Tag: ADB977107

  • 22/12/19 – Doors & Windows

    This update begins with news of our latest arrival, those who view our facebook site will already be aware, this one, however, has rubber tires, not steel. Dave, Jack and I had the opportunity to purchase a 1953 Scammell Scarab,  an opportunity we thought could not be missed. The intention is for her to complement our wagon fleet as well as for gala and photocharter cameos.

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    So on to the weekend,  with the heavy rain and the van train essentially sitting in a lake we moved to Rothley to work on ADB977107.  Ross’s attention was on the rebuilding of the kitchen,  cleaning the walls and fitting the oven and fridge as well as reassembling the counter.

    Jake and Nick continued with window removals, removing three more on the East side.

    My focus was on the East side first-class door, this was removed as part of the living van conversion and we are reinstating it.  The outer skin was removed followed by the internal ply. The ply was then trimmed and refitted.

    To finish Saturday, we cut a hole in the Guards compartment wall to allow access to the power distribution cupboard.  As part of the conversion, the compartment was removed but was refitted a number of years ago when the Irish boiler vans that once frequented Quorn yard were scrapped.

    On to Sunday, I continued with my hole in the wall. Making a door fitting trim pieces and fitting pie warmer and steam heat mounting plates. This took me most of the day.

    Jake having previously applied bitumen to the bottom of the window frame refitted the window opposite the kitchen,  assisted by Nick.

    Ross rebuilt and strengthened the Guards Desk. Which was fitted.

    Harry and Eddie were also present and did an excellent job of cleaning the kitchen.20191222_190033

    Finally, an image of the double doors refitted by the C&W team.  Although there is still a little fettling to compete.

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    Of cause, Merry Christmas to you all and thank you for following us. We will have an update before the new year and will take a look over the year we have had.

  • 10/11/19 – The Last Paint

    10/11/19 – The Last Paint

    Another weekend and another washout. Once again we move up the line to Rothley to look at ADB977107.  Some more welding from the C&W team has enabled us to complete the fitment of the west side windows. Nick and Jake fitted the glass and clamping wood.

    Whilst Matt followed, fitting the trims and finishing strips as well as the backrest in the main saloon and the heater retaining strap in the kitchen.  Matt also refitted the toilet trims and skirting boards.

    Nick and Jake then moved onto removing the first of the windows on the East side ready for future welding.

    Matt’s next task was to do a little exploratory work, looking at the feasibility of reinstating the east side luggage doors. The outer skin and inner ply were removed. Matt then stepped in through the opening; the first person to do so since conversion into a mess van.

    The hinge positions were clearly visible, the lower recesses for the luggage doors were still there, just packed with wood and a steel angle added at the bottom to retain the riveted skin. The Z irons were in good condition so Matt pressed on and cut out the additions, decision made, luggage doors will be refitted.

    On to Sunday which was much less of a wash out, in fact quite the opposite! Nick was at the Loughborough Remembrance Day Parade, which left Matt and I to get on with the painting of the Container; BD4303B. Painting is a bit of the gamble this time of the year, but we appear to have gotten away with it. We began by removing the sheet and drying off the container where necessary. Matt assembled the scaffold tower while I thinned the paint and assembled the gun and pot. Once dried I began spraying.

    Stopping to observed the two minute silence, I continued until 11:45 when I had finished spraying the container. From then, it was a waiting game to see if the paint would go off. Matt and I then began working on B505313, sanding the chain boxes and painting them in red oxide. Nick, now in attendance, painted the interior metal surfaces in Bauxite, and then the body ends. The red oxide sufficiently dry, I painted the chain boxes in undercoat, and then continued to the ends with assistance from Nick.

    Matt by this point had just got back with the printed templates for the signwriting on the Container. Having chalked up, he then started signwriting.

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    After tidying everything away, having a customary cup of tea and admiring the container some more,  we went home! Thanks for reading, and I shall finish with a picture of the container, before we lost the daylight.

