Windcutter Wagons

Our two "thin flange" wagons have now arrived at Rothley so we can do a quick re-paint whilst we attend to the wheel sets.
Incidentally the container is mounted on the old chassis of coach 4914 to act as a mobile spares store. The container was outside the front of Rothley shed, but was moved prior to the resurfacing project.

 

Were the wheels tyred? The obvious long term solution, if so, is to fit new ones. But have an appeal and a good scratch round for any surviving
spares.

 

All the wheels appear to be Monobloc so, if it is possible to machine them and then fit tyres, it will be quite expensive. We do have a spare pair of wheelsets for wagon # 19 - but it is the 10" x 5 1/2" of wagon#23 that is the bigger problem. We cannot easily change to the smaller standard axlebox as the "W" irons have much thicker horn guides.....

 

Nor should you, as #23 (& #24) are not 16T mineral wagons. Although I don’t know exactly what they are I believe they probably much rarer (an obscure LMS design is a possibility) and it already saddens me that they’ve had their buffers swapped from the Dowty originals. Are the wheelsets beyond turning?


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As the pictures show, the spoked wheel still has a reasonable amount on the "tyre" but the other is much thinner.....

 

I was talking to Jamie about this earlier. I’ve a feeling that iron ore tipplers had the larger journals, so maybe see if another line has scrapped one of those and kept the wheelsets?


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Hi pmh_74 (Phil?)
Certainly it would be a lot easier if we could buy a couple of S/H wheelsets for 10" x 5 1/2" axleboxes.....any one know of any for sale?

 

Sorry - double post

 

I had to change a brake shoe yesterday.....
The old one on the ground was "excessively worn". This is so the rake can be used on Sunday for this weekends Goods Galore Gala.

 

Looks excessively worn to me, good catch. Was it just the one you'd changed on that wagon? If so it's probably been the only one providing braking effort for some time.

 

....and this is why we do it!

 

We have been doing welding repairs to #19 whilst we are waiting for a crane lift to swap wheelsets, and started the re painting of #23 which will be going to Quorn whilst we decide how to progress the thin flange problem.

 

Nice to see the wagons running in the evening light, great pictures.
Our wagons will be in action on the GC over the weekend Aug 31st/Sept 1st, where it will be steam haulage (2 trips) and Diesel plus Brake Tender (3 trips) each day.

 

What's actually happening on 31/8 & 1/9, as there is no special event listed on the GCR website for that weekend.
Is this a new event still in the course of planning?

 

Hi Johann
It is not a special event, but there are some guards being trained to work goods trains. So the Windcutter and other wagon restoring volunteers have been invited to ride in the "other" brake van by way of a "thank you" from the railway......

 

A bit more prepping and painting has seen the East side of #19 looking a bit smarter whilst it is awaiting its move to Quorn.
White stripes and end door still to be painted.

 

White stripes now done and end door being worked on during a working party Saturday.

 

The end door is now painted but we are still waiting for the other wagon to be lifted and this wagon to go to Quorn. The working rake will be out this weekend between Loughborough and Swithland.