Test Car 2 – Page 3 – Quorn Wagon & Wagon

28/07/19 – Quorn Wet & Wet

Well, after a hot week the weather conspired against us and its rained, all weekend. This, of course, limits the work we can carry out on the exterior of “2 Car” although Saturday morning we did manage to apply filler to a number of areas and sand down a little before the rain took hold.

With all we could do outside done, we turned to some drier activities. Dave continued with the interpretation displays and an internal clean and tidy.

Whilst I began the task of refurbishing a number of first aid kits for our brakevans.

Our thanks also go to the Ops Department for bringing our post Test Car project to Quorn. Namely our 2 Conflats for a pair of recently acquired containers.

On to Sunday and the same weather-wise. I continued with the first aid kits

Interlaced with the first stage of refurbishment for a “Not to be Moved Board”.

Ross lowered the ceiling to diagnose a fault on the 24v supply side. The issue has been identified and components need to be acquired to rectify.

Looking into the ceiling space and seeing the original 1962 ceiling gave us an opportunity to recover the ceiling vents. These will go into stock and available if required for another vehicle.

We resited the compressor as the gangway will once again be used routinely so the compressor is currently an 11 bar trip hazard.

Finally, we made a start on enclosing the Generator for when public access is allowed into the vehicle. The compressor will also be enclosed.

We are wishing for better weather as our deadline for “2 Car” looms ever closer.

28 July 2019

21/07/19 – The other side

Good evening, and thanks for joining us for another Quorn wagon update. This week, there has been more prep work taken place on Test Car 2. Before I get onto that, we have another piece of news. In the week, Matt and Nick made another trip up to Barnsley to fetch a second fibreglass container. The container, BD43034B, is on the floor in the yard at Quorn, awaiting its Conflat.

Onto the weekend’s activities; this weekend there has been sanding, plenty of sanding. The dock side of Test Car 2 has been sanded in its entirety, ready for filling then priming/undercoating. Dave’s son and grandson, Chris and Oliver stopped by and very kindly donated a few items which will help us out immensely. I made use of the coach’s generator with to run its compressor to power the air sander, which made the process relatively quick. Nick and Jake continued to scrape the roof of loose paint, showering everyone indiscriminately with flakes of old roof paint. The roof will be painted when the sides are complete, but has to be scraped before hand so that the flakes won’t stick the soft gloss.

Dave applied fibreglass filler to areas needing repair, then concentrated on the slip end door. First getting it to open, then cleaning and scraping it ready to be painted. Some areas of the door are past their best, but it’s mostly solid so some wood hardener and fibreglass filler then regular filler will be a suitable repair. Matt joined us in the afternoon, after his work shift. Matt added some further signwriting to the ‘finished’ side of the coach, an arrow to denote axle 1, and writing to show the location of the isolation coach for the air braking system.

I continued sanding the coach on Sunday, joined by Matt who was driving the electric sander. Whilst Matt and I sanded, Dave continued on the slip end, sanding and cleaning the gangway bellows. Dave also removed all the paint from the gangway tread plate, then painted what’s left of the original gangway.

In sanding some areas, we sanded through to bare metal. These areas got primed with red oxide. We also used this as a key to apply filler, as the fresh paint will show the low spots better.

That finishes this week’s update. Next weekend will see the coach filled, and then sprayed into grey undercoat.

21 July 2019

14/07/19 – Cheerio Matey

37637_10150218267700103_1261953_n Unfortunately Tuesday we learned of the passing of one of the GCR’s most notable characters. Peter Haylock was instrumental within the Operations Department and was formerly the railway’s Operations Manager, he always had a kind word to say or a story to share. Personally, he was there on my very first day as a TTI and encouraged me to become a Guard, we shared many a conversation at many an event. Unfortunately, our exchanges reduced as I moved away from Operating to Wagon Maintenance but I am glad to have had that last wave as we passed on the 37 last Friday. He will be sadly missed by the team and our thoughts are with his family. “Cheerio Matey”

We move to Saturday and continue work on Test Car 2. Nick progressed the roof scrape throughout the day. Whilst Dave removed all of the vinyls.

Once all were removed Daves attention turned to the doors. Inspecting each and making repairs as necessary. Filling, sanding, and priming.

