BD4303B – Quorn Wagon & Wagon

29/12/19 – It’s Christmas

So with the Christmas period upon us, it’s no excuse to hold back. Monday, Nick and I in attendance. Nick applied sealant to the Midland and Southern Brake vans this completes the Overhaul of the van trains brake system and we await a full brake test of the rake, later in this update.

I began the final tasks on Container BD4303B filling holes with foam. and applying a layer of fiberglass to each. Nick applying heat to cure each once the resin was applied.

To complete Monday’s activities I manufactured sand red oxided the missing fork protectors that sit under each of the side doors.

Tuesday or as most seem to know it as Christmas Eve. Nick and I again, continuing with Nicks Container. Filler applied to the fiberglassed areas.

Nick applied heat to reduce the cure time and allowed me to sand the areas.

Once sanded fiberglass primer was applied followed by undercoat again heat applied to assist the drying of the paint.

Once the paint was sufficiently dried we riveted the fork protectors under the side doors and applied undercoat.

Finally for Tuesday an unusual perspective from inside the container.

Wednesday was of cause set aside for other duties with no one on-site. Back to normal on Thursday as we made up a few spare vacuum hoses in preparation for a brake test of the van train on Friday. But the weather didn’t play ball so the rest of the day was spent Signwriting “Madge” the Scarab. No images yet we are building the suspense.

On to Friday and we begin at Rothley, assisting Jamie from the C&W staff welding up the south end of ADB977107

Friday’s main task was the scheduled brake test of the van train. 15 Bauxite Vans, 1 Conflat, 1 Fish van, and 2 Brake vans. Our motive power was once again provided by the Heavy Tractor Group’s 37714. The test was a success, with 19.5 – 20 inHg shown on the 19th vehicle.

Harry and Eddie were also in attendance and made an excellent job finishing the clean of the Yellow Coaches kitchen as well as the office.

Saturday and the full gang in attendance, first job with a favorable temperature was to apply the final topcoat of crimson to the previously repaired areas and folk protectors on BD4303B.

Once we completed the container we did a few items on QW6128E namely painting the engine and wheel hubs. We then moved up the line to Rothley.

My first job was to secure the table in the office. The previous image above it is just perched on the cabinet. The cabinet was secured to the window frame and two locating blocks for the table.

Dave’s attention was on the ceiling of the Guards compartment which had been damaged by water ingress. The remains of the old ceiling were removed, new baton affixed and were possible the previous ceiling panels reused. Those that could not were either replaced or trimmed to be used elsewhere. I went on to the roof to find the source of the leaks although I had a really good idea. As suspected the blanked off periscope holes were the culprits. I removed them but during its departmental conversion, the 110v feed was placed over one of the repair plates, this will need dismantling to ensure a good repair can be carried out.

At the moment the main coach feed is via the 110v inter carriage supply, Ross is looking at manufacturing a new 240v lead that will supply the main shore supply input.

Nick and Jake acted as the odd job men. Holding, finding and assisting where possible. The other tasks complete were a backing piece for the previously created access hatch. Fitment of a lighting control panel, moving the detonator storage and fitting a coat hooks.

On to Sunday and the final segment for this bumper addition. Priority being the electrics. As mentioned above the 110v distribution box was placed over the area I need to carry out a roof repair. The first job ensure the coach can be powered from the shore supply point, this has never been done whilst the vehicle has been on the GCR. Ross completed the new cable, all the fuses were removed and the plug fitted. The power was applied and no issues. The first fuse to go in was the main supply fuse and pop, the coach tripped. This also happened when we initially tried Test Car 2 the solution was to feed the other side so we did and this time no trip. We systematically replaced the fuses and all came online correctly apart from the shore supply applied lights. A quick check of the bulbs and both were blown. A quick trip to B&Q, new bulbs and for the first time since at least 2010 the lights came on.

With the coach now powered from an alternative supply, we went on to the roof and the 110v cables were disconnected from each end isolating the roof and vehicle end conduits. This will allow us to make a full weather tight repair to the roof however the cables and conduit will be sealed and left in place and if the needs arises a new hole can be cut and the 110v reinstated.

