Tag: B452718

  • 12/04/26 – Springs & Noggins

    12/04/26 – Springs & Noggins

    Hello and welcome to a bumper update from the team at Quorn. Over the last four weeks we’ve been busy re-springing two wagons, making floor hold-down noggins for the Lowfit, giving the Lowmac some TLC, and continuing with Esso tank wagon restoration work.

    Six new wagon springs were delivered to Rothley; four destined for the Palshoc van B855568; the remaining two were taken to Quorn for fitting to Esso Tank 3621.

    Ernie, Charlie and Nick fitted 3621s springs, and with this wagon’s restoration now complete, it was tripped to Swithland for marshalling into the tank train ready for the Goods Friday event.

    At Rothley Nick, Charlie and Oliver dealt with the four springs in-turn on Palshoc B855568. The wagon was then moved to settle the new springs and the buffer heights were checked.

    Nick, Mark, Ernie, Dan and Oliver applied some paint to the underframe, swan necks, lamp irons and handbrake levers on the Lowfit.

    Then continued with some needle gun work and red-oxide application on the underframe of tank 3689.

    Nick and Charlie turned their attention to the Lowmac wagon DE269001 that is needed for use by the P-Way team. The axleboxes and bearings were checked, oil levels topped up, oiled the brake rigging, a lamp iron replaced and an incorrectly fitted 3-link coupling replaced with a screw coupling which Ernie and Nick had spent some time freeing off and repairing.

    Ernie had previously measured up and done a drawing ready to help us manufacture some new floor hold-down noggins for Conflat B507489. Along with Oliver I set about selecting some well seasoned timber, extracting a few unwanted nails and marking out for cutting.

    Four pieces were cut to length then sliced to the correct width for the noggins. The rivet cut-outs were made then the mounting holes drilled.

    Each noggin was then checked for fit onto the wagon. These will be installed to hold the new floor down once we get the flooring wood.

    Further needle gunning was carried out on tank 3689, including some sanding, uncovering some of the east side solebar lettering; followed by some red oxide.

    And then some more red-oxide.

    The four Conflat noggins were given five coats of creosote / engine oil mix which was allowed to soak-in between each coat.

    Over the Easter weekend there was much tiding-up carried out over our whole work area, including the GUV. The interior of Test Car 2 was also tidied and the slip-end pipework re-assembled in readiness for our Diesel Gala opening at the end of the month. The guards area storage heater was sanded and given a first coat of white, and three new display boards were prepared and painted.

    Edward was treated to some new tyres that allowed him to be removed from the BEV stillage and put back onto his wheels, thus making him mobile .

    The BEV stillage was cleaned and de-greased then the bed repaired. This will make a very useful bench for welding projects.

    The spark guards from tank 3689 were cleaned up and checked, three of them will be suitable for re-use following some welding repairs, however the fourth will need to be replaced. Ernie and Nick made a start straightening, cutting out the rust and weld repairing.

    Another lamp repair was completed by Ernie including a coat of black gloss. And I made & fitted a brace bracket to the garage door chain-box in an attempt to stop the chain sprockets going out of line.

    A good start was made by Mark, Tom, Oliver, Dan and Charlie on the tank barrel paint removal from 3689. Approximately 1/4 of the tank barrel and one ladder being taken back to bare metal.

    Hector got a little embarrassed after suffering a puncture whilst on an errand down the yard; having to rely on a rather ignominious rescue by the Volvo. Following Ross’s inspection he found the inner tube of the front wheel had failed due to rubber rot!

    The Volvo came in useful again moving the bunded barrel pallet spill tank that we have been donated, to a safe place.

    We’ll leave you with a reminder that Test Car 2 will be open to visitors for the upcoming GCR Spring Diesel Gala 24 – 26 April.

    We still have the fantastic Great British Locomotives Models & Magazines Complete Collection for sale; forty one (41) OO Gauge Models with Magazines all in their unopened original packaging which is available as a rare complete collection.

    Please get in touch if you are interested, all proceeds will be used by the Quorn Wagon & Wagon group to directly assist with the continued restoration and maintenance of Test Car 2.

    Example Model & Magazine, GCR 506 Butler Henderson.

    Join us again soon for more Quorn Wagon & Wagon news, all the best, Dave

  • 22/02/26 – Lowfit gets some Paint

    22/02/26 – Lowfit gets some Paint

    Hi and welcome to our weekly update from Quorn. The Lowfit has received some paint, work continues on tank 3689, and 3621’s signwriting is completed.

    Mark, Tom, Oliver, Dan and Daniel did some more needle gun work on the underframe of tank 3689.

    Dan did some needle gun work and red-oxide painting on a vac cylinder dome.

    Charlie did some tidying up in the garage and some vac cylinders were put into storage. Ernie did some more lamp repairs.

    Nick did some cleaning out of rust from under the tank supports on 3689. He also installed the new first aid equipment and notices in our Mess Coach booking-on point.

    Mark, Dan, Daniel and Oliver took advantage of the warmer/dryer weather and got stuck in to applying red-oxide primer to the majority of the Lowfit wagon.

    I finished off the last couple of bits of signwriting on tank 3621.

    Charlie fitted a couple of the heater vents to the seat box sides in the Mess Coach.

