Windcutter Wagons

A smaller work party on Wednesday saw the new floor sheets welding finished, three lower stanchion repairs completed, the West side rubbed down and undercoated....so good progress and looking to be finished this month.

 

Another strong team turnout today with five of us at work. Two welded the final repair sections inside whilst two were hard at work primering and undercoating the end door. Meanwhile I started on top coating the sides so completion by the end of the month is still likely.

 

Yesterday saw Gary hard at work with the grey then black then white and finally red paint brushes. The topcoating was finished, the headstocks and running gear painted together with the black boxes for numbers, the white stripe masked and paint applied and finally the swan necks were painted red (which is for vac braked wagons, through pipes have white painted swan necks). There are now just the numbers to be painted.


Incidentally - the comments and likes are much appreciated to show that this, and other threads in this somewhat niche section of NP, are being enjoyed.

 

The five wagons at Rothley have been undergoing their FtR exams and last minute fault rectification. Three have now passed and the final two were being completed today. The next shunting day is next week and I'm told that we should have swapped the present five with 6 from our wagons at Swithland.
These should be B593185, B279707, B589163, B64020, B593104 and B581221. We will give them a detailed assessment, as some have had no significant work done since the 1990's, others had quick repaints in 2018.

 

Those 6 wagons did arrive and the team have made a good start on the two worse wagons. B 593185, in the shed, now has its floor removed and chassis cleaned ready for new steel sheets. We could not carry on with that today (as there was a carriage being painted in the next road) so we worked outside and started to remove the floor on B279707.

 

The team have made good progress in my absence. The floor of B279707 (Correction B593185) has been completely removed and the chassis rails cleaned up ready for the new floor sheets. The outside has been flap wheeled to prepare it for repainting.
Today we had two working on the outside (Tim and Gary), two on the inside (Rob and Ian).....and a welding theory lesson (Julian and Agusta) going on at the front of the shed as we had no more extension leads!
I went out to buy some more black paint...

 

There were three of us in action today with more work being done inside and outside on B279707 (Correction B593185). I will let the pictures tell the story.

 

We had another good Wednesday Workday and we are just about ready to start putting new steel sheets for the floor of the wagon....but it is B593185 as B279707 has been moved down the yard. The pad exam on B589163 was also completed. The new brake hanging brackets were also being machined for B571604.

 

Great work.

 

Thanks Brian - enjoy the Tube Wagon!
Meanwhile, back in the sunshine yesterday, the inside of B593185 was finish undersealed awaiting the new steel floor etc, the brake hanging brackets were top coated with black gloss awaiting installation on B571604. Then B593104 had its pad exam and oiling - with the black paint in use to refresh the underframes, this is now awaiting its FTR.

 

The brake hangers have been installed so B571604 is ready for its FtR. Pad exams were completed on B 279707 and B 64020.
B 593185 had its final weld repairs to the chassis and grinding to prepare for welding floor plates with Julian and Agusta in action.

Then Agusta started to apply her welding theory knowledge to the real thing....with very good results.

 

More work has been done on B 593185 with two more floor sheets welded in place. We will leave the centre sheet till last so that any problems with the Vac cylinder can be easily accessed.

 

There were four of us in action this morning so a lot more welding has been completed.


One side had also been top-coated by lunchtime.