SVR wagons 2016

Well first of all a happy new year everyone. Many thanks to the people who made up the nearly 8000 views of last year, I'll try and keep you all entertained and informed again this year.
Apologies if I am going over old ground but I'd like to start the year by re-capping and bringing everyone up to speed with where we are.
To the north of the goods shed is 1935 built GWR conflate, number 39860, which is currently very much on the back burner, she lost her floor last year, in an attempt to stop the badly decayed wood damaging the frames. She will need new kerb rails, and the buffers will hopefully be changed for ones of the correct pattern.
In the Shed is Southern Pillbox brake van 55577, which is, as previously discussed, actually MOD brake van WD49010, built at Ashford, in 1942, in disguise. At the moment, the chassis is being slowly but surely worked on, by one or two people, largely mid-week. The reason work is being restricted to the chassis at the moment, is we may need to bring 102601 under cover for finishing, as they won't both fit in the shed, that would mean 55577 would have to go outside, meaning we don't want to make the cabin any less waterproof than it already is. In the fullness of time she will need a very extensive re-build of the bodywork, and will provide an interesting new project for us in 2016.
Outside in the yard, we have 102691, she is now at an advanced stage, having had her brake gear repaired or replaced, her floor and body removed, her frames cleaned and painted, and now has a new floor in place and the walls are going up although a slight problem has appeared with the timber for the sides, however, unlike the previous overhaul way back in 2002, where she was re-built from re-claimed china clay wagon planks, this time she is getting some new bits of tree to make her new body and floor, so hopefully she won't need a major overhaul for many years to come.
The operational fleet also needs attention to keep it operational, and after drawing up a list of what will need to be made, I am beginning to wish I hadn't! It is a very effective way of demonstrating just how much is achieved by our small band of volunteers. If anyone wants to join us, we are always open to new volunteers, no skills needed, as we are quite willing to teach people the skills they need, just a sense of humour, an ability to drink tea and a working knowledge of Anglo-Saxon oaths, also a working knowledge of Black country would be useful.
For those that would rather watch from afar, as well as stretching their legs on gala weekends, the working fleet do occasionally get other outings, and I try to keep people up to date on these where I can, but also the down yard is often open for people to look around, if the gates at the bottom of Bewdley station car park are open, feel free to come for a look, obviously, for safety reasons, if there is cutting, arc welding or shunting going on we can't allow folks to wonder round so please be understanding if the yard is closed.
Hope you all have a fantastic 2016,
Olly

 

Well, the railway might be in a hibernation period in as much as we are not running passenger trains, there is plenty going on. While most of this is being discussed else where, for the wagon department it has been business as usual, with the exception that we are not getting distracted by footplate and guards turns.
102691 is coming together, although the sides. which have been coming together nicely have been having a bit of a tweak, caused by a minor problem with the timber, mean while, parts for the new sheet supporter rail are taking shape. Some of them had been made when we replaced the rail on 13154 a few years ago, making two sets of bits at the same time being much less effort than making two sets of bits independently, so we already have a set of crimp ends (The flattened part that joins the round rail to the flat operating arm) and the material to make a pair of operating arms. She re-gained the hoops and end castings that support the rail at the last overhaul, and (I think) regained her vacuum cylinder, although that may have been 108085, we did them both in quick succession, but that was ten years or more ago. There is quite a bit more to do before she will re-gain the rest of the rail but it will be back in place this time before she goes back into traffic.
Next week we will have the junior club with us, and depending on the weather, they will be working on one of two projects. This, if any is needed, is a demonstration of the fact that very little is required in the way of skills to be useful too us, after all, the apprentices are rarely skilled craftsmen, but by virtue of their keenness and number, can often produce quite a large volume of very usefull work in a single day, a volume of work that will prove very useful.
Wish us luck!
Olly

 

Nice to see other railways wagons getting attention too. Keep up the good work (on site and Web updates)

 

Ta, will try!

