SVR wagons 2022

Hello, welcome back, and a belated happy new year.
I'd planned to wait until I had a bit more to add than "I made a couple of bushes" to add and my health was a bit better, but given that January is nearly gone, and I hadn't written anything, that plan clearly wasn't going to work!
So first to recap, to the south end of the yard, we have loco coal wagon, 83831, the hope was that she would just need a repaint and some attention to her springs, however, looking at her brake push rods suggests more work for yours truly. These are not the usual 2 row, 6 hole type, but have three rows of holes in the "Swiss cheese" ends, resulting in a thinner wall thickness on the hole, resulting in some of them having worn / rotted through, so some TLC needed, however, the body and floor look good, and the lads have done a good job of removing the scabs off the body, and patch priming it, the body itself is in good order.
North of her we have 98480, who came into us in a very poorly state, which is why, even without covid, she would be in for a very heavy repair, she has recieved two new headstocks, and and the lads have been making progress on the frames while the brake gear undergoes some heavy repairs. The problem here is that the brakes are so worn in certain places, that if you adjusted them enough to get the blocks off the wheels, then all the wear in the mechanism meant you couldn't get the brake on, conversely, if you adjusted them enough to make a brake application, the wheels wouldn't go around, the problem was obvious, everything was utterly worn out and the 'V' hangers and main cross shaft had so much wear that applying the brake just caused the shaft to rock in the hanger and not do anything (That bit I will hopefully be attending to very soon)
North of her is 80982, out mess van / workshop, nothing to report on her, the old girl is an interesting vehicle who leads a quiet life most of the time, but is a key central part of our department.
The two vans inside the goods shed (Can you tell I can't remember their numbers?) are waiting for an upgrade to our fall arrest system so that we can have a look at their roofs, they are both lacking in doors at the moment too as they are feeling their age and will need replacement.
I'm not around next week as I'm off to see a play with someone, so hopefully I'll see you in a couple of weeks.
Finally, all the best to my readers for 2022, lets hope this year is better than the last two.
Olly

 

I'm getting good at this, two reports in a few weeks!
First some good personal news, I hinted at health issues in my last post, but didn't want to say too much as, the community on here, in my experience, have been wonderful when I was unwell in the past, and I didn't want to cause unnecessary concern, I was being tested for prostate cancer, thankfully I don't have it (Although I do apparently have type 2 diabetes!) If anyone else is worried about it, no the exam is not as bad as it sounds, and while I won't be giving it 5 stars on tripadvisor, I would urge anyone who should get it, to do so.
So, on with what we are really here for.
Repairs to 98480 continue, the four brake push rods have been drilled and reamed and are waiting to be cleaned down and painted. The Last of the summer wine gang have promised faithfully to , as Stuart put it, "See if we can fit it in between tea drinking activities." There is also the brake handle cross shaft to be done at the same time as the missing bush has now been glued into this too, and although it still requires reaming (Which was a horrendous set up when I drilled the old hole out) a coat of paint, now all the activities that will take the paint off the important bits are done, won't hurt.
When I describe the set up for the drilling as horrendous, the big problem is that these bits were never designed to be serviced, and our radial drill was never designed to do such long parts, particularly where the hole is, consequently, the table on the drill doesn't go high enough and the quill doesn't retract far enough to fit the part between the table and the floor, some lateral thinking was required, and, with inches to spare, and threading the part through the controls of the machine, it will fit, between the table and the ceiling, obviously with it being very securely clamped to the table, as there is a lot of metal now above your head! The job has also revealed that I need to add a 3/4" drill to my shopping list, as the one from the machine shop appears to be missing, and the reamer wasn't over happy about being asked to remove .062" in one go (Even less happy when I tried to ream a hole that I hadn't yet drilled, but that's another story)
Graham is also progressing with his "Project Zero" tidy up (Project Zero being an SVR project to tidy up, remove scrap and rehome unwanted items, very similar to what some folks in other industries may refer to as 5S) which has included repainting the grounded van body which has resided for many years at the south end of Bewdley Yard.
Hopefully I will have further updates very soon,
take care
Olly

 

Thanks for the update Ian and glad to hear the good news re your health

 

Thanks for the update and good news.

 

Good to see you back! Sounds like you have a good set of projects in front of you.
Will sir be hiding any citrus fruits in this series?

