Tag: M94052

  • 23/02/25 – Less green, more gleam!

    23/02/25 – Less green, more gleam!

    Hello all, and welcome to another update from Quorn. This week we’ve been getting ready to wash the tank train by testing out our new pressure washer and some chemicals on the newly arrived 3621. The pipe run on 1919 was also finished off after the last two brackets were manufactured.

    To start off with, I started to assemble the pressure washer which went together a treat. While I did this Ernie laid out the brackets in the positions they required welding into, which I then cracked on with. Nick and Harry started to strip off the extraneous rubber pipes from under 3621 and then fitted a temporary branch-pipe to enable us to check the cylinder that was installed last week is working satisfactorily.

    With the vacuum system check complete (a formal test will be conducted before the tank is put into traffic), Charlie and Harry set to work on 3621, rinsing and washing the tank with some snowfoam and TFR.

    The north end buffers on 3621 are non-functional, so Nick and Ernie started to remove them by heating up the nuts, though ran out of gas after the first two. After getting more gas, they continued getting these off on Sunday morning, after which the buffers were removed and the wagon shunted down.

    A scaffold tower was set up to allow safe access to the top portion of the tank for cleaning by Oliver, Dan and myself, which continued throughout the day.

    Tom and Mark set up the needle gun and removed the 5 layers of paint from the north headstock of the GUV, and a portion of the west side solebar. This was followed with a bit of primer, which also made its way to the fish van body.

    I spent a portion of time measuring up the side tank supports on 3621, as a bit of an exercise in 3D modelling. After looking over both 1802 and 1919, the handbrakes on both wagons had the potential to cause injury due to the proximity of the end of the lever to the suspension links. One wagon require the pins to be removed and rotated to give adequate clearance, while the other had a piece of the lever cut off and dressed, all ably done by Ernie.

    That wraps up this week’s happenings at Quorn. With 1802 and 1919 now waiting their turn in the paint queue, we’ll move using the time to clean the tank train next week to get them looking nice before the train gets moved away to Swithland. Join us next week to see how we get on!

  • 02/02/24 – Finally, a blow through!

    02/02/24 – Finally, a blow through!

    Hello everyone and welcome to another update from Quorn. This week we’ve finished fabricating a through pipe for one of the two TTA tanks, plus we’ve made more progress on painting the GUV.

    Dave and Ernie made a start making the set piece of pipe for the south end, first trying a recovered piece of pipe with a set, but then found that two 45degree elbows would work. With the set pipe made, it was onto cutting a section of straight pipe to fix to the centre section. Plenty of threading action for the three of us!

    Nick, Charlie and James tidied up the bit of yard behind the signal box, and also adjusted the door to the grounded fish van. Dave drilled one of the trollies to mount a large vice as some of the piped were too short to hold and thread in the pipe vice.

    The straight piece of pipe over the south axle was measured, cut then fitted. Even Charlie had a go on the pipe threader…

    Nick started on Sunday painting the south end of the GUV into black gloss, as befitting a brush painted carriage. Ernie and I started to fabricate the last section of pipe, a straight section across the front of the air brake equipment.

    Mark and Oliver took over the black gloss, while Tom worked on the north end of the GUV and primed the metal work. Dan started work on tidying the A type Container, applying primer and scraping the side.

    Nick and Ernie started adjusting some dummy brackets to fit to the now through piped tank, one required a bit of heating, straightening and re-twisting. While they did that, I measured up to alter a pipe bracket for the tank.

    That about wraps up this weekend’s activities on TTA number one, unfortunately we’ll have to repeat it all again on TTA number two. On the plus side, we’ll be well practiced at pipe work! Join us next week to see what we’ve got up to. Thanks for reading.

  • 26/01/25 – Winter Gala Pipe Wrangling

    26/01/25 – Winter Gala Pipe Wrangling

    Hello everyone, and welcome to the update from the Winter Gala. We’ve been progressing in our little yard while watching the freights whizz up and down the line.

    The team set up a handrail and platform at the north end of the GUV to continue the repaint. After this was ready, Mark and Oliver started to undercoat the south end of the GUV.

    Ernie, Dan and I carried on with the through pipe on the TTA, finding a helpfully shaped bit of pipe to sort out the north end of the pipe run. It required a bit of fettling and trimming to suit.

    Mark and Oliver continued with the temporary north end scaffold, adding a rope barrier and a shelf to sit their paint bucket on. They then used the temporary scaffold to scrape and prime the wood on the north end of the GUV, but rain stopped play for any other painting just after lunch on Sunday.

    Ernie, Dave and I measured up to alter the pipework bracket, cutting bending and then welding up the bracket. Dave altered the bracket for the headstock with Nick and Ernie unbending then re-bending an existing bracket to make it suit.

    Nick and Charlie started stripping down the other pipework to make them less of a trip hazard and to ready them for use on either the other TTA or for the TEA.

    The pipe was set back underneath in its new brackets and measured against the next piece along. both was cut to suit and threaded for the two pieces to be married together.

