12/05/24 – A primed Palvan

Hello everyone and welcome to another warm weekend from Quorn. The push on the Palvan continues, with primer being applied and more paint removed simultaneously.

Oliver, Mark and Dan made a start by applying undercoat to the framework that Nick and I prepared on Bank Holiday Monday.

Ernie applied red oxide primer to the west side under frame, and was joined by Oliver and Mark once they’d finished with the undercoat.

Tom was gainfully employed with the needle gun tackling the north end framework and the east side metal work, getting them ready for primer.

Barry and I decided to remove the fuel pump from the Test Car’s generator so it is ready to take for testing or maybe even rebuild. Dan assisted by removing the belt guards and inspection plate to allow the pump to be disconnected from its drive gear. We also cleaned the engine with some degreaser, so its easier for us to see future issues.

Dan finished off by cleaning up the belt guards and applying some etch primer to them.

Nick and I finished off preparing the iron work on the Palvan. Nick scraping and me spending the day applying primer to all the uprights and north headstock.

There is a little bit of needle gunning still to do on the east side, put we are firmly in paint territory, although there will be some keying to do on the glossed woodwork to ready it for a second coat. Thanks for reading!

6/5/24 – Bank Holiday Bauxite

Hello everyone and thanks for joining us in this bank holiday update. Unusually for a Bank Holiday the weather has been glorious so we’ve applied some paint to the Palvan. During the week, Tom and Oliver sanded and primed the ends of the van.

Dave and Barry took a look at the Test Car’s generator. Barry and Dave undertook a compression check on each cylinder, then re-fitted the injectors and tried to start the generator. Sadly no joy due to a failed start battery so this was removed and charged to try another day. From what we could do, the generator doesn’t seem any more likely to start, so now suspect the fuel injection pump has failed.

While Ernie undercoated the wood work on each end of the Palvan, Nick and I finished off work on A1610B. The last corner was looking rather frilly so had a piece of steel cut and sandwiched over the top. This was drilled and the corner bolted back together. Having lost the battle with the generator, Dave took to scraping the container, Charlie also having a go at this.

On Sunday, Tom, Oliver, Dan and I applied some gloss to both set of doors on the Palvan as a first coat. Oliver and Tom also applied gloss over the undercoat applied by Ernie on each end. Some of the lads carried on with the needle gun on the Palvan chassis which quickly ran out, so they moved onto one of the Catfish. Nick concentrated on patching the container with Mark.

Nick and I concentrated on the south end metal work, myself with the needle gun, being very careful not to catch the wood work while Nick followed me with a scraper to catch the edges. We each got a bit of primer and primed our handiwork, which completed the work this week.

Next week, we’ll tackle the north end of the van and get the into primer, and maybe the other end into undercoat. Join us then to see how we get on!

28/4/24 – Another day, another gala

Evening folks, and welcome to another update from us. This weekend has been another one where we’ve opened the Test Car up for everyone to come and have a look and learn about how and why rolling stock was tested. For those that visited its been a pleasure to talk to you!

Dave was at the NEC with West Hill Wagon Works, which left Barry, Richard and myself to give Test Car tours, and the rest of the gang to man the sales stand, all of which helps to put money back into the wagon fund.

Mark, Tom, Dan and Oliver did really well on the sales stand, though also found plenty of opportunities to get snaps of all the diesels running past the Test Car. Dan found some time to give some of the yellow vehicles a wipe over as well.

Sunday ended up being a very quiet day due to the weather, so the team started to find ways to amuse themselves. Some went on a ride on the trains, others started to investigate features of the Test Car, including swapping one of the speaker boxes, investigating the reed switch on the Slip Brake Application handle and seeing if we could find the other end of its cable to re-use it as the remote start on the Time/Speed/Distance Unit as was the case when slip brake testing. Another thing that was dug out and measured was the spare tachograph, which we are cooking up some plans for…

Given the weather, Nick also looked into the rebuild container to check for any leaks. Aside from around the door, all seems to be well and dry.

One of the visitors was PurpleVision who came through on the Sunday once the weather had cleared.

We’ll be back to wagon work next week, so back into the normal swing of things. Join us then where we are planning to pick up with where was left off on the Palvan. Thanks for reading!

21/04/24 – In the Dock

This weekend the team have supported the Road Rail Steam weekend welcoming visitors into Test Car 2 in the goods shed dock. We’ve also made a little more progress with the A-type container.

Nick and Oliver worked on the container, fitting some more bolts through the metalwork including a door hold-back loop and making & fitting bottom door strips.

They also salvaged a corner bumpstop from an another scrap container end panel, grinding off the rivets and bolting into place to replace the missing one on the A-type container.