  • 03/11/19 – Quorn Wetter & Wetter

    Once again the weather has conspired against us. So a trip to Rothley to progress ADB977107. The C&W team has been carrying out body repairs when the time has allowed. Progress has been such that we are able to reassemble interior fixtures.

    Before we began, Jake applied bitumastic paint to all the bare metal areas on the inside of the vehicle’s skin

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    Jake and I then focused on the main saloon.

    Nick with assistance from Jake also, rebuilt the toilet window

    Ross with a little assistance from new recruit Will as well as Nick made progress with the Kitchen.

    Ross also checked the batteries output, unfortunately, these are life expired

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    We can also show the progress of B954546 currently a volunteer project at Rothley. The cladding has been replaced, new duckets manufactured and glass windows fitted all round.

    Sunday with the threat of rain, Ross and Dave cut down some plates to use as load distribution plates for Nicks container once lifted on to the Conflat. It transpires that we decided later that additional sections of rail shall be used to support the weight of the container.

    The main task for Sunday was the rectification of Test Car 2’s incorrectly assembled buckeye draw gear. The buckeye was removed, supported by the loading shovel the draw hook and bar removed and the offending article lowered rotated and fitted correctly.

    Whilst the majority of the gang worked on the Test Car, I looked at the chain boxes on B505313 these had fallen foul of the water trap that they are. With the bottom of each removed at an earlier date and the lack of suitable welding facilities, I riveted steel plates to the back of each in areas that had been eaten away.

    As a none structural skin, this gives a solid backing for filler to be applied. In the future, the skin of the chain box will have to be replaced but at this time we have gone for this option.

    As the rain that was forecast did not materialise and what ended up as a day of sunshine we sheeted BD4303B whilst it was dry. This will keep the wet out until the weather gives us the opportunity to apply the gloss crimson.

    Also on site Eddie, Harry, and James who took the opportunity to tidy our surrounds and a good job they did in removing the many items of waste that wagon restoration inevitably generates.

  • 12/05/19 – The Joy of Painting

    Welcome to another update from Quorn Wagon and Wagon. This weekend has been Goods Galore, with our goods vehicles rattling up and down the line. This doesn’t stop us however, and we have had a very productive weekend. Not one, but two wagons were painted up into gloss! The weekend also marks the return the service of the LMS box van, which made its debut in the parcels rake.

    Firstly Nick, Jake, Dave, Matt and Jack set about the Shochood B and the Medfit with Scrapers and wire brushes. Whilst this took place, I was inside the GUV preparing the paint and spray gun for the spraying session. Once I’d prepared everything, I went to assist RVP with connecting the LNER Gresley to the mains for display for the weekend.

    Once scraped, Dave and I went round and painted any areas of bare metal and the tops of the wagons in red oxide primer.

    It was then time for tea! Jake has now been with us for a whole year, so to celebrate he brought in a cake to share with us!

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    After tea was drunk and cake consumed, I began spraying the wagons in undercoat and then handed over to Jake for him to complete the rest of the Shochood and the all the Medfit.

    While Jake was spraying, Dave and I started to make something I dreamt up. With the 2 compressors we now have (the Hydrovane and the one in TC2), I believe that we have sufficient capacity to run 2 spray guns at the same time. As such Jake could be painting one side, whilst I spray paint the other. For this I thought about making a manifold that can be hung from/mounted to the wagon so that we easily run a hose down either side of a vehicle. Dave and I ferreted around in the various boxes of fittings left in TC2 and managed to put something together where we can use any of the air hoses we have on site. This was put together and leak tested successfully.

    To finish off the day, we removed 2 doors and a spare vacuum cylinder from storage  and placed our spare brake van stove back into store in the van train. The 2 doors are destined for the Yellow Coach to be reinstated in the luggage area.

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    On to Sunday, with glossing being the main order of the day. Jake had to spend the day revising for his upcoming GCSEs, so I took the lead with the spray gun and got the Shochood and Medfit painted into gloss. A personal best was set for 2 wagons painted before tea at 11.00! Prior to spraying the Medfit, Mat and Nick fitted its Bodyside Chalk boards. Caption competition time?

