Tag: 983393

  • 30/03/2025 – All Change

    30/03/2025 – All Change

    Hello and welcome to this week’s update. The Test Car has a new home and is prepared for the April event openings. The re-formed Mixed Goods returns to Quorn and we attend to a few repairs and maintenance items in readiness for the forthcoming Goods Experience Days.

    During the week the operations team carried out a large number of shunt movements that included extracting the Creosote tank and returning the tank train to Swithland along with a number of other wagons. The Creosote tank, being an engineers wagon, was transferred into the mixed goods formation along with the two Catfish and a vacuum braked Dogfish.

    Test Car 2 was also turned and re-positioned with the steel high ADE280364 at the buffer stop end of Road No.1. This will make the coach much more visible & accessible to visitors, and also make it much easier for us to manage visitor access when we open the coach on event days.

    The four box vans that still need some work to finish off the roof repairs were positioned in the yard and the mixed goods arrived into Quorn on Saturday morning.

    We wasted no time attending to the damaged vacuum brake pipes at both ends of the Dogfish DB993412, replacing the missing vacuum release chord and oiling up the brake rigging

    The power was connected up to the Test Car and we made a start on tidying and cleaning inside the coach. The deceleration meter mounting pad was also repaired and re-fitted to the steel high wagon.

    The vacuum brake test rig was transported down the yard and a brake test was carried out on the Dogfish in the Mixed Goods. Loose axleboxes on Mineral B550356 were also attended to and new split pins fitted.

    A cracked brake block on Catfish DB983393 was replaced. The replacement was swapped from DB983166 that’s currently handbrake only; this will be replaced in due course.

    Work continued on the chassis of tank 3606, concentrating on the end pocket areas at the south end, with more rust removal using hammer & chisel and the air needle gun. This was followed up with some carefully applied red-oxide primer.

    On Sunday it was great to see the re-formed Mixed Goods set in operation as part of the preparations and staff training for the forthcoming Goods Experience Days.

    More information about these forthcoming Goods Experience Days can be found on the GCRs website here: – Goods Experience Days

    There are also quite a few opportunities to visit the Quorn Wagon & Wagon team during April when we have Test Car 2 open to visitors at the following events:-

    – Reunification Open Weekend – 5/6 April 2025

    – Road Rail Steam – 19-21 April 2025

    – Spring Diesel Gala – 25-27 April 2025

    Find us at the south end of the station yard at Quorn, just past the turntable.

    Pop in and see us for a guided tour of this unique piece of railway history, and find our how & why British Rail tested goods wagons. Keep and eye out for our Donations Lamp outside the Test Car; your support is very much appreciated.

    For more info about these events, and more, please see the GCRs website – https://www.gcrailway.co.uk/whats-on/

    Join us next week to see what we get up to during the Reunification Open Weekend; all the best, Dave

  • 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

  • 17/11/24 – Hurrah for the Completed Catfish

    17/11/24 – Hurrah for the Completed Catfish

    Welcome to our ‘Last Hurrah’ update from the team at Quorn; this week we have finally completed the restoration work on the two Catfish wagons. We have also progressed the with the west side of the GUV.

    Between 1954 and 1961 Metro-Cammell built a total of 716 Catfish ballast hopper wagons in 6 batches. Of these 16 Catfish are believed to survive in preservation, not may of which have been restored.

    The last Hurrah weekend meant a busy goods train service through Quorn, it was great to see our tanks and the van train running throughout the weekend, however we didn’t get too distracted.

    Dan and myself got stuck into the remaining areas of the Catfish east side signwriting.

    Mark and Ernie continued with removing the stubborn crusty paintwork from the west side of the GUV.

    The showers didn’t deter us either, using our Gazebo to enable continuation of the signwriting.

    Sunday continued much the same, with Mark, Tom, Oliver, Charlie and Nick concentrating on the GUV.

    Whilst Dan and myself completed the signwriting on the east side of both the Catfish.

    I also added the 2024 paint symbol to both wagons.

    Mark got tired after all the GUV work…..

    And Dan quite rightly felt proud of his signwriting achievements on the Catfish.