 

Well the above image will give you a clue of part of this weeks jobs. What you see is two sheet supporter assemblies, one assembled, and one in pieces (They are both now assembled but will come apart again for painting) there is still work to do, with the rail it's self still needing producing, and assembling, but the way 102691 is going, we may have the body and the rail ready at about the same time. You would be forgiven for thinking we had planned it. The parts will need a touch of the "Electric glue" to join it all together later on, but it's getting there.
Meanwhile inside, 55577 has had the attentions of the junior club with wire brushes and chipping hammers to a reasonable effect too. A quick look under this wagon has revealed the brake gear to be in reasonable nick, and just in need of a clean and paint, which is somewhat of a result, meaning that hopefully in a few weeks, my attentions can turn to 13154 again and 17410.
Talking of 17410, this project is been taken on by the LNER carriage lads, with our support where needed, so some of my reports on this might be hit and miss, but I shall bring you up to date on this where I can.
Whish us luck!
Olly

 

No matter what society we are talking about, weather it be a Wagon group, C&W department, Loco Owning group, the Scouts, or just the other half trying to persuade you to do the decorating, there is always a phrase that while seeming innocent enough, means you have been shafted with a ratbag of a job. The phrase that has members of the SVR wagon department running to the hills is "All you need to do is..." Proof of this is the work on 55577 this weekend. All you need to do is lower the north end sand box down to get at the plywood verandah end behind. The two photos demonstrate the problem and the ultimate solution, but cannot adequately describe the effort required to carry out this simple job.
The Plywood, as you can see, has not stood up very well to the ravages of time and the damp Severn valley air, but to get at it, you need to move the sand box, the process for which goes as follows.....
Disconect and remove the internal mechanism to reduce weight.
Unbolt sand box from frames
Try (Unsucessfully) to move sand box
realise that it's still heavy on account of still being attatched to the van
Swear
Retire to 80982 for tea and a think
Climb under wagon while friend waggles the loosened sand box
realise you need to unscrew the intermediate delivery pipe,
Swear
Realise this requires you to detatch lower delivery pipe,
Attempt to detatch this
Fail
Swear
Retire to 80982 for tea and a think
Remove brake safety cradle
Crawl up between brake bow girder and axle,
Un bolt flange
Separate the two halves of the sand delivery pipe (Only three bolts but in a position that really needs extra joints in your arm)
Lots of swearing
Dispatch colleague to 80982 to fetch tea.
Attempt to unscrew intermediate pipe with stillsons
Realise that you physically can't do that from where you are,
Exercise your Anglo-Saxon once more,
crawl out from your current position, and crawl back on OVER the bow girder,
unscrew pipe,
Repeat for other side.
Meanwhile, some of the other lads were removing the doors, also needed to get the verandah end out, and found that both the bottom stringer and the door post are both rotten and in need of replacement, and naturally enough, the bolts holding it on, did not want to let go.
It is safe to say that this job has now well and truly started.

 

I know that feeling.

 

At least someone feels our pain! lol

 

Well, silly season is here again, so apologies in advance for my reports being more hit and miss, but I will be threading my visits to the wagon department around guards and footplate turns once more!
Having removed 55577's sand boxes, the lads have started removing the damaged timber from the veranda end. This is going to be an interesting project as there is quite a wide variety of work to be undertaken on this wagon. The list seems lengthy, but there is nothing monumentally huge, but quite an interesting variety.
Moving onto 102691, this wagon is now in a very advanced state, she now has all four walls, and, as of today, both doors too, when I came home, the capping irons were going back on. The work on the sheet supporter rail is also nearing completion, and the wagon's body is in undercoat, while the chassis is in top coat already.
My efforts today were least glory filled job on the department, not a dirty job, but bare with me and I will explain. I was making three location slugs, to help with the assembly of the supporter rail. These slugs get hammered into the ends of the sections of the rail, to hold the sections in line, so they need to be a good fit, the sections get welded together and the slugs remain inside the rail, with their working life over 30 seconds after it began!
If anyone is interested in joining us, there are no required skills, we can find a job for anyone, so feel free to contact the volunteer liaison office at Bewdley, A thick skin, working knowledge of Anglo-Saxon and ability to drink bucket loads of tea would be an advantage.
Olly

 

The doors going on today, starting with a temporary top plank to hold the hinges in place while the proper planks are fitted from the bottom upwards.

 

I did comment to mark that at least the capping irons weren't being tightened up with a hammer unlike last time!