Whilst up on the roof, the areas for repair were cleaned up and red oxided and the repair plates cut to size by Nick and visiting us from the Mid Hants Railway Wagon Group, Dillon has known Nick for many years and assisted Nick when he first started to collect wagons.

Ross tidied the now redundant cables, we also got the NRN radio to power up although with the network ceasing to operate on the 12/12/15 we couldn’t locate it.

Other tasks included fitting the sawdust bin and chock stowage to the Guards compartment fitting a blanking plate to one of the end sockets used for the new shore supply cable and a look into the electric heating system which is missing its thermostat and is the only fuse not to be reinstated.

All that is left to say is Merry Christmas, thank you for reading our updates, we are looking forward to the New Year and we wish you all a happy and prosperous 2020.

29 December 2019

17/11/19 – Loaded and Secured

Unusually this update begins on Thursday with a trip to Medstead & Four Marks. The reason for the visit, to pick up some Conflat chains. Our thanks go to the Mid-Hants Railway Wagon group for offering them to us, they were in far better condition than our own.

Friday saw the December issue of Rail Express hit the shelves with an article looking ant our work on Test Car 2 IMG-20191115-WA0000

On to Saturday and I continued with the signwriting started last weekend.

Nick drilled and attached the chains to the Conflat whilst Ross and Dave drilled and secured the additional rails placed on the vehicle last week.

Then the main event, before the light failed and after I had completed the high-level signwriting we lifted BD4303B on to B505313. With the subframe missing we had to first lower the container on to a set of sleepers.

The Container was then lifted from each end and the sleepers removed.

Once sat on the rails the Container was secured to the Conflat. Earlier before the lift Nick and Ross also applied the identification plate above the door.

To allow the lift I left off the branding and applied it Sunday as well as a few other signwriting finishing touches.

Nick, Ross, Jake and Dave applied Bauxite to the Conflat. adding heat to cure the paint as they went along. Sufficiently drying the vehicle before the rain started.

All of the conflat chains had reached the end of there threads although reasonably tight we took some steps to resolve. We couldn’t move inwards by a ring as the chains were not long enough so our next option was to shorten them. We did this using an old BR trick, one of the links was heated in each chain and bent.

With the shortened chains we resecured the container. Jubilee clips were also added to prevent inadvertent loosening.

With it also being the Last Hurrah we saw a few of our vehicles in operation. Notably the Vans.

The van train is now stabled in the yard at Quorn in preparation for the Winter Brake overhaul and to finish Ross and Dave serviced the Test Cars Generator.

17 November 2019

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.

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.

10 November 2019

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

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

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.

3 November 2019

27/10/19 -Rain Rain Go Away

Good evening, and welcome to another update from us chaps at Quorn. Saturday saw Jake, Nick, Matt and Dave in attendance. Sadly, due to the weather not much progress was made on the container. In order to avoid the rain, the team stayed under cover and tidied the GUV; a long overdue task. Paint Brushes were resurrected, items tidied and home found for newer acquisitions. On to Sunday, with me now in attendance and with the weather looking good we began working on the container.

Firstly the rectification of some water damage were resin applied but not cured had suffered some weather damage. This was duly removed and re-resinned by Matt. Jake and I had the honour (?) of sanding the container ready for primer. I carried on around the sides and door end of the container with the air driven sander, while Jake drew the short straw and was tasked with the blank end panel. This had had green paint applied at some point in the past, which was beginning to flake off.

While this was happening, Matt finished off applying resin, and reattached the door hinge which was unbolted to repair the door. Sanding completed, Jake blew the container down while I thinned the fibreglass/gelcoat primer and assembled the gun.

I began by applying primer to the roof, and then the blank ends then going round the container anti-clockwise. The primer cured very quickly, so we gambled and had Jake prep the undercoat ready for spraying.

