Tag: 56010

This week has seen me popping in after my early shifts to make a solid push on the interior of S56010.  Starting from the top and working down Monday saw the application of White Gloss to the Ceiling.  2 Coats of Cream Tuesday & Wednesday.  Masking and Undercoat Thursday and Friday a Coat of Bauxite.

A few further items remain, notably the duckets which require some surface preparation and the stove surround.

Not only have I spent time on the Southern Brake van but the Caledonian Weltrol has seen its restoration progress. Taking advantage of the weather I applied Black Gloss to the Buffers, Draw hook, shackles, Load plates and Handbrake,  all in preparation for signwriting.

Friday saw the arrival of WGF 8127, our tank flat which this weekend received its special load for Great War Great Central.
On to the weekend and Nick, Ross and Jake rubbed down and prepared S56010 for exterior paint.  All woodwork then received a coat of wood primer.

I, unfortunately, had to work but when I had finished I arrived to apply Signwriting to the Weltrols Eastside.  Final push for Saturday was placing the WWI tank on to the Tank flat,  assistance was sought from Quorn station volunteers.  Jack had spent the day stripping the tank but it still had a sizable weight.  With plenty of hands, the tank was positioned without to many problems.

Sunday and we started the day preparing the Bogies and top decks of the Weltrol for bitumen. This was to allow the wood primer on the brakevan to dry a little more as it was still a little tacky from overnight.

Once rubbed down Nick, Ross and Jake moved back to the Southern Brake and applied a layer of undercoat,  the opportunity was taken to teach Jake a new skill, that being the use of the spray gun.

I continued with the weltrol and began painting the prepared areas,  I was soon joined by the rest of the gang who continued the painting whilst I then completed the signwriting on the west side and headstocks.

The final task will be to paint the tires white which is typical of pre-grouping vehicles, apart from that the Weltrol is complete.  As the sunsetted on the yard our final weekend task was to remove the wheels from Jacks tank, do it sits more prototypically on the Tank flat and reduces the likelihood of it rolling off the flat.  This was a little tricky as we had to jack up the tank remove its wheel and lower, whilst laid under it in a gap no more than 2 feet high.  It took a little longer than expected with it being 20:30 before we left.

This will require securing and this will be a task for the upcoming week.
Steam Gala next weekend so come and see the box vans in operation.

At Quorn Wagon and Wagon this weekend, we have been continuing our efforts on the Southern brake van, S56010. Matt has also continued painting the Caledonian Weltrol, M300356, in readiness the the Great Central Great War event.

Saturday saw us receive the new framing for the north end veranda. The carpenter had replicated as much of the features of the beams as he could with them away from the van. This left Nick and I to do a little bit of fettling on site to make the pieces fit in the steel frame of the van.

The new cladding planks ordered for the van ended up being too thick for most places around the van (aside from the doors), including for the ends. On this end, I had to rebate each new plank  for the post for sit in, so that the planks wouldn’t bow outwards. the rebates can be seen in the picture above. I had to further rebate the end of each plank to accommodate the door hinge timber, which sits in the corner upright.

Before assembly, the rebated areas were painted with wood primer. Jake then went round the van and painted any bare external timbers with wood primer, in readiness for undercoating. The south end veranda top beam also got treated with some filler, and then multiple coats of wood primer. Matt also cut and fitted some filler pieces to the top of the door hinge timber to fill on for a piece that had to be removed in construction

At the south end, the west side door was remove from the van, and some remedial work took place on the door hinge timber. Rust had built up behind the steel corner post, which subsequently closed up the door way, making the door stick. Once back together, the door had an even gap all the way down the shut side, and opened much better.

Jake, still having the primer and a paintbrush in his hand, painted the bare areas of the north end veranda internally and externally. Matt took this opportunity to finish off the Weltrol. During the course of the weekend, Matt also did the signwriting on the replica wagon plates for  the Southern brake.

Matt and I primed the interior of the van, in preparation for the interior repaint which Matt is undertaking during the week, after his early shifts. There is still some scraping to do on the body sides and the south end veranda, then we shall be painting it!

Thanks for reading!

This week has been full of activity for us. It all began on Monday with a Timeline Events / EMRPS photochater using the vans with visiting Warship D832 “Onslaught”

The 10th and 11th November sees the GCR commemorate 100 years since the end of the First World War. As part of this, the GCR is assembling a train of appropriate vehicles of either age or type. The first from our collection to see attention for this commemorative train is M300356, this vehicle, a Well Trolley (Weltrol) was built in 1913 by the Caledonian Railway and is being returned to CR livery.

Tuesday – Friday saw the vehicle’s coating of Bitumin removed, this was quite a labour intensive task, Ross and I were helped by Jack Shaw (Great War event organiser) and Andrew Devine (Quorn & Woodhouse station foreman) We managed to completely stip the sides of the vehicle. Unfortunately, the rain stopped play Friday and we only managed to Red Oxide the East side.

Glimmers of the vehicles past life became visible as the layers of paint were removed. Visible in the image below, flecks of Brick Red paint, the CR wagon livery we shall be applying. Also visible the thick layer of bitumen that had to be removed.

Saturday and a visit to the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway after an invite to view the Carriage and Wagon Works at Winchcombe. It’s always nice to see how other establishments operate and to build a relationship that is mutually beneficial for all. In fact, this visit saw us deliver a BR Brakevan brake cross shaft needed for the refitment of the vacuum brake system to a vehicle on the GWSR. Our thanks go to Richard Stone and the other members of the GWSR C&W team for your time, patience and hospitality.

It was also nice to see GWSR’s latest wagon project, a BR built china clay wagon.

We also got to see Thomas the Tank Engine and a few of his friends

Back to the grind on Sunday and S56010. I completed the interior trim and turned my attention to the main cabin doors.  Over the life of the vehicle these have become worn so much so that the door is essentially planing the floor.   The top hinges were removed and moved up to attain the correct clearance at the bottom.

Jake and Nick continued removing rust from the veranda ends and red oxiding when back to solid metal.

Ross installed a new lock to increase the security of the vehicle.

Final job for the weekend was the Red Oxiding of the west side of 300356 and first gloss on the East side and buffer beams.  The red brick does seem very close to Bauxite although there is a slightly deeper red tinge.

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.