    I painted 3621’s Esso plate attachment bolts in red-oxide, and when dry applied the blue.

    Ernie and myself dropped the doors and end panels on the Lowfit, wire brushed and applied undercoat the the insides of the doors.

    We then raised the doors and made a start applying undercoat to the door sides and ends.

    That wraps things up for this week, I’ll leave you with a pic of Standard 2 78018 steaming past our Mess Coach on her last day in service before withdrawal for overhaul.

    Join us again soon; all the best, Dave

  • 09/02/24 – Happy birthday, Tom!

    09/02/24 – Happy birthday, Tom!

    Hello everyone and welcome to another update from Quorn. We’ve finished the through pipe on 1802 which is now fully fitted but not yet tested. This just leaves the same pipe to make on 1919, which we’ve made a good start on.

    Firstly, we wish Tom a happy 18th birthday!. Tom’s family very kindly sent along some lovely cakes last week (which I should have mentioned, sorry!).

    First action on the tanks was to remove the pipework as fitted to 1802 to use as a template for the pipe on the 1919. While the pipe was in I measured up to make the last pipe bracket. We also got the heat gun out and adjusted the two dummy brackets fitted to 1802.

    With the heat gun out, we shunted the Lowfit on to the end of the tanks to sort the last remaining bent corner on the west door.

    Ernie and Nick started looking at the bits of pipe we have in stock to match them up to the pipe from 1802, then the pipe cutting and threading continued, with new recruit Harry having a go on the pipe threader.

    I welded up the pipe bracket, getting it ready for fitting. The team got the pipes fitted back into position, while the 6 pipe brackets were fitted with locking nuts. Some hardwood packers have been fitted in some positions to minimise the stress to the pipework.

    Some of the pipe remnants seems quite hard, so required annealing with the heat gun before being manipulated for 1919.

    The Baldwin lads (with some interjection by Charlie) started a secret project on the dock with some scrap wood. Dan was caught having a sit down… Tom and Mark did some touching up on the undercoat north end of the GUV. Dave and Ernie had a brief break by fixing one of Nick’s lamps.

    Last thing to do was christen 1802 and fit some vacuum bags. Next week this will be leak tested alongside the air brakes, and the pipe work on 1919 should be very close to being finished. we’ll then get organised for the TEA, maybe with a brief interlude to play with a recently delivered new toy! Join us then and see how we get on!

  • 29/12/2024 – Vans and Vac Cylinders

    29/12/2024 – Vans and Vac Cylinders

    Over the festive period we have made good progress with four box van roofs, salvaged some of the Lowfit’s rotten floor and made a start on the restoration of a vacuum brake cylinder.

    23rd Dec – At Rothley, Nick, Ross, Mark and Tom stripped the roofs from B777171, B780282 and B779978. New roof sheets were opened out and rolled up to be lifted on to the roof of each van. Dan, Oliver and Charlie cleaning the sheets and tidying up. By the end of the day, each van was sat with a sheet resting on its roof.

    24th Dec – Nick, Ross, Mark and Tom fixed down the roof sheet at each end and along the sides of B777171. The top door frame was refitted to both sides and the roof sheet fully fitted and finished. The roof coverings of P18422 were removed down to the bare wood. Oliver and Charlie assisting tiding up the old roof coverings then cleaning and painting the roof hoops.

    27th Dec – The roof was prepared on P18422, the sheet laid out and lifted onto the van for rolling out. The roof hoops were fixed on B779978 & B780282, and both sides fixed down aside from around the door frames due to rotten door top frames.

    28th Dec – Nick, Ross, Ernie, Charlie and myself returned to Quorn to look at options for replacing the four rotten top door frame noggins. The floor of the recently arrived Lowfit wagon was assessed and will need to be replaced. The majority of the planks were found to be rotten however there were a few that could be salvaged. They are by coincidence big enough to be made into replacement noggins for the box vans. We therefore set about removing the re-usable planks.

    Whilst myself and Ross were busy with the planks, Nick, Charlie and Ernie continued the work on the 21″ vacuum cylinder spares. Despite having enough parts for three cylinders, the corrosion damage on two of the cylinder bores means that these will need machining before they can be used again.

    Ernie finished off drilling the split pin hole in a new door hinge pin that he had made to replace a missing one on the Lowfit. The new pin was then fitted to the wagon.

    Ross and myself selected the best of the four rotten door frame noggins from the vans at Rothley. In the warmth of the Mess coach there was much head scratching and careful measuring up of what was a somewhat incomplete noggin. We were eventually able to complete a drawing that will enable the manufacture of some replacement noggins.

    29th Dec – Nick continued with painting up the one usable vacuum cylinder whilst I cleaned up the threads of the dome studs with a die-nut.

    Ross and myself took a look at the first of three floor planks from the Lowfit that had been left inside overnight to dry out a bit. Slicing in stages to assess the integrity of the wood in the middle of the plank, we were able to cut good wood of the correct size for one replacement noggin.

    The next stage, using our drawing, was to start marking out the positions for the eight mounting holes, which were then drilled.

    Thanks for reading, join us again soon for an end of year round-up looking back at what we have achieved over the last 12 months.