Unfortunately, the Generator door was beyond repair and the decision was taken to replace it with one of our spares. This door previously being from a South West Trains EMU.

Whilst this was going on I cleaned up all of the door hinges and handles, removing the decades of paint.

All of our attention then turned to the replacement of the door. Removing the hinge pins, fitting the new door and making adjustments to the other door, budget lock, and main lock positions.

Ross also continued with a few items on our Dumper Danny

On to Sunday and more of the same for Nick as he continued scrapping the roof.
With the new door being of fiberglass construction when it was trimmed to fit in the luggage door location it left a large hole in the bottom of the door. My first task was to manufacture a cover plate that seals the door bottom.

Ross started to set up an airline and air powered sander and once I had finished with the door and it could be shut he struck up the test cars generator and compressor.

During the sanding, Ross noticed a number of loose window frames and using some of my old RAF riveting skills I replaced the loose and sheared rivets.

Ross continued with the sanding and as we know this is not a quick task 20190714_172643

I moved on to the other side and refitted the securing chain for the reducing valve.

I then faced the essay that is the legend on the southend of the vehicle. I also painted out the weight and seat number as these items were not picked out on the data plaque. Mr Bower providing a clear image of the plaque. THE details are for a standard BSK, not Test Car 2.

That concludes this weeks update. More of cause next week as we continue on “2 Car”.

14 July 2019

07/07/19 – Dumper Doctor

This weekend has been one of hospital jobs, but before we get to that we have some week work to catch up on. Those of you that are following our Facebook page will know that several things has happened this week. Firstly, Matt bought and fetched a fibreglass container with Nick. Secondly, Matt completed the signwriting on the Centre Shock van, thereby releasing the vehicle to traffic. It can now join the rest of the van train. Lastly, courtesy of the Heavy Tractor Group, the Test Car has been turned so that we can start work on the other side.

On to this weekend. Saturday and Sunday has been one of small jobs, tidying up the workshops and storage vehicles. We have been hard at it on various project over the past few weeks, so we’ve taken the time to stop and have a sort out. I played doctor to our Winget site dumper, Danny. As the skips have moved down the yard, and with the vans hopefully coming back for attention to the vacuum system, we have decided to get Dnny back up and running. Danny has been out of use for some time for various reasons, the biggest of which is the lack of fuel getting to the injector. I ordered a rebuild kit for the fuel pump in the week, and armed with a certain amount of naivety I set upon the dumper. I removed the fuel pump from the engine to find the cam follower seized, which would explain the lack of injection. I freed of the cam follower with a mixture of penetrant and diesel. I disassembled the fuel pump and rebuilt it, following the manufacturer’s instructions from the workshop manual. I then reattached it to the engine and bled the fuel system. after a few false starts, the little Petter engine popped into life.

With the engine of the dumper up and running, we decide to sort the steering which had gone stiff with standing. First the oil was topped up. this worked up to a point. Sadly something had become amiss in the steering box, as it started to only turn in one direction. Turning the steering wheel the opposite way had no bearing on which way the wheels pointed. The footplate was removed, and the steering box eventually came free. I will be contacting the OEM (who are surprisingly still going!) to try and get a quote for its rebuild.

Matt was at work Saturday, but came down after work, and made a board so that we could stick our QWW magnet to something other than the newly painted Test Car. Matt also got out his signwriting brushes and picked out some details on the underframe of ‘2 car’ now that it has been turned.

Sunday saw Matt showing us his green thumb by strimming the dock area. This should cut en on insects landing on the fresh paint (when we get around to it). Matt then went on the roof of ‘2 car’ to repair the periscope blanking off plates. These had lifted due to the pop rivets failing. In drilling through the roof, Matt broke all of our 3.5mm drill bits. New plates were cut, and riveted over the holes using new rivets, and plenty of sealant!

Nick continued the task of scrapping down the roof of the Test Car, in preparation of the roof repaint. I continued tinkering with Danny, and freed off the rod brakes. one then promptly snapped. Win some, loose some I suppose. Hopefully, it can be welded, if not a new set from Winget probably wouldn’t hurt. I also removed and refitted on to the mudguard to some out some rust that had built up between the mudguard and chassis.

I think that covers everything this week. Join us again next week, when we begin the process of repainting the other side of the Test Car.

Thanks for reading!