 

If it had been April, I would have started this report by stating that the wagon Department had installed two triangles at Bewdley, and left you stew on whether they were for turning wagons or a joint project with the loco department, but a quick glance at the photo will reveal that anyone who was thinking along those lines would have been barking up the wrong tree, of course I am referring to the triangle end plates on the sheet supporter rail, which of course means that since my last report, she has grown a sheet supporter to attach the end plate to.
Two weeks ago, a good many people would have said it would take a brake man to plan finishing the sheet supporter this Saturday, especially as the major component, that being the rail, had not been made, and the rest was just a pile of bits on the shed floor, however, a bit of prior knowledge would give you a clue that this was doable, so a couple of e-mails, and a push in the right direction, and yesterday was spent finishing and assembling the various components, with the triangles going on today (Sunday) and a coat of red lead (That's the green, lead free paint that you can see in the picture), the wagon needing little more than a splash of undercoat, finish painting and sign writing, she'll not make spring gala but all been equal she'll not miss it by much.
Talking of spring gala, the goods train has had a splash of oil and been checked over, no nasty surprises have been found, while the goods this gala can only be short for operational reasons, it will be running, so hopefully a few of you will turn out to see it, and if I'm very lucky we can discuss it over a pint afterwards! (I'll be about in various places all weekend!)
55577 has now lost one verandah end and gained a hole in it's place, it is hoped that we can re-build this before we take any more bits off, the idea being we can repair this bit without it being in the way of the next bit we need to dismantle, that way we can avoid ending up with a jumbled pile of bits on the floor.
So...
See you all next week,
Olly

 

I was going to open this up date by saying I felt you all deserved an all singing, all dancing supplement to this weeks update, on a par with the colour supplements in many Sunday papers, but in all truth, the article was flowing so well, I simply forgot!
People have been asking me if 102691 is a china clay wagon on account of it having a sheet supporter rail, she is not, she was for general merchandise.the differenes are that china clays tip open at one end, so those that were fitted with sheet supporter rails (Not all were in GWR days) had the fixed internal mounted type, as the rotating, external mounted type could not be accommodated on the opening end door.
The sheet supporters on general merchandise opens came about because if a tarpaulin has a hole in it, if it is pitched up like a tent, any rail water will simply run over or round smaller tares and holes, protecting the goods beneath, where as a flat sheet will cause the water to pool, and then flow through, the GWR chose to invest extra money in fitting the equipment to protect goods, thereby saving themselves having to pay for damaged goods, other companies elected to compensate users for damage rather that invest in sheet supporters, I will leave you to debate which was the better policy.
Because the other railways deemed sheet supporters un-necessary, when the common user pool wagons from the GWR fitted with sheet supporters arrived on their railway, they didn't bother maintaining them, but had no complaints about using the GWR maintained equipment to protect their own goods, inevitably, rather than investing in protecting other railways cargoes, the GWR began taking sheet supporter rails off the common user pool, and also off some of the non-pool wagons too, with the result that the only ones that survived into BR service with sheet supporters were china clays (The famous "hoods") and wagons from the Non-common user fleet, and even they had begun to loose them.
The triangles on the end are to fill the gap in the pitched up sheet, rather than making a canvass to a "Tent" shape. These ones were cut out of old sheets of plate that had been under the timber of 80982's floor, covering a hole in the tin, prior to this wagon's over haul of a couple of years ago, prior to this life, they had been coach panel, so had been removed from the side of a passenger vehical during its restoration probably 30 years ago, and prior to that? Who knows? Recycling in the best of GWR traditions!
Hope this answers a few questions
Olly

 

This will be my last up date for a few weeks owning to a few weeks owing to other commitments.
102691 finally has finish paint on the bodywork, with the river side and Kidderminster end are now in nice GWR finish grey, and may start to gain some lettering soon. Plans are afoot for what to bring in next.
Attention has turned once more to 13154's brakes. A lot of the new components have already been made, however the brake hangers need replacing, and after having looked at it, this is going to be interesting to try to make. Anyone walking round the down yard at Bewdley might have heard what sounded like a wagon muttering and cursing to it's self, it was me measuring the offending part up.
For those of you that are around at the Gala next week, feel free to say hello, there may be some people in the down yard working, I will be around on the trains (Firing Saturday morning just traveling for the rest of it) then a few days in Buckfastleigh over Easter, but I will be back soon.
Olly

 

As most of you are aware, we had a gala this weekend, in which a short-ish goods train operated.
I wasn't expecting to be able to bring you an update this week, however, one of the other lads has drawn my attention to the very noteworthy fact that 102691 gained some sign writing over the weekend, as I wasn't there myself I am unsure weather another coat will need to go on or weather it is done, but don't be surprised if my next update contains the phrase "Is now in traffic."
I'm off to Buckfastleigh for a few days this weekend, so my next update may be a while off,
Have a nice Easter,
Ian

 

So a busman holiday then.

 

It sure did.

 

Hello,
Should this Open have lettering on the end panels?


Nick

 

Yes, see page 288 of GWR Goods Wagons by Atkins, Beard & Tourret.

 

Has anyone told him he has the '2' and the '6' round the wrong way.........Ohh

Robin