    With the wagons hardening off in the lovely warm sunshine, the team set upon the vacuum cylinder retrieved from the van train.

    Once opened up, the cylinder was found to have surface rust on the bore, and the piston stuck in its halfway position. The cylinder has been stored on its dome for around 20 years, so this is a lesson in the correct way to store a vacuum cylinder (vacuum cylinders should be stored with the piston rod removed, the with bottom of the cylinder lowermost). As the cylinder was stored incorrected, the seal had been compressed into the bore and the piston, making it very difficult to remove the piston. Like the last cylinder, an application of penetrating fluid and a sledgehammer had the piston out. Matt began cleaning the piston and cylinder using a wire brush on the grinder.

    I cleaned up the gland seal retaining bush and refixed it to the base of the cylinder.

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    Whilst cleaning the components of the cylinder, we were asked to assist with the turntable demonstration, where the turntable had got stuck. Matt lowered himself into the pit with our pinch bar to un-stick the turntable.

    Out of the turntable pit, Matt, assisted by Jack, started to paint some of the details on the wagons, starting with the sheet hoops of the Shochood. Jack stayed on the floor and painted the chalkboards on both wagons.

    With the paint again left to dry, we then went to Rothley to assist in removing 3 coaches from the train in preparation for their annual exams this coming week. In doing this, Matt became the last person to use the current Rothley ground frame before it gets removed this week, in the S&T work week.

    Whilst at Rothley, we also looked upon progress on the Yellow Coach, with 2 new doors fitted at the south end of the vehicle, and 4 heater patches welded in, the coach is well on its way to recovery.

    There is still a fair amount left to do on the coach, including the ends and a “new” set of double doors in the luggage area. Back to Quorn, and the paint had gone sufficiently hard for Matt to apply the shock stripes to the Shochood B.

    The vehicles are nearly ready for traffic now, with the only thing left to do being to paint the underframes and apply the lettering.  Thank for reading this weeks chock full update! Join us again next week where we will hopefully have the Shochood B and the Medfit completed!

  • 28/04/19 -Operating arms and bases

    Good morning everyone and welcome to another update from Quorn. This weekend, we have finalised work on the LMS van and continued the overhaul of another 18″ wagon cylinder. We have also begun to strip out the interior of the Yellow Coach so that bodywork repairs can begin.

    Nick, Jake and Olly continued to refurb an 18″cylinder, scraping, wire brushing and abrading most surfaces of the components. The cylinder is a Westinghouse affair and has some detail differences between it and a ‘BR’ one, most notably the piston doesn’t have a ball valve in it. In our spares ‘department’ we only have E- Type release valves, which fit the standard ‘BR’ cylinders. The one for this cylinder has a ball valve as part of the release valve, which we don’t have one of currently. Perhaps there will be one in one of our box vans.

    Whilst Nick and the lads continued their work on the cylinder, Matt and I got stuck into the operating shaft of the LMS van. The arm extension that Matt had designed, and ably manufactured by Mick Carr at Loughborough (thanks Mick!), is designed as a bolt on extension to the stub left on the cross shaft. The ‘old’ arm was a rather soft steel, so drilled quite easily when one found a sharp drill bit. Sadly, not many of our drill bits are sharp so Matt racked up quite the kill count for drill bits this weekend.  He also left 2 drills smoking. I can’t say much though, as I broke a tapered reamer. Ouch! After a lot of struggling, the arm was fitted and tested. There was a slight rotation of the arm relative to the shaft, but we plan on having the arm welded where possible to increase rigidity.

