Tag: 954268

One brake van in but two out, B954268 has returned to traffic and pressed straight into service by bringing the Van train from Swithland to Quorn and doesn’t it make the yard look like a working yard.

B954546 has left longterm storage at Quorn and has become a Volunteer project for those that volunteer within Carriage and Wagon at Rothley, this is a positive step forward for this vehicles return to traffic.

On to the one that came in and this is M730562, a new catchphrase from Nick accompanies this vehicle,  No longer are we to mind the lamp brackets, its the low door frame that will catch you out on this one. First task was the replacement of the step boards as these are required to access the vehicle. Nick, Ross and Jake began by removing all of the life-expired boards.

With the boards off the exposed metal work was red oxided.

Whilst this work was being carried out I began with the interior. The east side of the van (Although the west side until very recent) has been beaten by the weather and the interior had been adversely affected. Paint had begun peeling so out came the heat gun and the arduous task of stripping the side. Ross assisted with the task once the step-boards had been complete.

Nick and Jake also came into clean up the inside of the duckets that had also experienced a little weather beating. Once tidy red oxide was applied.

Once the East side wall was stripped the rest of the van internal was sanded to give a key for painting.  As we progressed around the van faults were repaired by Ross,  Loose veranda wall cladding,  loose locker door fixing, raised screw heads and loose door frame all rectified.  With the wall down to its initial LMS Crimson the 3′ 6″ demarcation line applied by BR can just be made out confirming the references we use.

With the Red oxide applied now dry new step boards were fitted, all but the West side middle board which requires new timber purchasing.  Measurements were also taken as we will be ordering a number of timbers to replace a few on the van sides.

Finally, we can announce the secret task that we have mentioned in two previous updates:
Update mention 1
Update mention 2

For the 100th anniversary of the signing of the armistice and the end of the War to end all Wars, the GCR will be remembering those who made the ultimate sacrifice over the 10th and 11th November.  One of the items taking part is a full size replica of a WWI tank.  This is owned by Jack Shaw, GCR volunteer and friend of Quorn Wagon and Wagon.  We have been assisted over the last few weeks to rebuild the tank on site.  Including a little signwriting applied by me.

Not a huge update this week, as we have finished our revamp of B954268 and the large events in the yard recently mean that we don’t have something else we can get started on.

Matt has been popping in after his early shifts at work to complete some of the smaller details on the interior of the brake van. This includes the stove surround, handbrake stack/column and the handbrake wheel itself. This also includes the vehicles number signwritten above the ducket adjacent to the stove, and its allocation for which we chose Tinsley.

Onto this weekend, we have now finished the brake van. Matt painted a second coat on the external ceilings on the verandah. I dismantled the top of the vacuum setter to remove layers of hard, flaky paint before Matt applied a new coat of red to the top of the setter. Whilst this was taking place, Nick fitted the Overhead Line wires flashes to the West side of the van.

This culminates the work on this brake van, and it can now be released back to traffic. we are anticipating the arrival of the LMS brake van for a refresh.

This weekend, work continues on B954268. Following last week where Nick, Matt and Jake completed the rest of external work, which only left the underframe to be painted. A few areas were left to be scraped and then blown down, ready for the application of the paint.

Matt sanded down and hoovered the interior of the van to give it a key before he started glossing the top half with cream colour. Whilst Matt was painting the interior of the van cream, the underframe and step boards of the west side were painted in black bituminous paint. Nick followed along, picking out any areas that couldn’t be reached with the spray gun. The headstocks were then painted using brushes, as using the spray gun would result in overspray on the soft, bauxite gloss. The interior surfaces of the windows were masked off whilst Matt was painting the large panels.

The van was pushed out of the dock so that the East side underframe and step boards could be cleaned, blown down and painted. Once the black paint was away, the roller bearing end caps were picked out in yellow.

When the van was painted into gloss, the verandahs were spray painted internally. Whilst we had made every effort to mask where we could, the only place that wasn’t, and thus caught the overspray was the ceiling. Saturday Matt repainted this surface white.

Report continued by Matt

Sunday continued with me (Matt) initially signwriting, this was in the form of the “D” Plates Vacuum release chord stars and the Running number within the van.

Nick added a further coat of paint to the axle end covers and a red coat to the Vacuum pipe swan necks.  The OLE warning panels he also added to the East side.  Myself and Nick also took a look at the Brake rigging. We made a few adjustments and Nick lubricated it all.

I continued with the internal repaint masking off for the bauxite areas to be raised up to window level,  the actual BR specification called for the lower bauxite area to be 3ft 6in high this, however, would result in the demarcation line being 1/4 the way up the window level and it was common practice for the demarcation to be lowered to window level which in my opinion looks a lot smarter, as can be seen below.
I also popped in Monday after work to apply Black to the Brake standard and Stove surrounds.

Last item, My signwriting box has had an appropriate paint and signwriting applied just so I don’t forget who I am and what I do.

Still a few finishing touches to apply including the Stove surround in black gloss.

The GCR was plunged into war this weekend,  which included a bombing that resulted in one of our Grampus wagons being hit by an incendiary, thankfully the Auxiliary Fire Service reacted quickly and saved the wagon on two separate occasions.