While the painting was occuring, Matt starting removing paint from one of the plates he has had made for the containers. Not content with the black finish, he’d applied some crimson, and had to then scrap/sand the paint off of the raised letters. rather effective, don’t you think?

If the weather is kind to us next weekend, we hope to have the container into Crimson top coat, with signwriting completed and perhaps lifted onto the ConFlat! Join us next week to see what we end up doing, Thanks for reading!

27 October 2019

20/10/19 – Rain, Resin and Bitumen

Work once again continues on the Conflats and Nicks Container. More sanding on BD4303B. All areas were completed including profiling the door repair where the hinge will be going.

More prep on the underframes of B505313 and B507489 also continued and the opportunity was taken by Jake to undercoat the inner rail of both Conflats.

On to Sunday and what was left of the Stacking plates on 4303 were removed whilst Nick blew down the Container ready for the repaired areas to be sealed.

Jake got out the spray gun and bitumen and completed the underframe paint of both Conflats.

The triangular plates manufactured last weekend were fitted.

The final task for me was to apply resin to all of the repaired areas to seal them before paint. Unfortunately, the rain had other ideas before all areas were completed.

Hopefully, it will be drier next weekend, fingers crossed

20 October 2019

22/09/19 – Conflats and Containers

With our thanks to the Ops department, we are back in our usual position with Test Car on the front road and our next project brought up from the yard. First task a brake test to find out how the two vehicles behave. B507489 held vacuum for 10 minutes with B505313 being no better after fitment of a Branch pipe, the original one having long since perished, new vacuum hoses were fitted all round.

So next we looked at the Release Valves. Both were removed and overhauled by Dave. This has become second nature to him and both valves were done very quickly.

The next test and B505313 held for just under an hour but no change to B507489. With only one 15″ rolling ring in stock B507489 was chosen to receive it. With the “Lighter” cylinder the decision was taken to drop it manually rather than use the loading shovel.

Once out it was split and found to be in remarkable condition. A quick hoover new ring fitted, rebuilt and refitted to the vehicle.

A final test and after 3 hours it was still holding and another Defect Card filed.

Whilst this was going on, my attention was on BD4303B, voids were filled with expanding foam. Surface and full cracks, as well as dents, were scolloped out.

One of the doors had a hole straight through it. The top hinge was unbolted, loose fibreglass removed. Tape was applied to the inside and again the void filled and taped over

Full through cracks received a fiberglass matting and resin to restore strength and then a fiberglass filler applied along with the other areas prepared earlier.

Finally, for Saturday we welcome Eddie and Harry who have started with the paint preparation removing loose paint and verdigris.

On to Sunday and the weather was not in our favor. Despite this Ross and I continued with work on Nicks Container. The areas of foam added were cut down, scolloped exposing original layers of Fiberglass

Matting was then resined into position to provide strength and support, this will then have a layer of filler applied to restore the smooth outer layer although only if we have a drier day.

Ross’s task was to begin the sanding of previously applied resin and keying of the gelcoat ready for painting, we would have liked to of restored the gelcoat fully, unfortunately working outside this is ni on impossible.

Nick replaced a number of floor planks as well as removing the remains of the bottoms of the chain boxes. These have not faired well so the decision has been taken to open them up to limit further rot

Eddie and Harry continued with their cleaning regime, with the conflats complete they moved on to E280364

With rain towards the later half of the day Ross and I took a trip to Swithland to fit our refurbished first aid kits to our brakevans, replacing the modern kits with more period looking items.

Being at Swith also gave us a chance to see our latest van with the rest. With all of our restored vans in the one train, well all apart from the fishvan and tool van. 15 Bauxite vans in one train, is there anywhere else that can offer this?

Our final image. The two proud Container owners with there rare items.

22 September 2019

15/09/19 – Back on the Wagon(s)

We are back to normality following the Diesel Gala, and have been working on wagons and wagon loads. However, before work on that started, we had some goodies to investigate with regards to getting the intercom system working in Test Car 2. Using the 3 speaker boxes we have, we can get the intercom working in the slip end, Main saloon and Kitchen. There is the hope of finding some more Speaker boxes to expand the system as necessary. Having proved it, we have developed a plan for its continued usage.

