Tag: 993560

  • 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.

  • 06/10/24 – Catfish, the steps and a Steam Gala

    06/10/24 – Catfish, the steps and a Steam Gala

    Good evening all, this week the gang have applied more paint to DB993560, the steps into the tool van have been repaired, and being the Autumn Steam Gala some train spotting may have taken place.

    During the week, Dan has been down at Rothley making a good go at the sign writing on the LMS brakevan. He only has the number, region and tare weight left to apply on the east side.

    At the weekend the gang applied red oxide to the W irons, the north end headstock and platform. This also extended to the insides of the frames and the underside of the wagon.

    Mark and Dan applied white undercoat to the hand rails and hand wheels, getting them ready for gloss.

    Last week, somebody (at the moment remaining nameless..) managed to crack one of the steps on the main steps up to the tool van. The rotten boards were removed with replacements cut and strengthening battens added to other steps. The team also secured the loose handrail.

    Lastly, being the Autumn Steam Gala the vans and the tanks have been out on the line which is always a pleasant sight to see.

    Thank you for reading and see you next week where we might even get to applying some gloss to the Catfish(es?).

  • 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.