 

Wrong series! For any fruit based tomfoolery there may be a story in the Bullhead memories section in July / August

 

Well, this weekend was a story of lots of little bits.
In the shed, Nigel has been busy with the Mica, some of the screws weren't originally in deep enough, causing the capping to break up and come out, so he has been redrilling the holes, and redoing the capping as well as filling odd holes as he finds them.
The next stage of the brakes on 98480 was finish machined with the reaming of the holes in the handle cross shaft and the short pull rod (Which I had entirely forgotten about until I spotted there was something missing!) This may make you think "That's all you did?" but the set up for the cross shaft was somewhat of a pain, as the quill on the radial drill won't retract far enough for the part to fit between the drill and the floor, so the whole thing has to be firmly clamped to the table, which is dropped down as far as possible whilst still giving the quill enough movement for the drill to go through, threaded between the machine controls and the light, missing the ceiling by about 3" You can see why it took me all day!
Meanwhile, Graham and Clive have been continued with "Project Zero" (essentially a gigantic railway wide tidy up) Annoyingly, one of the items they have turned up is a Dean-Churchward brake ratchet, which, had it appeared a few weeks back, would have been swapped for 98480's worn out one, saving much repair work. Having seen it before it was extracted, it is amazing how the soil has built up around it, with the component, which is nearly a foot tall, being buried all but a few teeth and the last couple of inches of the 'V' hanger.
Sunday was another quick job, borrowing the lads off the MPD for some muscle power, we passed on some old electrical trunking and rolls of scrap cable to the 1501 lads for stripping, which when complete, we will get the steel back for weighing in as scrap, meaning both groups benefit for minimal extra effort on our part.
Hopefully I will have another update next week,
Ian

 

Better late than never! I was debating whether or not to post this week as the storms last weekend had an effect on our plans, then I realised, further bad weather, combined with the Rugby could alter my plans this week.
Given that any work outside would have resulted in a severe drenching, attention turned to giving 80982 a tidy up and returning the work bench to its status as a work bench rather than a very untidy shelf. Its amazing the number of rubbish we accumulate, notes that are for one job, or to leave a note for the midweek lads (although I tend to use Facebook for that these days) and general tat that we accumulate.
I took an executive decision and disposed of the Christmas cards (including several of mine which I had forgotten to take home) into the stove, and got rid of the msnky old gloves before nipping to Wiggleys in Stourport to get some new ones (should have thought of that first really as it's on my way)
On the lighter side, I can't complain about others leaving stuff in the van, when in the pile of stuff to be sorted, I found my own staff travel vouchers from last year!
Hopefully I should have a proper report next week.

 

Well, as you can see, 98480 has taken a morale boosting step forward, regaining her brake handle and it's associated shaft and 'V' hangers. There are still some bits to do before we can move on to the next bit, including disconnecting the sprung pull rod, only connected to allow us to get the handle in the right position, and re-fit the pawl and short pull rod.
One of the reasons this is such a psychological win is because this pert was removed pre-pandemic and has been waiting through the covid shut downs and all other issues for us to be able to re-fit it.
Of course, typically of how this wagon seems to be jinxed, this didn't go smoothly, firstly, I couldn't find the spacers which separate the ratchet quadrant from it's associated split pin, so I set about making a new one in the machine shop, before moving my tool box to get a boring bar out of it, only to find the said spacers down behind it, chuntering about people moving things, it then occurred to me that it was probably me who had knocked them down there!
The cross shaft itself seemed reluctant to go back up, as ideally I would have taken both hangers off, only removing the one means the shaft and hanger had to go up on the skew, so borrowing the lads from the mpd for some muscle power, we managed to push and shove the thing back into place.

 

I probably shouldn't admit to this, but the reason there was no report last week is because I was so pleased with what we had done, I simply forgot!
Last week, the yard resounded to the report of a very satisfying "Bang" that bang being the characteristic sound of a set of GWR DC3 brakes being released. This would be nothing special under normal circumstances, but it was the brake gear operating on 98480 for the first time in many years (she had numerous brake faults when she came in for repair, and had been sat, out of use for a while) This was only temporary, as the job is far from finished. One thing we have found it that what ever has caused the damage to the wagon frames has left the brake gear very out of line, causing some issues, this hasn't come as any surprise, as I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that this is the unluckiest wagon in preservation, I'm now of the opinion that this may be why the brake gear is so worn, as I suspect that BR sold a damaged vehicle to the Port of Bristol, and threw on some worn out brake gear to give it enough slack for it to move.
Our next move was to disconnect the sprung pull rod (cue all the brake gear falling apart again with no tension to hold it all in place) and the slack adjuster, and removed them to the van for assessment. to my surprise, these were in pretty good order and the slack adjuster has now had it's one worn hole drilled and bushed and is waiting for reaming and reattachment. Once these bits are done, we will need to move onto the interesting bit of dropping the cross shaft off (Which will require the de-riveting of the 'V' hangers) and working out how we are going to repair that. I think I have an idea of what we need to do, but the way this job is going, you never know what you are going to find. It will be a deeply satisfying moment when we have all the bits back on, lined up, and the blocks doing their thing normally.
I don't know at the moment if the yard will be open or not for Open House weekend, however, if it is, please wander round and say hello, although obviously, if the main gates are closed please don't go past them, unfortunately these days we can't do impromptu yard visits any more.
See you soon
Ian

 

Thanks for the update Ian.