    Charlie and Oliver helped me fit the vacuum release chords to both wagons.

    To celebrate the ‘Last Hurrah’ lets have a few more pics of the good trains.

    Tom then carried out the final vehicle checks on the Catfish and completed our restoration completion check forms.

    All that remains now is a couple of maintenance items such as vacuum hose replacements and brake gear oiling; the two Catfish will then be handed over to the C&W department for final sign-off before entering traffic.

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

  • 10/11/24 – The GUV and the nearly finished Catfish

    10/11/24 – The GUV and the nearly finished Catfish

    Hello everyone and welcome to another update from Quorn.We’re doing a little bit of work behind the scenes on the website, so things may change in the near future but for now we’re using what we’ve got. This week, signwiriting has continued on the Catfish and with some help, we’ve continued cleaning up the GUV.

    Firstly, to Mark we wish a happy birthday, and thank you Alison very much for the tasty cake in the shape of our very own 3711.

    Dan, Dave and I have pushed on with the signwriting, getting stuck in with the Straw letting, and Dan the white on the solebars.

    A team of volunteers from the Young Rail Professionals applied a coat of Maroon gloss to the east side of the GUV. Thank you to those who gave their time!

    Mark, Nick, Oliver, Tom and Ernie all started work on the West side of the GUV. Due to the condition of the west side, we’re having to bare metal a fair portion of the vehicle, which got a coat of primer once cleaned of all paint.

    By the end of the day, the south-west side of the GUV had been bared and primed, along with parts of the panel the other side of the door. The west side of the Catfish are now complete, with just some signwriting to do on the dock side.

    Thanks for reading, next week we should have finished the Catfish and made a good progress on the GUV. Join us then!

  • 27/10/24 – Two Black Catfish

    27/10/24 – Two Black Catfish

    Hello everyone, and welcome to another update from Quorn. Thankfully, the weather has been such that the Catfish have both been able to have been painted in top coat. While we did that the rest of the team made the dock a bit more habitable and tidier. We’ll start with the work done by the lads in the week on the LMS brake van.

    Tom, Dan and Oliver joined Nick and finished off the last bits of painting and undertook a pad exam as the last jobs on the brake van. This should be heading back into traffic very soon.

    We rocked up on Saturday morning to two very wet Catfish, both having a coating of dew on them. Everyone was out giving the wagons a wipe down with dry rag to aid the drying process, with some last bits of cleaning down also taking place. The vacuum hoses and Instanter couplings were removed to limit over spray clean up.

    Nick, Ernie, Tom Oliver, Mark and Charlie made a start tidying up the dock, making 8 trips with the dumper to move all the wood we’ve removed from wagons to the bonfire pile.

    I started talking Dan and Dave through the equipment we used for spray painting to start teaching them how to use it. We thinned down the paint to the right viscosity and got everything ready to start painting. With Dave and Dan on the gun, they started spraying from inside to out. We had some issue with the paint not flowing evenly, but they persevered and got DB983393 painted, barring the east side panels at the top of the hopper.

    The other team sorted out the garden area, making a parking space for Danny, and sorting out some extra steps for both the GUV and the Tool Van.

    The van train was taken away to Swithland for a few weeks while the Railway holds Bonfire Night in Quorn Yard. This allowed us a bit more room and more light around the wagons.

    With Dan being unwell on Sunday, it left it to Dave and I to finish the wagons, starting with DB983393 which in the cold light of a new day was looking a bit patchy.

    While Dave and I got cracking, Oliver and Tom cleaned out some of our paint kettles, getting them ready for future usage. Nick and Mark started the process of following Dave and I around touching in bits where the spray gun couldn’t quite get. Tom and Oliver join in with this. Tom hung up the 4 removed couplings ready to be sprayed.

    Oliver went round the top of the hopper edge to paint the upper flat face.

    After all that, we gently shunted the wagons back down, and stood back to admire two smart looking Catfish, in Satin Black.

    We’ve got the sign writing left to do, gloss paint the white areas and to pick out the roller bearings on DB993560; all of which we’ll get to next weekend. We’re also popping by the NVR to meet up with their wagon group, so if you are there do say hello. Thanks for reading!

