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Windcutter Wagons

Discussion in 'Heritage Rolling Stock' started by Flying Phil, Dec 11, 2018.

  1. class8mikado

    class8mikado Part of the furniture

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    I like pages but am really interested how 7 pages ?
     
  2. Johann Marsbar

    Johann Marsbar Well-Known Member

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    Well, the first two pages are a large photo and the other 5 pages tell their story over the past 30 years. "Flying Phil" will be the best one to report on the article as he appears to have written it......
     
  3. Flying Phil

    Flying Phil Part of the furniture

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    Well I have just received my copy of SR and "Yes" it is my article. I did not expect them to make such a big feature of it though.....But I am pleased that SR is highlighting the work of so many dedicated volunteers who restore and maintain the less glamourous aspects of the Heritage railway scene.
     
  4. flying scotsman123

    flying scotsman123 Resident of Nat Pres

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    I do get the distinct feeling that wagon restoration is seeing a distinct renaissance recently, with several groups and railways seemingly focusing renewed efforts on getting more things running, which is great to see.
     
  5. Matt37401

    Matt37401 Nat Pres stalwart

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    I tap this just out of interest having read the Steam Railway article, is access still allowed to Swithland during gala days?

    Just wondering if some sort of demonstration could be be done with say an 8F arriving at Swithland with a rake of 16 tonners and then the little Andrew Barclay from Mountsorrel could do a little bit of shunting and sort a train out for the 8F to take back?
    I do appreciate this is all WIBN, but as @Flying Phil alludes to in his article our railways were primarily built for goods traffic, I know the line at that branches off at Swithland was built for quarry traffic, but it could be a wonderful opportunity to show off just how these little industrial systems (collieries, quarries etc) connected to the main lines and how they also had their own locomotive fleets.

    (Yes I know the Foxfield has its connection at Blyth Bridge, but I don’t see Network Rail allowing a shunting demonstration with an 8F and an unfitted mineral train on the mainline! )
     
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  6. Flying Phil

    Flying Phil Part of the furniture

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    Hi Matt
    Unless for photo charters, there is no public access to Swithland Sidings. There have been one or two public openings in the past though. There is the chance during Galas to be in a train/DMU which is held in a loop line for a period of time when other services go past.
    You make a very good point about using the Mountsorrel branch though....let us hope!
    The GCR do perform shunting demos in the Quorn yard with the Quorn Wagon and Wagon team together with parcels/goods and road vehicles.
     
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  7. Matt37401

    Matt37401 Nat Pres stalwart

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    Cheers Phil, as I say it’s pure WIBN, I also appreciate its not a priority but I think this is something that gives the GC a real USP, certainly with the likes of yourself and those hardworking people at both Quorn and Mountsorell it could maybe be something to be considered for future special events?
    (I won’t claim any copyright on it if it happens in the future, honest guv :))
     
    Last edited: Feb 3, 2022
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  8. Flying Phil

    Flying Phil Part of the furniture

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    We are just waiting for the Ops dept to swap our wagons as #46 is now completed and passed its Fitness to Run exam.
    DSC01384.JPG DSC01385.JPG
     
  9. Flying Phil

    Flying Phil Part of the furniture

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    A great Workday yesterday! As stated in the previous post, wagon B 551846 has passed its “Fitness to Run” examination and was moved to the running rake at Swithland. Wagon B279703 (We will be re-numbering this back to its original B555696) was then brought from Quorn to the shed and the shed staff did an assessment with chalked “advisories”.

    On cleaning out the wagon it confirmed that the floor was poor. So, with a 5 strong team we set to work

    There were 8 advisories…

    1 Welding two areas on the fixed end brackets – We have cleaned and welded three areas.

    2 2 seals needed on the Vac hose (S End) – We removed old hose, a new hose to be fitted.

    3 Broken brake hanger block SE corner - This was changed for a good spare from stock in van.

    4 West Side door Hinge Angle iron - This was exposed and cleaned it up for rechecking by shed staff

    5 Weld repair of NE top corner - To await next wagon to couple up and press back to fit and weld

    6 Excess play in horn guides NE axlebox L shaped bracket to weld onto W Iron

    7 Broken weld on N lamp iron end door. -To be cleaned and welded.

    8 Vacuum cylinder to be overhauled - We have removed the floor over it so that it can be removed. We will be replacing about half the floor with new sheet and reweld the remainder.

