Tag: 852838

Hello everyone, and thanks for joining us for this week’s happenings from Quorn South Yard. Some more signwriting has taken place on 3854 and we’re getting ready for starting the work on the van train.

I started off by putting the number on the dockside of 3854, I had every intention of doing some more but got a little distracted!

Ernie and Nick started sorting through some recently donated hand tools to file them, and then moved onto sorting out our spanner collection and segregating the Whitworth and the metric spanners.

Ernie and I got to making some more label clip mounting blocks for stock, with Ernie cutting the board downs down to shape. I then put each block through the planer/thicknesser a few times to get them to the correct thickness.

Nick and Charlie went to collect 8 sheets of plywood for us to use in the repairs of the box vans, Ernie, Daniel and I went to assist with unloading them to store until required in the Palshocvan.

After tea, we got to clearing room in B852838 and B854782 moving the parcels out of the way. We then started undoing the bolts from the side sheet in B854782. Fortunately we’ve been here before and all but a few bolts undid.

For B852838, the panel we are replacing hasn’t been out before so is believed to be original fitment. We had to split each bolt and nut to be able to loosen the board sufficiently. the final act in this van was to use a small circular saw to cut the side sheet which was originally made the full length of the side. Easy for construction, however makes replacement a bit trickier!

That wraps up this weekends activities. One last reminder that next weekend is the Reunification Weekend where you can take trips on both halves of the railway linked by heritage rail replacement bus. We’ll have Test Car 2 open for you to visit, and we’ll be replacing the sides on the two vans some people can see what we do. Do stop us and ask question about the wagons or indeed the Test Car! See you then

A slight picture light update this week, apologies! In other news, as some of you will have seen on our Facebook page, we have been awarded the 2020 Mortons Media (Rail Express) Modern Traction Award from the Heritage Rail Association, which is in addition to our two shortlistings.

This weekend has seen the final vacuum brake overhaul completed on our van train and a release valve replace on B763305. The final two vans, B852838 and B783082, have each had their brake cylinders lifted down, overhauled and replaced. With two vans left, we spend one day on each van. Saturday saw us concentrate on the Shocvan, starting by stripping the cylinder down enough to lift down.  The cylinder put up a fight when we tried to dismantle it, with rust around the dome studs preventing the dome coming free.  The cylinder has been untouched for at least 29 years, which is the amount of time it has spent at the railway. Unfortunately the cylinder had no tag fitted after its last overhaul, so the last overhaul date is unknown.

As a member of station staff, Matt and Michelle attended the Quorn Station staff Christmas Do in the afternoon, which meant Matt spent the morning signwriting the signs for the WHSmith’s kiosk at Loughborough station.

While the light was disappearing I was rebuilding vacuum release valves to replenish the stock of valves overhauled by Dave. While doing this I also rebuilt our two C-type valves, which as it turns out use the same diaphragm as the more common E-type valves.

Sunday had Nick, Dave, Matt, James and I in attendance. We started by pulling the vans down to be able to access the final cylinder on B783082. Dave set about stripping the cylinder to make it ready to lift down, removing the piston rod, release valve and piston rod cover in record quick time.

We lifted the cylinder down and began the now familiar task of the overhaul.

This then got refitted and reconnected.

With the plyboard available, I attended to a previous mistake on B763305.

The vans were pushed back down, and the test rig again coaxed into life to test the Shocvan, Vanwide and B763305. Matt went under the Shocvan with his flair lamp to check for any holes.

Both the Vanwide and Shocvan still held their brakes on upon leaving this evening. B763305 now holds for the required amount of time. We finished the testing by lunch, so spent the afternoon clearing the site van out, and putting the tools back and investigating now defective tools. Matt continued signwriting the other kiosk sign.

Thanks for reading, and join us again next week to find out what we get up to.

This weekend, despite the weathers efforts, has seen work continue with the imitation Shock gear for B850498.  Apart from a few final finishing details, the main components for the west side are in place.

The components are all bolted in place using existing holes in the chassis and having been a former tank wagon chassis there are a fair few of them.

With a number of Photocharters after the Winter Gala we took the time, in the dry, to fill one of the vans with a prototypical load.  Parcels were originally loaded in the CCT and the usual BR care was taken to off load these.

Christened the theatrical van it is available for events and charters for cameo scenes on platforms or in yards.