Over the weekend Barry, Ross, Richard, Tom and myself welcomed visitors into Test Car 2.

For this weekend the organisers had placed us in the good shed dock which meant we had access to the new power supply recently installed on the dock. This allowed us to run the air compressor in the Test Car so that we could operate the air brakes on our Steel High test wagon, replicating the way the brakes were operated during slip-brake testing when it was carried out by British Rail.

There were many superb exhibits on display and operating in the yard during the weekend, including the 9F 92214 and D123 hauling a goods train.

Instead of trying to wind us up, this weekend Oliver decided instead to try and wind up a traction engine !

We look forward to opening up the Test Car again next weekend for the GCR’s Spring Diesel Gala; we will be open to visitors all weekend (27-28 April 2024) in the yard at Quorn outside the Marquee.

14/04/23 – Contain-ing the excitement

Good evening everyone and thank you for joining us for this weekend’s work from Quorn. This week, we’ve given the Palvan a rest while we concentrate on getting A1610B stable and usable after its relocation.

We moved the container to use as storage on the dock for some of our access equipment. The container was felt to be too far gone at the moment for use being lifted and put on a wagon in a train, but could be shored up for use as a period appropriate shed.

Nick and I started by fitting the door flap which didn’t get finished last week. We then continued at the corner started last week and finished off drilling and putting bolts in.

We looked at the the corrugated end sides and found most of the bolts had gone, or were trying to tie together rotten wood. We cut some ply to replace the unhappy interior and exterior cladding and cut new supporting wood where requires.

The middle framework supporting the floor ended up not being attached to the rest of the container, so we replaces the bolts on both of these, and added new spreader plates on the outside to support the wood which is getting a bit on the fragile side.

Dave joined us on Sunday, where we concentrated on the wood across the back, and tying the end back to the sides of the container, which also supports the floor. We started by removing more floorboards, where I found some where to use more of our wood hardener.

Dave and I selected one of the last few bits of loco shed roof to act as the bottom support for the end, which was denailed and then cut down. Before fitting this we Dave and Nick cleared the way under the container.

We fixed one end to the corrugated end. Dave and Nick leveled the container using jacks and crowbars. The other end of the plank got fixed to the metalwork.

I started cutting a piece to graft into the side rail on the other side which had long disappeared having suffered from a prolonged water leak in that corner. I also manufactured two plates to sandwich and support the graft.

After this was bolted in, Nick and Dave added 2 large L shaped brackets between the sides and the end to fully tie them together. We moved to the other final corner to finish its repair. Nick and Dave added a right angled plate.

With all the lower framework shored up, Nick started to put the floor back down.

There’s still about a mornings work left to do on the container, putting more bolts in and such like. At some point the door flap could probably do we being remade, but that was definitely a job for another day! As nice as these containers are, you can really see why Freightliner and ISO type containers quickly became adopted!

Next week, we’ll have the Test Car open in the yard at the Road Rail so do come and see us! Depending on who we have with us we may also have the sales stand up and running, or more work on the container will take place.

07/04/24 – Palvan Loaded

Hello and welcome to the first April update from the team at Quorn. Again the focus has been on progressing the Palvan, and we’ve also paid some attention to the dilapidated A type container rescued from the Loco shed last year.

During the week Tom and Oliver helped remove the axlebox keep plates from the Palvan in readiness for the wheelset change.

The six restored Brute trolleys were given a good clean up in readiness for going into store in the Palvan.

On Saturday the Palvan was positioned in the yard ready for the wheelset change; Richard and myself taking measurements of bumpstop gaps and buffer heights.

The trusty Volvo L70 loader was used and the replacement wheelsets were soon under the Palvan.

With the new wheelsets in place Ross, Richard, Ernie, Nick and myself set about removing the axlebox oil pans to clean out, check the oil pads & journals and replenish with new oil. The axlebox keep plates were also re-fitted, and Charlie helped out oiling all the brake rigging.

Some of the axlebox retaining bolts needed the threads clearing with a die nut and old rusted split pins punching or drilling out. We were very surprised to find both oil pads missing from one of the wheelsets considering that the wheelsets had been removed from an operational wagon (at another railway).

The journals were checked and the cleaned boxes filled with new oil. Three new oil pads and one cleaned re-usable pad were soaked in new oil and refitted.

With the new wheelsets fitted the Palvan was taken for a trundle up and down the yards to ensure the suspension was settled. Measurements of the bumpstop gaps and buffer heights were taken again, comparing well to those taken before the wheelset change. All buffer heights were between 40³/₄” and 41¹/₄“, the prescribed limits being 37″ min. and 42” max.