On to Wagons, and I started by continuing to grease the pins in the brake linkages on the Air Braked Steel High. Armed with a 12-ton hydraulic jack, 2 hammers and various punches, (oh and a big bucket of grease) I crawled under the wagon to remove a few more pins, clean up the holes and replaced the pins with a fresh smear of grease. This resulted in the successful repair of this vehicle’s hand brake and removal of the defect labels.

In the past, it was thought to be the slack adjuster causing the brakes to lock up. After surveying the vehicle, it was found that a number of linkages were seized, causing the brake to jam on. The slack adjuster is working absolutely fine, much to our relief. A number of linkages were done the week before the Diesel Gala, with Nick sorting a few more once TPO duties had finished.

Getting sick of crawling around from under the Steel High, I decided to remove the floor with assistance from Nick. The floor is due replacement as all of the boards are rotten. The floor came out in no time, thanks to a novel feature included by the LNER on this wagon. Instead of the floor being fixed in by bolts, the floor is held captive in a C-channel attached to the wagon side. there are 2 cut-outs to drop the boards into, and provide the planks are appropriately sized, should slide along to where needed.

While I was crawling under/over the Steel High, Dave, Jake and Matt started work on the Fibreglass containers. Matt started fabricating a plate to repair the end door of his container, while Dave and Jake set about freeing the end doors on Nick’s container.

Matt disappeared early in order to take part in a photo charter at East Kirkby with their Lancaster “Just Jane”.

Having got the Oxy-propane cutting bottles out, Dave, Nick and I started to heat up and manipulate the bent straps on Nick’s container and loosened the rings on Matt’s. In the meantime, Jake was on the roof of Nick’s container cleaning out the debris which had found itself under the lifting frame.

On to Sunday, Matt finished the repair to his containers door as well as removing the box from the locking bar and adding a missing staple.

Nick continued Jake’s task from Saturday by completing the roof de-veg of both Containers.

The final task for the weekend was to secure the strapping of Nicks container, this was drilled by Matt and then secured in place by both. As a safety measure and to keep the 2 containers looking similar, the same was done to Matts.

This concludes this update, more as always next week.

15 September 2019

03/07/19 – A mid-week Con.

A mid-week update, it happens occasionally and today is a very good reason to have a separate post. Just myself and Nick in attendance and it was all my fault. Last week I had an opportunity that could not be me missed and purchased my largest railwayana item to date. This resulted in an 08:00 departure from Quorn, with a 7 Ton Lorry, North to Barnsley. 20190703_093022

Just off the M1 and outside a farm already loaded on to a forklift, 1959 built BD4304B Fiberglass Container. Built by Mickleover Transport in a batch of 6.

All loaded and secured we made the run back to Quorn and having been sat on a farm for many years the container was once again on another forklift.

At this point, we would like to thank our friends at Kenway Construction for the loan of their vehicle, a superb help to our cause.

Now safely on the ground, the Container takes a temporary place in the compound to allow us to restore it in preparation for the arrival of one of the Conflat-As and its eventual home.

I also took the opportunity to take some measurements of the lettering in readiness for making the signwriting templates and to answer my curiosity having seen the very container in Don Rowlands British Railways Wagons book. In his book, there is evidence of branding but the image is too low quality to read. The answer……………… 20190703_134929

Having exposed the branding it also confirms its livery of BR Crimson with Golden Yellow lettering.
Inside was more evidence of it BR past and its solid condition.

Further opportunity was taken to do a touch of signwriting on the Shocvan and we are so tantalisingly close to the completion of this vehicle, just need to Dot the I’s and Cross the T’s

The eagle-eyed amongst you will also notice that once again I have applied Shock markings and have not been happy with there position. Some extra Bauxite and White paint I am much happier.

That concludes this special Midweek update as always more this weekend.

3 July 2019

Tag: BD4303B