 

As an aside to my normal updates, the wagon department are on occasions, called in to offer assistance in terms of manpower, skills or tooling.
Last Sunday the department was assisting both the S&T, giving a couple of parts for the news bracket signal at Bewdley south a bit of a tweak, and rather more in depth assisting the Warwickshire Industrial Locomotive Trust with riveting the buffer beams for there loco.
Warwickshire is an interesting little machine, being the last loco built at Manning Wardle.
For pictures of this and other work, please look up their Facebook page.
See you soon,
Ian

 

To add to Ian's mention of the Open House weekend, yes the yard is definitely open on Saturday.
I don't think we're going as far as guided tours, but there will be at least one person on hand on Saturday trying to make sure no one wanders into areas where they shouldn't be.
There's a shortage of volunteers for this role for the Sunday, so I don't know if that means the yard will be closed or if visitors will just be trusted not to stray from the path.
The GWR 813 Fund stall has moved from Kidderminster concourse and will be open in GWR 5804 Brake Third in Bewdley car park, next to the Erlestoke Manor Fund and GW(SVR)A shops.

 

I thought they were in GWR 55 - their post this week said so?

 

The plan is to use 55 as the GWR 813 Fund shop, however, as...
1. I've been a bit slow making and fitting shelves inside 55
2. The Junior Club are not meeting yet, so don't need 5804 back and have said we can carry on using it a bit longer
3. Trains haven't been running, so Pat hasn't been at Bewdley to open the shop and sort stock
4. We're already set up in 5804
...we will definitely be in 5804 on Saturday.
Depending on whether Pat thinks the few shelves that are in 55 make it a better bet than 5804, we may transfer across on Saturday evening and open in 55 on Sunday.
Either way, the two vehicles are buffered up to each other alongside Bewdley car park, so for anyone visiting the Erlestoke Manor fund and Great Western Association shops, it's only a few more steps to the 813 shop, whichever vehicle it's in.

 

I thought I'd just drop a quick line to apologise for my absence, I was going to post an update this week but unfortunately I wasn't able to be there owing to having Covid (just my luck!)
I've got a run of driving, firing, guards turns and of course gala coming up, so that's it for me until at least May!
Hopefully see you all at the gala.
Ian

 

Get well soon Ian

 

Ta, will try

 

A side project for the Wagon Department is assisting Arley Station with the cosmetic restoration of GWR 6 ton Hand Crane 446 and ex-Rotank wagon 2501.
One of the many proposals/suggestions/ideas for the SVR is that we should better tell the history of the railway, and a crane on display will answer the question "How did they unload heavy deliveries at a country station that hasn't got its own crane?"
The crane has a 1/4" steel deck that is badly corroded in places. Originally, the plan was to buy new steel to patch it. However, 2501 has a partial 1/4" steel floor, so now we will use that steel to patch 466 and fit a wooden floor to 2501. Yesterday's job was to start removing the steel plates.
They didn't do things by halves back then. Most people would stick an M12 bolt in each corner and say "That's not going anywhere". This one 8x4 sheet had about 80 rivets in it!





We've got a bit of the timber for the two decks for the crane that the operator would stand on while winding the handles, but the fold out sections and hinges are missing completely.
I believe there are similar 6 ton cranes at Tyseley and Dean Forest. If anyone has access to these, could you get some photos, drawings or dimensions of the hinges so we can replicate them please.

 

I did warn you it would be a while! Although in fairness, this report is a week and a half late. I'm going to get a reputation at this rate.
Nigel and Kevin were keeping themselves busy in the shed with applying paint to the Mica. We are hopeful that there may be movement on our ability to work on the roof of this wagon soon.
Graham has been attending to the buffers on the loco coal wagon. The headstocks have become slightly deformed behind the buffers where the springs bare on them, with the springs themselves becoming a little shorter with age leaving the buffers a little loose. The solution is to pack the springs out with some plasma cut plates.
On the same wagon Terry has begun the process of making the new Swiss cheeses for the ends of the brake push rods, although with the number of holes in these, I think "Tetley teabags" would be a better description of these.
Mark has given the place a much needed tidy up. Some of us are not the tidiest and the various benches were in danger of being over run with various items, we now have some space in which to work.
Being very careful not to immediately undo Mark's hard work, I was busying myself dismantling a spare DC brake ratchet complete with the stumps of a pair of pull rods and drive shaft, the plan being to clean this up, prime it, and put it into proper storage rather than burried in mud at the south end of the yard, where it had lain for at least the 21 years I've been here! It did require some heating and persuading (smacking with a large hammer) to get it appart, but we saved most of the parts, and to prove that I can do it, the only part I had to gas through was one nut, which I managed to cut off without touching the thread (watch me make a pig's ear of the next six now!)
I'm off to Buckfastleigh this weekend, but hopefully I'll be back in two weeks.
Ian