Great Central Railway - News and "Stuff"
Discussion
JB99 said:
As post 7th March confirms....it was "Thank You". I don't know what else it could be...It was because the Quorn Wagon and Wagon group asked if they could cut out part of our scrap steel to make one of their large oval ESSO signs for a tank wagon.
We were at Quorn yesterday and made a start on #98. I cleared out another three dustbins of rubbish whilst Julian cut out two rusty sections. This is to show what sort of work is involved in keeping these wagons running. I also tidied the other wagons paintwork.
As can be seen we are doing a "Letterbox" repair on the East side as the lower repair sheet is still very thick steel and is part of the wagons history.
All this is in preparation for this coming weekend's 50th anniversary of the Preserved GCR.
There is also a large number of Jaguar cars coming to visit Quorn over the weekend.
As can be seen we are doing a "Letterbox" repair on the East side as the lower repair sheet is still very thick steel and is part of the wagons history.
All this is in preparation for this coming weekend's 50th anniversary of the Preserved GCR.
There is also a large number of Jaguar cars coming to visit Quorn over the weekend.
Edited by Flying Phil on Thursday 15th June 11:16
Loughborough Engine Shed was open for guided "Boscastle shed Tours" at the weekend. These have restarted following the shed refurbishment work and scheduled take place on the second weekend each month.
Inside the shed, there has a bit more space, as the frames etc of Thornbury Castle have been moved to Quorn, together with the boiler, ready for movement off site (To Tyseley?). 70013 Oliver Cromwell is still awaiting its boiler and final machining of rods. 777 Sir Lamiel is steadily being worked on with one tender bogie removed and being re assembled. The 04 still needs a new front firebox tube plate and the chassis awaits the wheels and axleboxes to be fitted. The Ivatt std 2 46521, is being stripped ready for 10 year overhaul (most of this work is scheduled to take place at Tyseley). Work on 34039 Boscastle, has concentrated on finishing piping up the tender (It had been on display at Quorn earlier), the boiler is still at LMS. The Black 5 45491 is still having its boiler rework done. 6990 Witherslack Hall has it's boiler back in place and insulation fitted together, with most of its boiler cladding. It will be repainted then returned to traffic around September.
Inside the shed, there has a bit more space, as the frames etc of Thornbury Castle have been moved to Quorn, together with the boiler, ready for movement off site (To Tyseley?). 70013 Oliver Cromwell is still awaiting its boiler and final machining of rods. 777 Sir Lamiel is steadily being worked on with one tender bogie removed and being re assembled. The 04 still needs a new front firebox tube plate and the chassis awaits the wheels and axleboxes to be fitted. The Ivatt std 2 46521, is being stripped ready for 10 year overhaul (most of this work is scheduled to take place at Tyseley). Work on 34039 Boscastle, has concentrated on finishing piping up the tender (It had been on display at Quorn earlier), the boiler is still at LMS. The Black 5 45491 is still having its boiler rework done. 6990 Witherslack Hall has it's boiler back in place and insulation fitted together, with most of its boiler cladding. It will be repainted then returned to traffic around September.
Flying Phil said:
Loughborough Engine Shed was open for guided "Boscastle shed Tours" at the weekend. These have restarted following the shed refurbishment work and scheduled take place on the second weekend each month.
Inside the shed, there has a bit more space, as the frames etc of Thornbury Castle have been moved to Quorn, together with the boiler, ready for movement off site (To Tyseley?). 70013 Oliver Cromwell is still awaiting its boiler and final machining of rods. 777 Sir Lamiel is steadily being worked on with one tender bogie removed and being re assembled. The 04 still needs a new front firebox tube plate and the chassis awaits the wheels and axleboxes to be fitted. The Ivatt std 2 46521, is being stripped ready for 10 year overhaul (most of this work is scheduled to take place at Tyseley). Work on 34039 Boscastle, has concentrated on finishing piping up the tender (It had been on display at Quorn earlier), the boiler is still at LMS. The Black 5 45491 is still having its boiler rework done. 6990 Witherslack Hall has it's boiler back in place and insulation fitted together, with most of its boiler cladding. It will be repainted then returned to traffic around September.
