Tag: 855568

  • 31/08/26 – Long Services

    31/08/26 – Long Services

    Hello and welcome to an August Bank Holiday weekend update from Quorn as we make progress despite the showers. We’ve also had a couple of celebrations; Ernie and Ross received their GCR Long Service Awards from Malcolm Holmes during the very enjoyable Summer Party evening at Ruddington; Ernie achieving 50 years, and Ross 16 years.
    Oliver shared his belated 17th Birthday cake for earlier in the month.

    Nick had dug out an 18″ vac cylinder that had been stored for many years. It needed quite a bit of crowbar persuasion to extract the piston rod, split off the dome and get the piston out. Inside it was clear that it had seen some water ingress over the years.

    Charlie jet washed the cylinder dome whilst Ross, Nick and myself extracted the piston rod gland, which needed a little heat to un-seize the nuts and studs.

    Ernie made a start drawing up and machining some of the door furniture parts that are needed to repair / replace items for Palshoc van B855568.

    I finished off the signwriting on the last of the four Esso barrel plates for tanks 3854 and 3689.

    Ross varnished two of the Esso plates, making use of the space in the kitchen area on Test Car 2.

    Mark, Tom, Oliver, Dan and myself continued work on Shoc-High B724570, completing the needle gunning of the north body end, then starting on the underframe.

    In between the showers work continued on the underframe, the bare metal areas were dried off and some Red Oxide was applied.

    On Sunday Nick, Ross, Charlie and myself took the two Esso plates that had been varnished down to Swithland sidings and fitted them to tank 3854. A touch of blue was applied to the bolt heads.

    This now completes the restoration of tank 3854, here’s the before and after (August 2025 and August 2026).

    Back at Quorn we continued with stud removal, brass bush removal, hole tapping and cleaning up of the vac cylinder. Unusually the brass bush had a thin rubber gasket fitted to its underside which we’ve not encountered before on other cylinders.

    I applied a coat of varnish to the last two Esso plates in readiness for fitting to tank 3689 at some point.

    Ross and I took a look at the Lobo Scaffolding to assess what parts we have. We also swapped two of the feet units and assembled the structure which confirms now what additional parts we need to complete two towers.

    Ross sanded the north end of Shock-High B724570 and Nick applied some red oxide primer to the cleaned up metal areas.

    Bank Holiday Monday, and Ernie started cutting down the locking bars for the Palshoc door. Whilst Ross removed the door furniture from the door panels, and measured up for new bearings on the door runners and the wooden panels.

    We’d left the vac cylinder piston rod nut retaining plate in a penetrating oil soak overnight; despite this the plate took some removing with one of the bolts giving up, so this will need drilling out and re-tapping at some point. Nick then continued cleaning up the piston.

    Mark, Tom, Dan, Oliver and Charlie continued on the Shoc-High with needle gunning, priming the underframe.

    They then carried on undercoating the east side body and both ends.

    Nick and Oliver put some primer on the west side wood .

    All-in-all a very enjoyable and productive weekend. Join us again next week for the Diesel Gala, all the best, Dave

  • 23/08/26 – Next vehicles are in, what have we got to work with?

    23/08/26 – Next vehicles are in, what have we got to work with?

    Hello everyone, and I start with apologies for last week. We weren’t able to get onto the hosting portal to write a post, so have made this one a bumper update.

    Four vehicles left Quorn for Swithland, these being 3689, 3854 B452718 and B507489. In their place we have received the Palshoc, Shock high and the LNER Tube for us to work on.

    Dave did some more work on the Esso Plates, getting the blue ring round and the red letters on another.

    Dan, Daniel, Nick and I started work on B777171, removing the rotten door and constructing a new door.

    Dan and Charlie took to removing the stickers from 1802.

    Ernie and Dave got the gloss paint out and painted all the undercoated panels down the van train.

    Dave and I started to look at B855568 to see what it needs for its restoration. With Ernie we also measured out for our tent and see what we need to do to fix it down

    Okay so onto this week!

    We’re waiting for some screws to be able to manufacture more doors for B763305, so we’ve opted to take a look at B724570, with Charlie and Ernie leading the charge on wire brushing and needle gunning the metal work. They also started sanding the wood work.

    Nick and I looked at the sealed door on B855568. The door bars were seized into position so we released them from the woodwork and lowered the door out of the hole and over onto some trestles for stripping down. Nick got the hot spanner out and un-seized the door bars. Some of the door bogies fell apart so these will need some parts ordering.

    I made some improvements to my profile measuring device and trialed in on some of the smallest wheels in fleet (these being the Salmon, the Sturgeon and the Lowmac) which it was able to clear.

    Charlie, Ernie and Mark carried on with the cleaning down and priming the metal and wood work. Nick and I went round and spot replaced planks on the shock high.

    That wraps us up here for the past two weeks, and thank you for your patience. We’ll get back on the vans next week as we are hoping that the screws will be sat waiting for us at Rothley. Join us next week to see what we get up to!

  • 28/12/25 – A couple of Noggins at Rothley

    28/12/25 – A couple of Noggins at Rothley

    Hi, Seasons Greetings and a warm welcome to our BETWIXTMAS update from the Team at Quorn as we continue with work at Rothley.

    After buffer shank cleaning, oiling up and final inspection, tank 3606 departed Quorn on the 22 December to join the rest of the tank train at Swithland.

    Tanks 3621, 3854 and 3689 were also shunted into the dock at Quorn ready for when we return to work there in the New Year.

    At Rothley work continued on B777728, with Charlie and Nick fitting the repair sections to the roof edges, and the roof sheet was slid into position.

