Tag: 81382

  • 08/12/24 – Keeping Busy

    08/12/24 – Keeping Busy

    Hello and welcome to a very wet weekend update from Quorn. The Test Cars’ generator continues to be problematic; however we have completed the outstanding mechanical item on one of the Catfish.

    During the week I was asked by the Rothley C&W team if I’d help out with part of the signwriting on BG 81382 which was being finished off ready for release from Rothley and use on the Santa Special trains this weekend.
    (Photos courtesy of & copyright Jamie Swanson)

    Mark, Tom and Charlie got stick into some interior cleaning in Test Car 2.

    Whilst Ernie did some repairs to some of Test Car 2’s 1980s vintage wooden chairs.

    Under Catfish DB983393, the initial thought was to heat up the area surrounding the two sheared bolts and use an easy-out extractor to remove them, however the bolts would not budge. So Ross and myself moved on to plan-B and drilled out the two bolts and tapped the holes for M12, then secured the saddle back into place.

    With a fully charged starter battery connected to Test Car 2’s generator we were hopeful to get it running again. After quite a few attempts it finally fired up, however it was not running very smoothly at all and didn’t sound quite right either. We tweaked the fuel pump adjustment and tried again, but it ran much the same.
    Our conclusion after all the replacement parts and checks we have done is that the problems could lay deeper in the engine; so we have decided the next step is to check the state of things in and under the cylinder head. The first task being to remove the exhaust.

    With the exhaust manifold removed it became clear that that this engine needs some further TLC. The exhaust ports being very badly coked up.

    We continued to remove parts in readiness for releasing the cylinder head.

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

  • 06/08/18 – Midland again

    06/08/18 – Midland again

    Welcome to another update from Quorn Wagon and Wagon. This weekend has seen the van train running, the station reverting back to 1968 and the LMS brake van painted into top coat. The BG (81382) has also been outshopped this week, and looks marvellous (well done to Jamie Swanson and Patrick Newborough, it looks excellent)!

    The weekend has seen the LMS brake painted up into top coat (bauxite). On Saturday Morning, I began by sanding the dock side of the van, whilst Nick set up the scaffold tower, and scraped the West side of the van. Once the van was sanded, it got a quick blow down with the air line, in preparation for the application of the wood primer.

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    Some of the veranda wood had also been stripped of paint, so these got a quick spray of primer too. The primer was given some time to go off, and then the undercoat was applied all around, including the ends, and verandas.

    Whilst I was spraying the undercoat, Nick found that he could peel the paint of the LMS box van (M500xxx) as the bitumen paint underneath the top coat was getting warm in the sun, so he spent a while doing that, and then in every other opportunity in the weekend.

    On to Sunday, which saw the van having the top coat applied, including in the veranda. The verandas on the van are quite large, which make them easier to spray. The BR brake was a pain, due to only being the width of a person, so the air pipe and my clothing kept catching the wet paint.

    After the top coat was applied, it was left to go off. The new planks got a second coat, then both the van sides got a second coat. Matt follow me around with a paint brush, picking up areas the spray gun couldn’t get into. He also painted an inspection hatch he’d made in the interior. In addition to this, he’d also manufactured a new wooden backing plate for the wagon label clip for the dock side of the van.

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    We have also cut out the interior seat side panels, which can be fitted next week.

    Next weekend should see the van’s handrails picked out and the windows changed all round. These have been ordered (in glass effect perspex) and we await delivery.

    Thanks for reading!