7 July 2019

30/06/19 – Lines and Squares

A small team Saturday, consisting of Nick and Ross. As Ross stated last week the second coat of gloss for the boxvan was sprayed. Gloss was also applied to the door ends and areas covered by the doors when closed.

The northern headstock, eastern sole bar and parts of the western sole bar also received bitumastic paint.
On to Sunday, much cooler weather and a full complement, both the Shocvan and Test Car 2 were hit from all sides. Nick completed the sole bar painting on the Shoc as I tidied up the lining of TC2.

Dave, Ross and Jake looked over all the finer details door edges and inner frames. all areas of overspray. The gangways and the solebar.

I also painted the lettering on the spec plate, Ross added the OLE warning flash and Dave painted the details on the reducing valve.

All of this completes the body side of “2 Car” and the request has gone to the Ops department to turn it. Not only will this allow all of you to see our work in the flesh but will also allow us to begin it all again with the other side.

Whilst most of the above was continuing I turned my attention to the Shocvan, applying the Shoc boxes, we are going for the post-1964 livery and the stripes as applied to our other shock vehicles has made way for the boxes. I also added a black patch for the branding and assorted shades of black for the data panel.

Nick also painted the Lamp irons and Vacuum pipes as well as cutting and priming a pair of Chalk Boards, my last task stanley knife blade in hand to remove the overspray from the windows.

That concludes this weeks update. As always we shall continue next week.

30 June 2019

23/06/19 – BLUE!

Painting has occurred this weekend. Lots of painting. The main focus for this weekend has been, of course, Test Car 2. Last week, we got the Flame Red painted around the coach, which left the Rail Blue for this week. The Flame Red and the white lining had to be masked, so Matt, Jack and I popped down on Friday afternoon to mask off the red and white with masking tape and brown paper, ready for Saturday.

Saturday arrives, and to start with the Red and white overspray got a gentle key by Dave and Matt while I thinned down the blue paint ready for application. Jake was arriving slightly later, so I had to utilise a stand-in assistant.

I applied the first coat of blue, with Jake applying the 2nd coat all over. I then applied the 3rd coat over and around the gutters, and Jake finished the 3rd coat on the bottom of the coach.

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While Jake and I painted the Test Car, Dave, Nick and Matt continued work on the internal cladding of the Shocvan.

And then onto the exterior

After lunch, we unmasked the Test Car.

With the coach left with it’s paint drying in the sun/hot weather, Jake and I assisted with the van.

On Sunday, more painting took place. For Matt, the signwriting of the Test Car beckoned. For me, I got the spray gun out again and gave the Shocvan a coat of undercoat, and then in the afternoon, gloss. The gloss will need another coat next week, but it is a start.

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Next weekend will see another coat of gloss applied to the Shocvan, the headstocks and other details painted and the lining tidied up on the Test Car. Then we’ll have it all to do again on the other side! Join us next week for more Test Car adventures!

23 June 2019

16/06/19 – Red, White and………..not yet!

So we begin the same way we spent the week, looking at the weather forecast. With favorable conditions until 16:00 we went for it. Whilst Ross thinned down the paint in preparation for spraying Dave, Jake and myself prepared Test Car 2 for paint. Masking tape applied where required, this being 3/4″ thick correct for the lining. The white gloss that was left exposed was keyed and the resulting dust removed by tac cloth.

Once complete Ross started his task, the application of the BR Flame red. 3 Coats in total.

Whilst Ross and Jake took care of the external surfaces Dave continued with some tasks inside. Once complete the vehicle will be available for public display and we have had some interpretation boards made up to tell the story of Test Car 2 specifically and some details of the DM&EE Test Fleet in general. Dave added a board to the equipment rack that will be used to mount some of the displays.

Nick and myself turned to the Shocvan cleaning down and red oxiding were required and trimming down excess material.

This brought us to the exciting part of the proceedings, de-masking the Test Car. This is so there is no risk of the tape damaging the paintwork and when the blue goes on all of the Red will require masking so its a clean sheet to work with.

If you haven’t guessed by now we are applying the DM&EE livery carried from 1974 until the mid 1990s: 20190615_141420 With all that can be accomplished on the Test Car complete the whole team turned to the Shocvan. Measuring and cutting the new plywood sides.

