Windcutter Wagons

Levering up the floor sheets

or dragging the tray of tea mugs into your reach.

 

Several good ideas, but, as the picture shows.....


It is very useful to support the weight of the underkeep, as the Tee bolts are released, to open the axlebox for Pad and journal examination. It then is a one person operation.

 

We had a very productive day yesterday. We were able to remove the vacuum cylinder from underneath the wagon, strip it down, put a new "Rolling Ring" seal onto the piston. A new "O" ring seal around the top, reassemble...and re-install in the wagon.


And we were able to make a start on welding in new gusset plates to the chassis frame!

 

The picture also helps to understand how vacuum brakes work (in simple form) - essentially the piston (centre) sits in the cylinder (left) which sits in the dome (Right). Then a vacuum is created by the locomotive in the train pipe which keeps the brakes Off. If air is then admitted in the train pipe, or the pipe breaks, then the vacuum retained in the dome means that air pressure will apply the brakes...so it "Fails Safe".

 

Gussets.......several gussets.......but not the fabric type!
These are steel triangles to reinforce the joints on our steel underframe girders. We spent a happy few hours replacing "See through" rusty ones with nice thick steel new ones....



We are also having an information/sales stand at Rothley during the "Last Hurrah" Gala Nov 20/21st.

 

Another productive day at Rothley. There was a major shunt going on and our wagon actually made it out onto the main line! It was soon back inside though, and, as we had our new steel sheets delivered, it was time to get them up into the wagon. Soon the relevant "notches" were cut out to clear the vertical "U" profile supports and we were able to tack weld 4 out of the 6 sections for the new floor.


The Windcutter rake will be running on both days, during the Gala at the weekend, with several different locomotives. Our Information/Sales stand will be at Rothley in front of the shed.

 

And a bit more done, with some floor welding and one lower side sheet fettled and tacked in place.

 

The last two floor panels are notched to fit and tack welded in place. The first lower body panel is fully welded and painted with a second now fitted and tacked into place.
The Information/Sales stand was busy on Saturday and has raised a useful amount of money to help fund our work - such support is much appreciated.

 

One side is now finished....and painted

 

Then a start was made on the other side. This is how the bent side is made to meet the new steel.

 

Another week - another "Weldathon". The final side sheet was cut to fit and has been tack welded in place. The three smaller, fixed end, lower repair sheets have been cut to size and tack welded in position. Because of the bent original metal each plate has to be progressively forced into place along its length, so it is not a straight forward operation. The other side sheet has been seam welded so is ready for primer and paint. Still it is all good progress.

 

More welding done so all 7 side patches are fully welded and prepped for paint. Pause now for holiday so Happy Christmas to all!

 

More progress last week with grey and black paint/underseal....

 

One extra job has been to repair an old damaged piece of angle caused by a probable heavy "Snatch" in its previous hard life. Unfortunately it is below the draw hook so that had to be removed by taking out the split pin, undoing the big nut, sliding off the 8 rubber discs that make the "Spring" and then lifting the hook out!


Then we got busy with an angle grinder and cutting disc to remove the buckled and corroded metal. This could then be replaced by new steel.

 

All the metalwork and painting done - just the numbering and brake testing now.....

 

It was good to see our rake in action during the Winter Gala........ Will we get it to be half as long again this year??

Sorry for the photo quality - my camera was unused to the bright sunshine!

 

Looks like you guys are making good progress. How many are operational at the moment? And is the 30@30 event later this year, or next year?

 

Hi Chris
There are 21 operational at present and the intention is to get 30@30 at the end of this year......Hopefully some of the Quorn wagons will be quick fixes...

 

Sounds promising!

 

7 pages worth on the Windcutter wagons in the latest copy of Steam Railway that arrived today........