    In the fading light the pipe was hung back underneath ready for the next bit to be measure for and made, but that’s a job for next week! This leaves two pipe lengths still measure, cut then bend. Oh and then we’ll have to repeat it all again for the second tank! Join us then and see how we get on.

  • 12/01/25 – A very cold weekend!

    12/01/25 – A very cold weekend!

    Hello everyone, and welcome to another weekend update from Quorn. Saturday was a bit of a cold one, with the below 0 temperatures precluding any meaningful external work, though I did design a part for the cut off saw to accept the commercially available abrasive wheels. We laid some more carpet inside the cage area of the mess coach. At least the tank train looked very picturesque in the Down Lie-by!

    With my newly designed and 3d printed parts, I got the cut off saw working and ready to work. Dan and I used it to prepare some of the pipework found last week, cutting away the flame cut ends to square up them up.

    Mark, Tom and Nick did some more work on the south end of the GUV, re-fixing some of the hinge strapping back to the doors, and scrapping the iron and woodwork.

    Danny was uncovered and started for the first time this year to take some items to the vans in the yard. His sheet was unfolded and measured and found to be suitable for a van roof, so this was stripped of components and folded for storage.

    Lastly, we also assembled some pallet racking in the fish van to increase storage space.

    Thanks for reading, and join us next week where we should be starting to fit vacuum pipework to the TTAs.

  • 05/01/25 – Cool Tanks

    05/01/25 – Cool Tanks

    Hello and welcome to our first update for 2025. We have been painting the GUV when the weather has allowed, assessing parts for the tank wagon vacuum piping, and doing some housekeeping.

    Mark, Tom, Dan and Oliver took the opportunity of the good weather on New Years Eve to get the West side of the GUV painted in gloss. They also started work on the south end doors.

    On Saturday Nick, Ernie, Charlie and myself made a start collecting together and assessing what pipework we have that could be used for the vacuum through piping of the three tank wagons. The pipe route on the two TTA wagons is relatively straightforward as these two wagons were vac through pipe fitted when new. Some of the brackets still remain too.

    The TEA however has never had a vacuum pipe so sorting the best route and where to fit suitable mounting brackets is a little more complex.

    On Sunday Mark, Tom, Dan and Oliver continued with the housekeeping including erecting some much needed storage shelving in the Fish Van.

    It was great to see the tanks running throughout the weekend that were being operated as part of staff training exercises.

    Thanks for reading, join us again next week, best regards, Dave

  • 01/12/24 – Wash and brush up

    01/12/24 – Wash and brush up

    Hello everyone, and welcome to another update from Quorn. We’ve been able to progress a few jobs this week, with mechanical work culminating on the Catfish, the GUV has had another coat of paint and the coaches have been cleaned.

    Continuing the progress on the GUV, the last few patches of GUV were cleared back to bare metal, then sanded and primed. Dan, Ernie and Tom concentrated on fixing the loose body side rubbing strips.

    Reflecting the fact that the Catfish are cosmetically finished, Nick got them ready for a vacuum test by fitting vacuum hoses. We had also made a start extracting two sheared bolts in the hopper door on DB983393, which need to be extracted to refit one of the door mounting saddles.

    I continued looking at the generator and replaced the starter solenoid and double checked the timing, hoping I’d find the cause of it not running, sadly at the end of Saturday this was not the case, but I put the battery on charge for the night.

    The rest of the team made good progress and got the west side of the GUV covered in undercoat, ready for a coat of maroon gloss when the weather allows.

    Sunday’s weather started on the wet side. Mark and Tom did the usual gutter clearing, after noticing the water running down the side of the two coaches. After the worst of the rain, the pressure washer was used to jet the gutters, after which the coaches were cleaned using a bit of snow foam. On the west side a look out was used to ensure the group were away from the running line.

    I did a little bit more on the generator and got it running, which is a huge step given were we were with it some time ago. There is some fettling to do with the idle speed and fine tuning of the timing before we can put this back into use.We are starting to look at some improvements to the generator like an electric lift pump and maybe an alternator instead of a dynamo.

    We’ve ended the weekend with two clean coaches, a running generator and the GUV in undercoat on the west side. We’ll see what the weather brings next week, but we should are looking at completing the mechanical work on the two Catfish and hand paperwork over the Carriage & Wagon to begin their acceptance. Thanks for reading!

  • 24/11/24 – Hiding from the weather

    24/11/24 – Hiding from the weather

    Good evening all, and welcome to another update. With the Catfish finished, and the weather taken a turn for the worst we’ve looked at inside work, though the GUV did get a bit more attention.

    I concentrated on re-assembling the genset in the Test Car, bleeding the fuel system, replacing the coolant and of course trying to start it. Sadly, still no joy with getting it running so still more work to do on this.

    In a gap in the weather on Sunday, the Baldwins managed to get some more of the west side of the GUV stripped back and prepared.

    Thanks for reading! Fingers crossed for better weather next week, join us there and see what we get up to.