chariots”. The main focus being BD 4303 B. My task, looking at the substantial damage over the end doors. The outer layer of Fibreglass has cracked and split from the inner layer.

    The rain strip was removed, and the inner and outer layers clamped together.20190928_121325.jpg

    I then removed the Gelcoat and exposed the original fiberglass over the area of the crack and between each clamp in preparation for applying a new layer of fiberglass.

    Of course, the weather once again didn’t play ball and work was occasionally stopped with a mad dash to keep things covered.

    Whilst I was on the container, Nick and Jake continued with B505313 spot replacing rotten floor planks.  You may also notice 2 short lengths of flat-bottom rail, Our thanks go to the GCR P-way team for cutting these defected rails for us,  These will form the subframe of  BD 4303 B.

    I applied 2 layers of Fibreglass, over the crack and to bond the outer and inner layers together.

    Between fiberglass layers, I also applied more fiberglass filler to last weekend repairs.

    Sunday saw the full team in action.  I removed the G-Clamps from the container, closed the doors and everything lined up as it should.20190928_170743

    Unfortunately once again the weather was not in our favor.  Nick and I took a trip to Swithland to look over the vans ready for next week’s running.  At the moment they are at 15 vans and 2 brakes we are hoping that the fishvan joins them taking the rake to its current full strength.  The first time it has ran as such, fingers crossed.20190929_141432.jpg

    Whilst we were away, Ross, Jake, and Dave began preparing the sudo subframe for BD 4303 B.  Borrowing the mag drill from Carriage & Wagon they began the time-consuming task of drilling into the defected rail. The rail is not suitable to run trains on and is ideal as a stand-in subframe.

    Once back at Quorn I looked at manufacturing filler pieces for the side straps of both containers, this is the area that connects the lifting frame to the subframe and both containers originals show signs of wastage. I measured, cut and primed the back of 8 pairs of filler pieces.

    With the weather remaining persistent we finished with an hour or 2 tidying the tool van.  Next weekend is the GCR autumn gala, TPO duties for us.20190929_130546.jpg

     

     

  • 22/09/19 – Conflats and Containers

    With our thanks to the Ops department, we are back in our usual position with Test Car on the front road and our next project brought up from the yard. First task a brake test to find out how the two vehicles behave. B507489 held vacuum for 10 minutes with B505313 being no better after fitment of a Branch pipe, the original one having long since perished, new vacuum hoses were fitted all round.

    So next we looked at the Release Valves.  Both were removed and overhauled by Dave. This has become second nature to him and both valves were done very quickly.

    The next test and B505313 held for just under an hour but no change to B507489.  With only one 15″ rolling ring in stock B507489 was chosen to receive it. With the “Lighter” cylinder the decision was taken to drop it manually rather than use the loading shovel.

    Once out it was split and found to be in remarkable condition. A quick hoover new ring fitted, rebuilt and refitted to the vehicle.

    A final test and after 3 hours it was still holding and another Defect Card filed.

    Whilst this was going on, my attention was on BD4303B, voids were filled with expanding foam. Surface and full cracks, as well as dents, were scolloped out.

    One of the doors had a hole straight through it. The top hinge was unbolted, loose fibreglass removed. Tape was applied to the inside and again the void filled and taped over

    Full through cracks received a fiberglass matting and resin to restore strength and then a fiberglass filler applied along with the other areas prepared earlier.

    Finally, for Saturday we welcome Eddie and Harry who have started with the paint preparation removing loose paint and verdigris.

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    On to Sunday and the weather was not in our favor.  Despite this Ross and I continued with work on Nicks Container.  The areas of foam added were cut down, scolloped exposing original layers of Fiberglass

    Matting was then resined into position to provide strength and support, this will then have a layer of filler applied to restore the smooth outer layer although only if we have a drier day.

    Ross’s task was to begin the sanding of previously applied resin and keying of the gelcoat ready for painting,  we would have liked to of restored the gelcoat fully, unfortunately working outside this is ni on impossible.20190922_180933.jpg

    Nick replaced a number of floor planks as well as removing the remains of the bottoms of the chain boxes.  These have not faired well so the decision has been taken to open them up to limit further rot20190922_163848.jpg

    Eddie and Harry continued with their cleaning regime, with the conflats complete they moved on to E280364 20190922_181730.jpg

    With rain towards the later half of the day Ross and I took a trip to Swithland to fit our refurbished first aid kits to our brakevans, replacing the modern kits with more period looking items.

    Being at Swith also gave us a chance to see our latest van with the rest. With all of our restored vans in the one train,  well all apart from the fishvan and tool van. 15 Bauxite vans in one train, is there anywhere else that can offer this?

    Our final image.  The two proud Container owners with there rare items.received_2507036179515307.jpg