The six Brute trolleys were loaded into the Palvan with the Volvo, fitting neatly into the space inside. These will be secured before the van goes into traffic to prevent any movement or damage to the Brutes.

To round off Saturday the dilapidated A type container that was rescued from the Loco shed last in June year was carefully moved from beside the mess coach to it’s new home on the dock. The area on the dock was cleared and some strategically placed timbers were laid out for the container to sit on. A ratchet strap was used to hold the container together and secure it to the Volvo for movement.

Sunday began with the decision to move Edward the Hydrovane compressor trailer from the back of the pick-up truck onto the BEV stillage; this will make it more movable and accessible, and also free-up the pick-up for other duties. Kiki was woken up to provide a lift for the stillage, however she needed a hydraulic oil top-up to get the lift to work.

Making the most of the morning sunshine, we gave the site a good tidy up.

Edward was then started up to provide air as Tom, Mark and myself got to work scraping and needle gunning the framework and underframe of the west side of the Palvan.

Dan tackled the cleaning up of two replacement handbrake wheels for Catfish wagon DB983393.

Nick, Ross, Oliver and Richard took a look at the A type container we had moved on Saturday. The hinges of the lower door section were freed off, and the outer edge of the floor secured to a new baton. Some adjustment was necessary with Nick’s favourite hammer and the grinder needed to remove the old corner rotted plate.

A new steel corner plate was cut and bent to shape by Ross, then fitted in place by Tom and Dan to replace the rotted one.

The bolts we had didn’t have enough thread length, so Oliver (with Nick’s help) used a die-nut to cut a longer thread length for the plate attachment bolts.

Andy and Harry popped in for a while to continue with sanding and priming of another area of the GUV bodyside.

By the end of the afternoon the west side of the underframe and suspension of the Palvan was progressing well towards readiness for paint.

To finish a pic of one of the goods train workings this weekend; behind Peak D123 at Quorn. Thanks for reading, join us again next week, all the best, Dave

01/04/23 – 4 days of Palvan Fun

Hello and welcome, you’re joining us for a bumper Easter special! As with previous updates the Palvan has been our focus, but I’m pleased to say the end now feels in sight!

The last door was fitted to the van on Friday following a week to let the glue cure. The diagonal bracing and hinges had sealant applied to the back before the door was drilled and bolted to the van.

With only one door and too many people to get round it, some carried on with scraping the Catfish wagons.

The final few bits were done to complete the door, including drilling the hole for the bottom door bolt and then fitting it.

Saturday saw the team prepare the roof for the roof covering to be finally attached. some of the wood required fettling so the end hoops sit on the van correctly. The roof sheet was drilling using the hoop as a guide. This was then bolted down. Oliver and Dan spent some time removing the reflective stickers from the sheet’s previous life.

Ernie and Richard made a start on removing and refurbishing the vacuum cylinder, removing the release valve and lowering the cylinder before dismantling and cleaning it out. Oliver made a fantastic job of cleaning up the piston rod.

Some time was spent finding some new nuts for the gaiter studs which had to be removed forcefully to replace the gaiter. The cylinder was re-assembled and left to be re-fitted another day.

With the ends of the roof only requiring a trim, the sides had the focus on Sunday. Between Richard, Nick and myself we got the door’s top frame mounted back in the van on both sides meaning the doors now finally latch. Due to the doors being rebuilt, they’ve required some alteration in the height to get them to fully close. Along the fixed sides we’ve used staples as we have always done.

The vacuum cylinder was refitted on Monday, along with a refurbished release valve from stock and and new branch pipe. The vacuum rig was wheeled out and the overhauled system tested. A full vacuum test shall follow, that this will be after the wheelsets have been swapped and the brakes adjusted.

Speaking of wheelsets, these were picked up in the week as well so are sat on site waiting to be fitted. Thanks to our friends at Kenway Construction who loaned us their lorry for this.

Nick finished off by touching in some of the undercoat on the doors and trimming some of the longer bolts.

This weekend it feels like the van has come on leaps and bounds, we’ve now finished the doors and the roof. This leaves us the wheelsets and the painting to complete to get the van into the train. Join us next week to see which bit we make a start on!

24/03/24 – The final Palvan door

Hello everyone! This week has been another one focused on the Palvan, where we’ve completed the rebuild of the final door and started to sort out the wheelsets required to allow it to run.

After reviewing the parts of the door, Richard and I concentrated on shaping a new corner post, which is the only complete post we’ve had to replace on this van. Nick had found us a suitable lump of wood, which got cut to length, and them cut to the correct profile. We then had to replicate the 4 mortises from the original post.

We managed to rescue one of the diagonal bracing pieces. This had split due to the bolts rusting and expanding. Dan clamped, doweled and primed this part so it is ready for fitment.

