Windcutter Wagons

In fact the P & B Rly have seven 16T Mineral wagons as they have B 182568. This came from MOSI (Manchester Museum of Science and Industry), who got it, together with two other wagons from the GCR several years ago (Sept 2009).

 

Indeed and no disrespect to the P&B, loaning those six out was probably no bad thing at the time as it gave them a more certain future. Just a shame that the GCR's ambitions seem to have been scaled back from a nearly-40 wagon train to one that is unlikely to get much beyond 30.

 

Maybe the reality of finding storage space and restoration/maintenance funds and volunteers has hit home and the GCR is cutting its cloth accordingly?

 

I that was the case when the loan was arranged, but the Windcutter group are making great progress these days and I'm not convinced the management now would make the same decisions.

 

More progress on #711 (560) as the two North end floor sheets have been seam welded and the two South end floor sheets part seam welded, with the final two stanchion repairs in progress. The two sides have also been mostly top coated, there will be some finishing off to do when the welding is completed next week.
Having 5 volunteers at work really speeds the process.

 

More progress on #711. Floor sheets nearly finished and most small patches done. We even now have white stripes and big black boxes.

 

More good progress really enjoying watching these come along

 

Thanks DavidW.
I was not able to get to the GCR this week but I believe some more work has been done on #711 and on the dismantling of the steam heat van.

 

Number 711 will become B266560 once the paint is dry on the black boxes!


We have done the pad exams and all is good so when the C & W staff complete the FtR exam this will go off to join the rake at Swithland. We then get #23 into the shed and complete the floor repair after most of the double floor has been removed.
I had a very nice train ride yesterday ( complete with a small GCR Breakfast! ) and saw this wagon at Quorn awaiting our attention. This is also an Ex ICI wagon and we plan to put it into that livery and just use it for display and special events as it has well worn wheelsets.

 

Next weekend - Aug 10/11 has the "Railways at Work" event focussing on 1966 and football fever.....Looking forward to this event, we will be having a Windcutter Information and Sales Stand outside Rothley shed on both days, so please come along to say hello to some of the team who are keeping the Windcutter wagons rolling.......and look for that special book!

 

Unfortunately we were only able to man our stand on the Saturday so I hope not too many people were disappointed on Sunday.
Meanwhile five of us were in action today and the C & W staff had shunted #560 (now numbered) out and put B279723 into the shed. This had the wheels swapped but with its double skin the floor was suspect and so the inner floor was removed and the original floor was also to thin in places - so were are putting a new floor in....
we will also be repainting it whilst it is in the shed.

 

Another good workday with five of us in action. The floor of wagon B279723 has now been completely removed and the underframe is being prepared for a new floor.


Prepping the outside for a repaint reveals the various liveries that this wagon has had in the past. It was rebodied for use as a stone tippler wagon (yellow?) but there is a blue layer (which may have been for ICI Soda ash??)


We may also have found the original number, so it will be renumbered.

 

Hi Phil,
Distilled from my earlier posts in this thread, from several sources and some of it conjecture:

• Built as ??? (Similar to LMS D2153 but buffers and handbrake don’t match)
• Refurbished Standard Wagon 1964 for hire to Imperial Smelting, as no.1016. Registered BR(M) 187443 in 1966.
• (Possibly) Refurbished BR/CC Crump 1975 for ICI Winnington soda ash traffic in TOPS series 5700-5819
• To CEGB Kearsley as CEGB17 by c1979 (yellow)
• To Rover by c1982+ as “3” (blue)
• To GCR 1992 as “B279723” (grey)

However, I am wondering if the ICI entry on this list is a bum steer and perhaps the whole of 1975-1979 was spent as CEGB17.
Looking at that photo, the most recent three liveries yellow (CEGB), blue (Rover) and grey (GCR) all tie in, the earlier darker blue(?) is interesting but could be the Imperial Smelting livery (not sure I’ve seen a photo of these), or ICI also possible. I assume the red bits are primer layers from various repaints.

So, what number have you found and does it tie in with (or indeed contradict) any of the above?

Not sure about the suggestion they were re-bodied; seems an extravagance to rebody a tippler with mineral wagon bodywork and then add an inner skin and not use the doors (whereas we know LMS D2153 were tipplers built with this bodywork style, hence that suggestion).

 

Hi pmh, one of our team has found out more about this wagon so I will get the details from him. My comment about the rebody was imprecise as I meant that it had the inner skin to make it into a tippler.
I believe there is...to be.. a yellow bodied Accurascale OO version of a 16T mineral from Kearsley?
I have now checked and we have the number as M187433. Also ICI did have a darker blue colour for a while, so that might be a confusion!

 

Ok but 187433 isn’t the wagon number, it’s the BR(M) registration number (and we get fleet no. 1016 from this though I am not 100% sure who had access to that register, Peter Fidzcuk possibly). So unfortunately this doesn’t add anything to our knowledge. M187433 it isn’t.

 

Thanks pmh, we will have to have a discussion about what number to use as the existing number was just a convenient (False) number from an unused batch.
Still more work has been done preparing the underframe for the new steel sheets. We are actually trying to use several spare sheets rather than having 6 bespoke cut sheets. This is to save money and clear a bit of shed space. It is a bit of a jigsaw though! We have also been sorting out our stores van which is in the shed for a repaint on its sides.

 

Hi Phil,
Personally, unless you uncover a different stamped number from those noted above, I'd just stick with B279723 unless and until some further information comes to light.
I still have hopes that someone, somewhere, is sitting on a dusty ledger of old wagon numbers... it amazes me what has already come to light, outside of 'official' sources, to be honest.

 

Four and a half of us were working on Wednesday (I was the half as I had to leave early!) and all the prep work has now been done on the underframe ready for the floor sheets to be welded in place - the last two sheets have been ordered and delivered. The cracked welds on the South end stanchions have been welded up and the headstock needlegunned and painted in primer.

 

Two more workdays have resulted in lots done on #723. However it is out on the apron at present as a rather large 9F has found its way into the C & W shed!



Fettling the two centre floor sheets ready for welding later in the day.


Undercoating of the side and fixed end mostly completed.

 

Our wagon (#723) was still outside the shed and we had to wait until the rain stopped, before we could finish the prep work and start to weld the centre two floor sections.