These were then primed

And with everything then drying some final cleaning tasks in the Test Car and the removal of a few of the Vinyls on the other side.

On to Sunday and the test car has been left alone to cure and harden all attention turns to the Shocvan. The primed sides cut previously were lifted into place one by one. The large end sheets had recesses drilled for the rivets located in the vehicle ends.

The new ends replaced by the Locomotive department had holes marked and drilled.

Once all of the holes had been picked up the side sheets had sealant applied and they were bolted into position. Although a short part of the update, in reality, this was Sundays task in a nutshell.

Finally, Dave continued with the interpretation displays within the test car.

This concludes this update and we are all looking forward to applying the Rail blue to the test car, of cause the Shocvan also marks the final van in our collection for the van train although our aim is still 17.

16 June 2019

09/06/2019 – Grey Days

Welcome to another update from Quorn. It has been a bit quieter for us this week as Nick was away camping, which left Matt and I on Saturday. Jake joined us on Sunday, with Nick coming to inspect on Sunday evening.

Due to the weather, Saturday was a small jobs day. Matt and I initially went to B&Q to get a few supplies such as fluorescent light tubes and round headed wood screws. We fitted a new light tube in the saloon of the coach, which had been broken during a jumper removal. Having the folded and painted the defect book holder in weeks previous, Matt sign wrote them in the comfort on the Test Car. Once sign written and dry, we fitted them to the BR van currently stopped due to wheel damage (B954268) and the LMS brake van, situated in the down lieby (M730562). Having sorted these vans out, we then journeyed to Swithland to fit the defect book holder to the Southern brake van (S56010). The 2 operational brakes have also been kitted with PCV first aid kits. We are planning to build some boxes for these, some they look more period appropriate.

After viewing our 3 most recently outshopped vehicles, we returned from Swithland. The weather dried up, so we started to mask the windows using a window film obtained from Toolstation. After much struggling and faffing the windows were masked. Doing the masking gave the the bodyside time to dry allowing us to continue filling the final few areas on the coach.

On to Sunday, and it the hope of getting paint on the coach. First though, a bit of light sanding and cleaning down. jake use the blowgun to get rid of the heavy areas of dust , and I used some tack cloths I had bought in the week that helped to remove the dust from the bodyside.

Then I painted.

and then painted some more.

Only issue being is that the weather, being British and changable, started to rain before I could to the lower line. However in a gap in the rain, I completed the lower line but not without some damage to the paint already applied.

Finally, the 2 lines were done.

That concludes this week’s work. Next week we are planning to continue with the repaint of the Test Car, with the next stage of the livery being applied. Thank for reading!

9 June 2019

02/06/19 – Independent Test Car

More mid-week work but not from me this time. Ross has been popping in of an evening pressing on with Test Car 2. First the removal of the stickers and vinyls on the dockside.

Once the lettering was removed, the task of preparing the bodywork for paint was started, Nick also joining in after work to assist and focused on the roof.

I was not idle in the week either having ordered and collected the paint for the vehicle. We also had a delivery of our next few projects. The 2 LNER Steel Highs E281882 E280364, the iron ore tippler B385782 and back from the loco shed; our centre shock shocvan B854782 . This has had significant repairs to the two ends, our thanks once again to the loco department for their excellent work.

On to Saturday and work continues on preparing Test Car 2, Dave continuing the work started by Ross in the week.

Whilst Dave was sanding away the rest of the team returned one of the overhauled vacuum cylinders to its position under the center ShockvanOnce back in position all of our attention turned to the Test Car. Due to the poor condition of the inward opening door on the “A” End or the Slip End as its known the decision was taken to change it for another held in stock. This was trial fitted and due to some accurate measuring previously, fitted with no problems at all.

The door was removed so I could carry out my major task for the day. A set of edging strips were fitted either side of the Slip end doors when they were modified from outward opening to inward opening. Unfortunately, the weather has not been kind to these and the usual bulging due to rust had occurred. I removed the internal trimming and handrails before de-riveting the edging strips themselves.

Once cleaned up and straightened, red oxide was applied to all parts a wooden backing applied and the strip screwed back into place followed by refitting of the hand rail.

Whilst the new door was off Dave took the opportunity to sand it down.

Jake also assisted with some of the coach prep whilst Nick replaced the rotten step board.