Our attention remained on B954268 and applying the details.  Nick and Jake began with fitting the new temporary floor to the South end veranda,  I say Temporary as we are looking at a modification that will eliminate water traps and prolong the life of the floor.

Before final fitment, the floor was treated with creosote.

I took on my speciality of applying the signwriting as previously mentioned post-1964 livery. Data panel has the depot codes of 5683 Tinsley yard wagon repair siding, our adopted code and 5480 Newark,  the location the van was purchased from.

Nick and Jake moved on to the task of painting the handrails and began preparing the underframe for paint.

On to next weekend which will see the underframe and the inside receive attention.

A slightly delayed update this week.

B854782 has been moved from Quorn to the Loco shed at Loughborough for welding.

With the Shock van away our attention turns to B954268 which had started to look very work worn. With staging erected the task of sanding down the body began, being a brake van with verandas the amount of body work is quite substantial when compared to that  of a box van. Nick, Ross and Jake with sanders and scrappers in hand set to work.  Each time someone climbed onto the ballast ends Nick used his new catchphrase “Mind the lamp irons”, these are of cause set at head height when working on the extreme ends and can cause very nasty injuries if contacted with some force.  Fortunately thanks to the constant warnings no injuries occurred.

I went back to P18422, as a Ministry of Supply ordered vehicle this would have carried a registry plate and the position of this is clearly visible so using our “patented” anti theft plates I duly applied them.

Once complete I joined the main work on the brakevan and began cutting out areas of rot on the body sides,  as the majority of the boarding is solid we replaced only those areas that are affected,  as a reminder we do not restore vehicles at Quorn we repair them using modern materials and techniques. With such a large fleet and a small pool of manpower and resources it would be impractical for us to carry out full overhauls on every vehicle every time when a simple repair will add years to its service.

Once areas were repaired Masking was applied to all the windows in preparation for painting.

Half way through the weekend we had the vehicle body work sanded, masked for painting, body repairs carried out and wood primer applied to those areas requiring it.

As Ross applied the undercoat, Nick and Jake started assessment of the Southend veranda floor this has suffered badly from wood rot and the rotten boards were removed.

The vehicle will be finished in post 1964 livery and as such will require overhead line warning stickers and with the other works going on I took the opportunity to prepare them.  We have in stock OLE stickers and these I applied to stainless steel backing plates and drilled in preparation for fitment.

The hard work was of course broken up with the mandatory railway requirement of Tea, drunk from our new QWW mugs in the glorious sunshine of the bank holiday as we watched the trains go by,  If you was on the railway this weekend then this is the position you would likely have seen us in, Thank you to Andrew Morley, Quorn Signalman for the image of us enjoying the weather.

Final day and the final top coat to the body.  This includes the Ballast surrounds on each end of the vehicle,  Originally black was applied but as we are going for the later livery each works began to show a preference for whether these were indeed black or body colour, on this occasion the boss has decided body colour.

Finishing touches, inside and underframe are planned for this coming weekend as the rest of the railway goes back to the 1940s.

Quorn Wagon and Wagon have had a busy weekend, we have worked on B850498, B954268 and prep work has been started for B762855. The van train has also been de-branded following the 2 recent photo charters and the Winter Gala.

B850498

As mentioned here previously, the donor chassis is that of a tank wagon. We know this was a saddle mounted tank wagon, built in 1942 for the Air Ministry. These had non-coacting push brakes. this means both sides can be applied independently of each other. Originally the push brake rods had wooden spacers, these were found to be rotten and could rotate and fall onto the railhead.

The wood was removed and replaced with galvanised steel pipe, as was used by BR to repair these items.

It was decided to replace a single floorboard in the south end of this van. The old plank was removed and a suitable replacement found and cut to fit in the hole. The new plank was then dropped back into the hole, and the hole drilled for the bolt. Job done, you would think. Unfortunately, as with many jobs in preservation the 5-minute jobs often take much longer as was the case here. In the end, 5-floor planks were replaced in this van. Under some of the boards was found some pea gravel, evidently from its time as a grounded body at Swithland Sand and Gravel.

The imitation shock-gear the Matt has conjured up has now also been removed in anticipation of the vehicle moving to the loco shed at Loughborough for the completion of the body to chassis welding.
B954268

After the photo charter on 12th Feb, the van train was deposited back to us with B954268 as the brake van for the set. It was looking a bit worse for wear, with some planks under the East side ducket having rotted through, and a layer of green slime covering the north end of the vehicle. Whilst cleaning a step board was found to be rotten, and this was replaced too.

Matt has also spent some time tidying up the letters on the side of this van, which are currently stickers. If the resources can be found, it is hoped this van could be repainted this year, once B850498 and B854782 are completed.
In other news

Whilst having a hunt for props to fill the theatrical van, it was found the B762855 has a few holes in the roof. This occurs when the roofing felt has cracked, due temperature cycling hot and cold, and the flex that the vehicle is put under when running in the train. We have obtained another lorry sheet on site and spent this evening cleaning this down over the turntable pit, ready for next weekend, where it is intended for the roof covering to be replaced. Watch this space!

Thanks for reading!