What do they use for insulation nowadays? Obviously not what they used to use.Inside the shed, there has a bit more space, as the frames etc of Thornbury Castle have been moved to Quorn, together with the boiler, ready for movement off site (To Tyseley?). 70013 Oliver Cromwell is still awaiting its boiler and final machining of rods. 777 Sir Lamiel is steadily being worked on with one tender bogie removed and being re assembled. The 04 still needs a new front firebox tube plate and the chassis awaits the wheels and axleboxes to be fitted. The Ivatt std 2 46521, is being stripped ready for 10 year overhaul (most of this work is scheduled to take place at Tyseley). Work on 34039 Boscastle, has concentrated on finishing piping up the tender (It had been on display at Quorn earlier), the boiler is still at LMS. The Black 5 45491 is still having its boiler rework done. 6990 Witherslack Hall has it's boiler back in place and insulation fitted together, with most of its boiler cladding. It will be repainted then returned to traffic around September.
There is a lot to see this weekend with the "Railways at Work" event. Seven locomotives are moving around Lbro before 9.30!
With the return to service of Witherslack Hall, 4 other steam locomotives, 3 diesels and a DMU. Four passenger rakes, two "Pick Up goods rakes and the Windcutters (16T minerals), on both days, means it is an intensive timetable ( latest version now on the GCR website). Lots of live parcels loading and unloading etc. to show how the railways served customers in the 50/60's.
With the return to service of Witherslack Hall, 4 other steam locomotives, 3 diesels and a DMU. Four passenger rakes, two "Pick Up goods rakes and the Windcutters (16T minerals), on both days, means it is an intensive timetable ( latest version now on the GCR website). Lots of live parcels loading and unloading etc. to show how the railways served customers in the 50/60's.
I'm partway through the latest Driving Wheels and I'm reading about a test train to 50 Steps, presumably in July. A bit bemused as to why this good news wasn't splashed (after the event obvs) over social media to try and show some good news for a change, any reason it's been kept out of the news?
The Black 16T mineral wagon has been finished and we now have ....another 16t mineral wagon to restore to running order. It has an Inner skin as it was used by ICI to transport Soda Ash and we plan to return it to that livery and condition - for a bit of variety. The first job was to clean out the inside.
Then remove the debris accumulated between the skins, including some very long tree roots!
As the paintwork, shows it had a blue livery for a while back in the 1970/80's.
Then remove the debris accumulated between the skins, including some very long tree roots!
As the paintwork, shows it had a blue livery for a while back in the 1970/80's.
Although we wanted to retain the inner skin and restore the wagon as an ICI variant, there were more and more problem areas being discovered so the inner skin has been removed..........More work by the team has seen more rusty steel sheet removed, more trapped debris revealed and removed and more rusty steel revealed....
Regarding the use of 16T Mineral wagons for Soda Ash I am puzzled. Obviously they sealed the side doors and put in the complete inner skin to prevent any leaks of corrosive and conductive Soda Ash (there is a report of 100 miles of chaos regarding signalling circuits when a few non sealed wagons were used!). They had wagon covers to prevent rain getting in. However later on in BL days there were no covers and so water would have been trapped. Would this have been when holes were cut at the bottom of the side inner skins to release the trapped water? Would this slurry of swarf, dirt and cast iron cuttings then have filled between the inner and outer skin? The pictures show how high the trapped material went and how much there was. Certainly when the wagons arrived on the GCR there was usually a large pool of water inches deep in the wagons with inner skins.
Are there any ex ICI or BL workers who remember these wagons in use?
Are there any ex ICI or BL workers who remember these wagons in use?
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