Nick, Mark, Oliver and Dan went to Ruddington to pick up some spares including four buffers, a vacuum cylinder and UIC screw couplings. The wheelsets will follow, but would have been a bit much for Nick’s Transit.

The door side post took most of the day, so on Sunday morning Nick and I started cutting the new horizontal parts of the door, where Richard took on cutting the remnants of the tenons. I cut the ply sheet for the back of the door to size.

Nick cut down some channel rod we’ve had in store to use to strengthen the bottoms of the doors currently fitted to the van. Richard showed Tom and Oliver how to mark and drill these using the pillar drill. These were fitted later on in the day.

The team assembled the door in the Palvan, which was then stood up to allow the timber for the bottom of the door to be measured and cut.

Much of the glue used in construction leaked out of the door, which Nick duly tidied up. The door will now sit and set for the week until it can be fitted next weekend. We’ll also, provided the weather is clear, finally sort out the roof sheet and re-fit the door top frames so the doors will actually latch into the van once again.

Thanks for reading, and join us next week to see how we get on.

17/03/24 – GCR’s 125th Year

Hello everyone, and welcome to this week’s update. The Test Car has been opened this weekend, so thank you to everyone that has visited us or the stand. Before we opened up, we did a little bit of work on the Palvan.

Between us we lowered the door made last week into the frame and drilled 4 holes for the hinge bolts to get the door fixed to the van so that we could start setting up the steps for the Test Car.

Using the Volvo, we set out steps for the 9F, the Class 47 which were both on display and the Test Car. I also took Hector out for display

While Barry and I talked about the Test Car to everyone that visited, Nick and Ernie finished off the Palvan door drilling the doors and bolting the door on, with a bit of assistance from whoever went back up to the yard.

Team Baldwin did a stellar job on the stand over the two days of the weekend.

Barry, Richard and myself covered Test Car tours, we all enjoyed talking to people about the Test Car and telling the history and stories.

Sadly Dave was unable to join us due to being a bit under the weather, so we wish him all the best and hope he gets better soon!

Lastly, thank you again to everyone that visited us, its been a very good weekend and I know that the team enjoyed themselves. Join us again next week where we’ll be taking apart the last door of the Palvan for refurbishment.

10/03/24 – More Palvan door work

Hello and welcome to another update from Quorn where we are making steady progress with the second pair of doors on Palvan B781908.

With Barry, Ross, Nick, Charlie and myself on-site Saturday, we go stuck into re-making some of framework of the door that was removed last week. The replacement bottom 5″ section was drilled out for the dowels and trial fitted together.

Plenty of glue was applied to the dowels and joining faces before the parts were clamped in place and left to set in the sun.

The joints on one end of the top cross member were also rotted, so this was cut back to good wood and replacement parts cut to re-make the joint.

The middle cross member was rotted on it’s outer face, so again this was cut back and new timber fitted. The frame was then trial assembled.

A door sheet was cut to size and along with the frame moved into the Palvan for assembly. Plenty of glue was applied and the frame assembled. Then more glue was applied and the door sheet strapped into place.

Once we were happy with the fit the door sheet was screwed into place and left to dry overnight.

An opportunity was taken to tidy up a bit and fit a new bolt to the shed door.

The frame work and door hinges on the Palvan were also treated to a bit more re-oxide in readiness for the door re-fitting.

Sunday was a somewhat wetter day, however with Mark, Dan, Oliver, Tom, Nick, Ross and myself on-site we managed to progress the re-built door working mainly inside the Palvan to keep dry.

Overnight the door had settled very slightly out of square, thankfully the glue had not fully gone off so some slight adjustment was possible. We then cut the new bottom plank for the door and this was clamped in place with glue and sealer for the main joints.

The door was propped up and the inner facing ply screwed to the new plank.

Replacement diagonals were cut to length then door was then turned so they could be trial fitted and outer face of the door coated in wood primer.

We did some tidying up and preparation work in Test Car 2, and also fitted the deceleration meter bracket to the steel high wagon ready for next weekend.

Making the most of the wet afternoon, we worked in the dry and did some more scraping of the rear framework on Madge.

That’s it for this week, apart from a reminder that next weekend (16-17 March) sees the GCR 125 – Anniversary Open Weekend

During the weekend we will have Test Car 2 open to visitors in Quorn & Woodhouse station yard. Why not pop in and say hello; take a look inside to find out how and why rail vehicles were tested by British Rail, meet the team who have restored and care for this unique piece of railway history.

You can also support us by visiting our stall beside the Test Coach to get your copy of the Test Car 2 booklet and our Quorn Wagon & Wagon Pocket Stockbook.