The final task for Saturday to refit the new door and admire the prep carried out

On to Sunday and continuation of the body prep. Red Oxide being applied to areas requiring it and once dry the filling began. Dave and Nick also continued with some of the detailing, cleaning out window runners and prep around the end components. I also had another go at cleaning the windows in preparation for applying the window film as we will be spraying the vehicle. As part of our sanding down, we were able to see the layers of paint applied over the years, right down to the first application of maroon when the coach was built.

Unfortunately, the weather had other ideas and attention turned to dryer activities. Ross and Dave took the lead on giving the generator some TLC. With the water and oils checked, the battery charged it was coaxed into life.

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With it running smoothly, the leap was taken and for the first time since at least 2010 the shore supply was switched off in preference to the generator supply.

The compressor was then tested as well as the 240v supply all successful. The compressor was also connected to the main reservoir and charged.

The last task for the weekend was to vacuum test the shocvan and after 8 hour the brakes were still hard on and so deemed a success. 20190602_192401

That concludes this weeks update and our hope is for better weather so progress can continue with Test Car 2

2 June 2019

26/05/19 – Shunted around and about

First an update on mid-week work, Matt has been on earlies and as usual been popping in after his shift. Tuesday he completed the signwriting by adding the wagon plates and completing the East side circuit marker on the Shockhood.

On Wednesday the finishing touches to the underframes of both vehicles were applied, drawing a conclusion to their repaints.

Apart from the end chains for the hood, the Shochood B is ready to return to traffic. The Medfit still requires a floor, but this should be dealt with at the weekend thus returning the wagon to traffic.

Thursday / Friday and something a little different, Matt has been helping the station with a project of theirs, turning a mobile toilet into something that doesn’t look so out of place in a “1940s Goods Yard”

On to Saturday and as mentioned above a Floor for the Medfit.
The planks were cut to length

Laid the entire length of the vehicle and marked up, 35 planks in all

Once marked up Jake had the task of drilling the holes and the planks were refitted and bolted into position.

Once complete Matt returned to the “Blue Caravan” whilst Nick and Jake manufactured label clip blocks, fitted them, as well as replacing the vacuum hoses.

On to Sunday, and with it the completion of the Medfit. Jake, Nick and Ollie finished the vehicle by painting the backs of the doors and ends with black bitumastic paint.

Whilst this was taking place, I was improving the security of the GUV by fitting an additional lock to the our access door. (No pictures of this of course) Matt had intended to continue working on the “Blue Caravan” but the rain put the kibosh on that until later in the day. Instead he amused himself by making the 9 defect book holders for all the brake vans on the railway. The brake vans have recently received defect books, so the holders will be a welcome addition. Having cut and bent the platework into shape, Matt the primed them and left them to dry.

With many hands, we also put back together the 18″ vacuum cylinder taken apart during Goods Galore, fitted a new sealing ring and rolling ring. We also took a cursory glance of a cylinder taken from the Shocvan currently in the shed at Loughborough. We know this had been overhauled recently, but erred on the side of caution and took it apart to inspect it. Finding nothing amiss, this was re-assembled and place back into store, to await the arrival of it’s van.

On to Monday, and Matt had stayed quite late on on Sunday to complete the signwriting of the “Blue Caravan”, so we looked upon the fruits of his work, whilst taking the time to remove the chalk from the now dried paint.

Monday hasn’t been a very productive day, due to shunting taking place in the south yard at Quorn. With no ‘new’ wagons received from Swithland, our attention turns to our temporary base, Test Car 2. This has been moved into the dock in place of our GUV, so that we can commence a small project to smarten it up, as requested by the railway. I won’t say what the Livery is, but it will be appropriate to the vehicle, and it has carried the livery before (which narrows it down to 3 in its Test Car guise). While Nick was sorting out few bits in Loughborough to progress another Cylinder overhaul, Matt and I set everything back up including steps to vehicles and shore supplies reconnected. We also tidied the Test Car and generally tidied around our area.

As the Medfit and Shochood are ready to depart, they have been shunted ready to move to Swithland, on the south end of the middle road at Quorn.

That finishes off the update this week. Next week we are plunged into war. Let’s see what we can get up to despite it!

27 May 2019

Tag: Test Car 2