    One of the team set to and has largely prepped the East side ready for paint. We have also started to free the totally rusted and seized screw link coupling.

    So as can be seen we have completed two advisories, started on three and have a plan for the other three…..with a start made on paint prep!
    DSC01392.JPG DSC01393.JPG

    The West side of the floor was in much worse condition so we have cut that out and will do a "half re floor". The remaining half is still very thick, but battered, steel.
     
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  10. Flying Phil

    Flying Phil Part of the furniture

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    Here are DSC01394.JPG DSC01395.JPG DSC01396.JPG more pictures of progress....It is believed that there are three more at Quorn in similar condition, so this will give us a good indication if we are likely to achieve our "30@30" by year end....
     
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  11. pmh_74

    pmh_74 Well-Known Member

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    How long has this one been out of traffic Phil?


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
  12. Flying Phil

    Flying Phil Part of the furniture

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    Hi pmh
    I believe this was one of a batch of wagons withdrawn from GCR service in 2001. They were stored at Swithland until 2017, then were taken to Quorn. So out of traffic for 21 years.
     
    Last edited: Feb 18, 2022
  13. pmh_74

    pmh_74 Well-Known Member

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    I suspected it was one of those; I photographed it in 2008 and noted it as 'stored unserviceable' then, but wasn't sure what had happened before or since. It'll be good to get one of the long-term-stored ones back running.
     
  14. Flying Phil

    Flying Phil Part of the furniture

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    More progress as the side door hinge bracket has been removed - after first getting the door off!
    image1 Tim.jpeg image2 Tim.jpeg
    (photos courtesy of T Aggas)
    Another small job was to remove, de-rust and reweld a lamp iron on the opening door. (This was No 7 on the list)
     
    Last edited: Feb 25, 2022
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  15. Flying Phil

    Flying Phil Part of the furniture

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    Whilst work is being done inside the wagon, we have prepped and undercoated the East side and S (fixed) end.
    DSC01399.JPG
     
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  16. Flying Phil

    Flying Phil Part of the furniture

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    After a struggle, the 15" brake cylinder has been removed for overhaul and some more weld repairs have been completed. The West side has also been prepped and undercoated.
     
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  17. Steve

    Steve Resident of Nat Pres Friend

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    Was it always vac fitted and if it is a minfit why not paint it in freight brown? Just curious.
     
  18. Flying Phil

    Flying Phil Part of the furniture

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    Good question and you are quite correct - we should paint vac fitted minerals bauxite. However ...... the project was to recreate the image that most people had of " rusty grey wagons in a lengthy train". We realised that to be correct we would have ended up with a mix of grey and bauxite, and so have painted nearly all of them grey.
    The railway does have one bauxite 16T in the Mixed rake (Part of the QW & W fleet) and we painted our 10' wheelbase 16.5t Pal brick wagon bauxite (see earlier in this thread).
     
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  19. pmh_74

    pmh_74 Well-Known Member

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    Further to this, the 16T minerals on the GCR are a mixture of:
    - 2x Unfitted (which have never yet run on the GCR due to poor condition)
    - 11x Built unfitted, but through pipe added in preservation
    - 12x Built unfitted, but converted to fitted by BR
    - 11x Built fitted (distinguishable from the conversions by having an empty/loaded changeover lever)
    - 1x Rebuilt on ex-Palbrick underframe (fitted)

    But these totals include the 6 currently in South Wales as I can't be bothered to unpick those from the totals. And the QW&W one is in there as well.

    The point is, you could (with the Welsh ones) have two trains of 18 wagons, one rake in grey and one in bauxite and nothing would need to be in a livery it never carried. Although some would be in liveries not reflective of their current condition. Which is no different really from steam locos running in earlier liveries despite carrying various later era technical modifications, which people generally seem to accept.

    Maybe one day...
     
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  20. Flying Phil

    Flying Phil Part of the furniture

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    Here is the Western side prior to undercoating....
    DSC01404.JPG
     
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