    Saturday 27th, Mark, Dan, Tom and Oliver got to work with the east body side, which was scraped and sanded and a few patch filler repairs completed. The metalwork was then given a coat of primer.

    The body ends were scraped and wire brushed, then primed.

    Meanwhile myself and Ross cleaned up and primed the roof hoops.

    The team took a break for a ride on a Betwixtmas service train to enjoy a fabulous Griddle Car breakfast.

    Back to work, Charlie and James made a start disconnecting the vacuum cylinder on Palshoc Van B855568. The brake rigging was also disconnected on the west side in preparation for cylinder removal.

    Ross and myself trial fitted the roof end hoops, then removed them to apply sealant before bolting them into place and the sealant edges were wiped to give a neat finish.

    The roof sheet ends were then trimmed neatly.

    Mark, Oliver, Tom and Dan applied undercoat to the east side of B777728.

    Ross and myself then helped with the vacuum cylinder removal from the Palshoc. Some stubborn brake rigging needed a little hammer persuasion, and the inner trunion needed a little heat to free it off.

    Sunday, Tom and Oliver applied gloss Bauxite to the east body side and both ends of B777728.

    Ross and myself stripped the damaged studs from the Palshoc’s vacuum cylinder and removed the piston rod nut to allow easy cleaning out of the threads; whilst Nick cleaned up the piston rod.

    Ross and myself then trial fitted the two new door top noggins to B777728, this enabled us to mark-out a couple of slight modifications needed to allow the noggins to clear some bodyside frame bolts. A router was used to carefully cut recesses to clear the bolts and also for the door lock bar / retaining plate.

    Once the noggins were routed out we were able to mark-out and drill the eight locating bolt holes.

    Tom and Oliver cleaned up the flaking surface of the solebars on B777728 which had previously been painted with bitumen paint. Unfortunately we are are finding that after a few years, the bitumen paint that we used on a few wagons is not lasting very well. We’ve since reverted to using Black Gloss, of which a coat was applied to the west side and both ends.

    The noggins and retaining plates were given a final trial fit before removing to allow painting. Nick also cleaned up the trunion mounting plate for the Palshoc.

    That wraps up our Christmas week working at Rothley; join us next for a look back over the last 12 months as we head towards 2026.

    Best wishes for your New Year celebrations, and a reminder that you can see in the New Year on-board the GCR’s Nightrider train, more details here – “Nightrider”
    cheers, Dave.

  • 14/09/25 – Palshoc Re-Wheeled

    14/09/25 – Palshoc Re-Wheeled

    Hello and welcome to two-weeks’ of news from the team at Quorn. The Palshoc Body has been united with its chassis; Edward is now up and running; we’ve visited the Foxfield Railway, and we continue to progress the tanks; although it’s still been a bit damp for paint. We’ve also been attending to the BEVs.

    The repairs to Edward continued with a new water pump, new thermostat, new fuel lift pump; the injection pump was re-sealed and the back half of the exhaust was re-made with a flexi-pipe and a new silencer/tailpipe. The exhaust manifold gasket was also replaced. After he was re-assembled, fluids were filled up and his casing bolted back on. Edward now running much sweeter ready to reliably supply the air we need for paint spraying.

    On Sunday 7 September, Nick and Charlie took a trip across to the Foxfield Railway to recover some kindly donated parts from a redundant Esso tank chassis. A brake change-over lever & associated pipework/rods, a tank drain valve, end pipes and brackets are all parts that are needed for the tanks that we are restoring.

    At Rothley on Monday 8 September we assisted the C&W team with the recovered Palshoc & chassis work. After some careful sanding of the van body we have revealed its identity, B855568.

    The chassis was lifted and its wheelsets replaced with a set acquired from Ruddington. The bearings and journals were examined, axleboxes cleaned, pads fitted and oiled-up.

    The Palshoc body was lifted into place on the chassis, positioned and levelled, then welded at each corner to allow the wagon to be shunted safely.

    Tank 3854 – the headstock frame box areas were cleaned out and sanding of the tank barrel has been progressed.

    Tank 3606 – A final sand of the tank barrel was completed; the recovered brake change over levers and rods were cleaned up and fitted.

    Tank 3621 – The change-over levers were freed off, oiled up and the lever bracket castings cleaned up.
    A final bit of sanding was carried out of the tank barrel.

    Due to the inclement weather the painting of the tanks has been postponed again, however we have acquired some new spraying equipment and this was prepared ready for when the weather provides as suitable opportunity.

    Two of the BEVs have recently been giving a few problems, George suddenly stopped powering and Kiki‘s resistor bank overheats very quickly. We made a start investigating the problems, firstly to get acquainted with how they are electrically connected we drew -up a schematic for both BEVs. Quite quickly we saw that they were not the same, after checking ZsaZsa we concluded that Kiki was not wired correctly, also the top panel of her resistor bank was somewhat corroded which may have contributed to the overheating.

    Checking of the cable continuity on George revealed that the power was not getting from the controller to the motor; further investigation removing the cable protection found a fractured power cable. This will be repaired and a new protective sheath fitted to the motor cable loom.

    The resistor bank from Kiki was removed and replaced with a spare we had. This will be wired up correctly in due course.

    With the mixed goods rake stabled in the yard, Dan took the opportunity to finally apply the dates and depot codes to the data panel on the Coal Hopper B425356. He first created a template which provided the outline once chalked to the wagon as the guide for signwriting.

    That concludes what has been a couple of weeks of very varied work; join us again soon when we hope to hope to get the opportunity to apply some paint to the tanks.

  • 10/08/25 – Large Logos, Lugs and a little bit of welding

    10/08/25 – Large Logos, Lugs and a little bit of welding

    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!