  • 20/10/24 – Keeping ourselves busy

    20/10/24 – Keeping ourselves busy

    Hi everyone, welcome to this weeks update from the team at Quorn. The weather has hampered our plans to get some paint on the Catfish; however we’ve kept ourselves busy.
    Some stock positioning shunting too place whilst we continued with progress on the LMS brake van, some more items on the to-do-list and Test Car 2s generator.

    During the week Tom, Dan and Nick continued with painting on the LMS Brake Van M730562 at Rothley, handrails, lamp brackets, swan necks and underframe were progressed. A new step board was also made and fitted.

    The new paint arrived ready for the two Catfish wagons, however the inclement Saturday morning weather meant that wagons were too wet for us to apply any paint, so Oliver made sure it was stored away safe.

    The old crank pulley oil seal was removed from the timing cover from Test Car 2s generator; the cover was then de-greased and pressure washed.

    A new seal was then fitted using a suitably sized drift and our makeshift press with a final knock-into position with a hammer.

    Hector’s cab parts were loaded onto one of the box vans for safe keeping and we sorted out some spare bolts in readiness for box van repairs before the Class 37, 37714 arrived to manage various shunt moves at Quorn for stock positioning.

    Ross and myself continued with cleaning up the timing cover mating surfaces on Test Car 2s generator, and repairs to some of the generator wiring.

    Richard resurrected some old skills in repairing and servicing two of Nick’s 1970s record players.

    Ernie and Nick installed a lighting power supply cable across to the Fish Van on the dock; this will help us as the nights draw-in.

    Mark, Tom, Oliver Dan and Nick managed to a bit of house keeping in the short spell between the Sunday morning rain and the lunchtime rain. The rotten sleepers were moved from the dock to the wood pile for the bonfire.

    A general tidy up of the area on the dock and some gardening will help improve the access for vehicles to the dock.

    Thanks for reading, join us again next week.

  • 29/09/24 – A second Catfish coated

    29/09/24 – A second Catfish coated

    Hello everyone and thanks for joining us for this week’s update from Quorn. The Catfish have been the sole focus of attentions, with DB983393 having is priming finished and DB993560 getting primer applied.

    Ernie started grinding back the welding I’d done on the outside of the hopper while I continued doing the last bit of welding on the big panel, up each side of the patch and a small amount on the inside of the hopper.

    The platform that was cleaned down last week had primer applied by Nick, who then moved onto the other hopper. The dock side of the hopper bar the w-irons got a coat of primer. He then started to scrape the more restrictive areas of the hopper that haven’t been finished, joined by Oliver who used the needle gun to clean down the south end walkway.

    Dan and Oliver made a start on cleaning the inside of the hopper with the pressure washer, more on this in future weeks.

    Mark joined Ernie on the grinder, and tidied up the welds on the big panel, lastly Ernie got to applying paint to the panels the have been ground back

    Nick continued applying paint around the hopper, moving round the West side. Charlie continued his mission to keep the dock tidy by cutting the grass.

    Thanks for joining us for this week’s update. Join us next week where is will likely be the last bit of cleaning and priming on the hopper.

  • 22/09/24 – Wagon and water works

    22/09/24 – Wagon and water works

    Hello everyone and welcome to another update from Quorn. This week we’ve carried on painting the LMS Brake van and done the last bit of paint removal on the Catfish. During the week Nick and Tom got the LMS brake van into its bauxite gloss coat, this now awaits signwriting.

    Using the Hydrovane last time, I noticed the the starter motor was loose so Oliver, Dan and I disassembled the side panel and removed the starter motor to tighten up its mount adapter.

    Oliver set to work needle-gunning the the operating platform on DB983393, which is the last bit of this wagon that needs to be primed.

    Dan and I investigated a new acquisition, a petrol pressure washer. It was bought as a non-runner with no spark. Dan fitted a new spark plug and we borrowed an ignition coil from a generator, which got the little Honda engine running. There are some leaks in the water side on the hose, so we’ll see how this ends up working.

    Thanks for reading, and join us next week!