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    On to Sunday, and a change of scenery. A while ago, our mess vehicle, the Yellow Coach was shipped off to Rothley for some very much needed bodywork attention. Jamie and Pat have now surveyed the vehicle (and affectionately named it Booths) and told us where we need to strip to reduce the fire risk when it comes to cutting out and welding. Matt and I stripped out all the body-side gas heaters, which we don’t plan on using again, and Nick and Olly started to remove the panelling around the window in the first class toilet, where whoever had fitted the plastic window had used steel machine screws in the aluminum window frame. Brass machine screws should have been used. The body-side heaters put up very little resistance and made their way to the scrap pile. Matt then concentrated on one of the mess area windows, and I set upon the kitchen. The fridge was disconnected and removed, and the oven received a similar treatment. The wall cupboard was cleared out and removed, and then I set upon the body-side wall paneling. The kitchen has an electric heater under the window. I disconnected and removed this and discovered historic fire damage on the wall behind it. When it comes to reassembly, we now have to opportunity to give the kitchen a deep clean.

     

    We left Rothley with items we had wanted to keep from the yellow coach and returned to Quorn to tidy them away. Matt also took some time to admire his work on a sign he is working on for Renaissance Rail Cars.

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    Thanks for reading, and join us again next week for some more adventures of the wagon variety.

  • 27/08/2018 – It came off in my hands (honest)!

    27/08/2018 – It came off in my hands (honest)!

    A bumper update from Quorn Wagon &Wagon this week, as we’ve had an impromptu work week. Matt and I took some days off work, and we all made the most of the bank holiday weekend.

    Work on the LMS brake van, M730562, has finally been completed and was shunted out to the south end of the van train today (Bank Holiday Monday). On Wednesday Matt finished off the upholstery and a few little jobs inside. As the van was removed from the dock, Jake finished painting the east side underframe and the long running boards.

    Now we have finished the LMS Brake, we have started the Southern Brake Van (S56010) with gusto! This is the 3rd concurrent brake van we have done this year, and we now appear to be settling into the swing of things when it comes to brake van sides and their rectification. The Southern brake has not been attended to for at least 10 years, and this has shown in the bodywork. The way the body is fashioned means there are a lot of areas for water to sit and cause rot and decay.

    Thursday and Friday were spent stripping the rotten side planks of the brake, cleaning and chipping the steel T-section uprights that connect the floor to the roof and removing the expired upholstery. Once one bit was removed, often a few more bits cames along with it, leading to the phrase in the title! Matt found an original interior wall panel underneath another, where the livery applied was the cream and bauxite we have been using in the BR brake van, and the LMS brake van. Measuring the demarcation line shows it at 3ft 5.5inches, which is only 0.5inches less than what we have been using. Rain (read massive deluge) did also stop play for a while on Friday.

    Saturday arrives, and so does our replacement wood! Our timber merchant, Harlow Brothers of Long Whatton, have sorted us out again, and have cut, machined and tanalised the planks needed for this van. Cut to length and rebated into the corner section, they fitted a treat and look great! We were also able to strip some of the body planks from a Southern PMV body being broken up behind the loco shed at Loughborough. These were cut down to replace any boards fitted next to the ducket.

    Sunday saw the same action taking place on the dockside, with 6 body planks being replaced there, and some of the interior plywood cut and fitted. Monday saw little jobs being undertaken, including refitting all the veranda door tops, lower floor quadrant cutting and fitting, filling strips manufacture, and a door plank to replicate and fit (I’m proud of that one, but took no pictures during the manufacture!)

    I finish with some night time shots of the Yellow Coach and that south yard. Both Matt and I, both living an hour away; both in Lincolnshire, made use of the bunkroom in the Yellow coach and stayed a few days at the railway. it’s not very often you see views like this, and I’m sure some of the passengers on the evening trains were surprised to see the lights still on.

    Once we’d finished our daylight work, Matt and I tidied the mess area in the coach and used our limited upholstery skills to manufacture a new seat base for the mess area. One of the cushions was missing when Nick and I first started using the coach as a base for our wagon restoration activities (around 2012). At that time this didn’t matter as there was just Nick, myself and Alex (Nick’s son), and the occasional visitor Now, we find ourselves in need of some extra sitting space for a larger team, and our visitors. We can now seat 18 around the 2 tables!

    We are happy with our progress, and are thinking about organizing a proper work week next year!

    Thanks for reading!