Windcutter Wagons

There has been more work done on the underframe and we are now starting to put new metal back on the wagon.
We also have an Information/Sales stand outside the Rothley shed for the Winter Gala this weekend...please come along and have a chat or buy a book or two!

 

The Sales/Information stand was well attended and a big "Thank You" to all our customers who purchased items or donated to our wagon fund. We had ten members of the team in attendance at various times during the weekend so it was a good opportunity for us to catch up.
We also recruited two new members and they rapidly got to work on our Wednesday Workday yesterday. As there were five of us in operation, lots of work was done to finish the underframe prepping and painting. Work was done on the side doors and a hinge beam removal.

 

More work has seen the side doors repaired, one hinge beam repaired and the other replaced. The headstocks de-rusted and primered and a start made on trimming the new floor sheets to fit. Our two new volunteers have settled into the team very well.

 

For those people who wonder exactly why we have spent the past 30 years (yes really!) working on our fleet of 16T mineral wagons, one of our team (Gavin Thomson) took this picture on a recent photo charter event. (Please click on the icon to view...I don't know why it didn't open when I posted it?)

 

If only they were full of (British) coal...,,.

 

Is that borne out of a more realistic challenge for the loco ? or a more realistic appearance...? or just nostalgia for the days when our coal powered the world .

 

We have often thought about this ...... but to do it properly now would require 16 x 20 x £400 .....£128,000! Back to a false high floor and plastic/foam black painted lumps!

 

But that photo is the returning down empties... as the loco currently faces north.

 

I wonder how many fake loaded hoppers there are out there in preservation? At the North Norfolk we have a 16T mineral with a false floor and stone "load". Who else has done this trick?

Sent from my moto g(8) power lite using Tapatalk

 

With a lump of metal hidden so you can lift it out with a magnet on a stick at the end of the line?

 

The repaired hinge beam was re-welded in place. The old rivets drilled out of the hinges, then the door was re-attached. We also removed the South end draw hook to get the three link coupling correctly inserted. The draw hook was then put back.

 

Another excellent Wednesday Workday with five of us getting lots done on #721/733.

The West door was returned to its correct East side – yes - they are not identical! The correct West side door was mounted and now both open and close. Gary and Tim welded repairs to the thin sections of the underframe at both ends. Tom and Rob prepared the floor sheets by cutting out the stanchion notches. Then Tim and Gary tacked the four end sheets in place and seam welded two of them. The centre two sheets are ready for welding. A start has been made on preparing the various sections for the side repairs.

Meanwhile Tom and Rob have cleaned out B279711, which will need a new floor when it is moved into the shed.

The Steam Heat van and B 279723 are due to be moved to Rothley at the end of the month for the wheelswap etc.

Rothley shed is open March 16/17 if anybody wants to see our work.

 

Some more work done yesterday but it had to be non welding and no grinding as there was a freshly painted carriage and new carpet being installed in it, in the shed. So out with the undercoat and some trimming and fitting of the side repair sheets.

 

The last picture highlights the difficulty of putting new steel onto old wagons. The top edge is curved due to the dents, the bottom edge will be straight due to the edge of the floor sheet. It will be a delicate use of force and tack welding to get the optimum profile top and bottom. The sheets will have to come out first, to get the paint on the original steel, ground away to clean it for welding, where the chalk line can be seen. It will then be a weldathon!

 

It was good to have 4 people at work yesterday, (well 5 if I count myself as I just dabbed some primer about!). Anyway the repair panel pictured before has been welded in place.


A very neat job by Tim! Gary was also busy welding inside on the uprights. Meanwhile Rob and Tom were busy outside on wagon #711 and have removed the rusty floor.


The West side door has also been partially reskinned to improve previous repair work in BR days.

 

Thanks to the Ops Dept we also have had another two vehicles arrive at Rothley. These are our Ex SR Steam Heat Van and the wagon which was failed due to "Thin Flanges". We purchased the Steam Heat van as it has the same size wheelsets and we will be swapping them over, to return our mineral wagon back to the running fleet. The Steam Heat van will then be sold...first offer over £1500 will secure it. It could act as a fire tender as it has two good sized tanks or convert to a "Glamping Van"....

 

A great workday yesterday saw 7 of the team hard at work. Fortunately the C & W staff had put three of our wagons together on number 1 road. B279721/733 was still in the shed where Tim and Gary were welding all day to very good effect. They continued seam welding of the floor sheets, patching the bottom of the uprights and putting the lower panels on the South end. It still needs the lower SW side repair panel and the lower end door panel to be welded in place but it is now very nearly complete. Agusta was able to prep and undercoat the North sides.

Outside the Shed, B 279711 had its West side needle-gunned and primered by George (On holiday from Uni). On the inside, Rob was busy tidying up the top edges of the underframe and Tom was prepping the East outside. With six floor sheets and various small patches we should be able to turn this one round quite quickly...

A third wagon, B555696(?) had its pad exams done by Agusta and Tom after being shown the process by myself. (This may still need a hole in the through pipe to be repaired?).

Thus everybody was busy and all could see what they, and everybody else, had achieved. It is many years since we had so many of our team all on site for a workday.

 

Not sure what the (?) indicates but if you are querying if B555696 is a correct number, yes it is. My notes indicate that this number is stamped on the underframe, as well as being cross-checked with the Rover list.
Also B279711 is actually B266560, perhaps you could correct that while it's in works?
And of course B279721's full number is B114733.

Still plenty of 'unknowns' in the fleet but not these three!

 

Hi pmh
The (?) was because I hadn't made a note of the full number and could only remember it started with B55.... in fact it is B551846, sorry for the mistake! We will be putting the correct number on #721 so that it becomes B 114733 and #711 will become B266560. Another workday tomorrow so we will see what we can get finished...

 

Yesterday saw five of us busy on two of our wagons. Tim and Gary welded all the remaining patches and seams on B 279721/733, then set too and worked in tandem to secure the large lower sheet on the end door. This welding should be finished and the wagon painted before the end of April, then it will be renumbered as B114733.

Meanwhile Tom and Rob continued preparing the underframe of B 279711. Rain hampered their work somewhat, but the frame is now ready for primer and underseal. The floor was measured and new steel sheets are to be ordered by the Rothley C & W staff. This steel is paid for from the dedicated Windcutter fund organised by the DCRT.

This may be a relatively quick wagon to refloor and it is to be renumbered as B266560