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Windcutter Wagons

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

  1. Johnb

    Johnb Nat Pres stalwart

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    Nothing to regret, it’s still a unique sight. Good to see some of them are getting the normal livery for a mineral wagon; grey/rust
     
  2. Flying Phil

    Flying Phil Part of the furniture

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    Busy in Quorn signal box with the Windcutters approaching, seen through the windows.
    DSC02150.JPG
     
  3. Flying Phil

    Flying Phil Part of the furniture

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    Another picture of our "Lengthy train" going into Quorn....and that's only half of it!

    DSC02152.JPG

    Then it has been back to work at Rothley. Our next wagon has been featured in the Quorn W & W website as it is B 279716, which they have painted black and signwritten to pair with the repainted class 10 shunter D 4067. Because it is at Rothley we are now returning it to running order but retaining its new livery for a while longer.
    DSC02017.JPG

    Needless to say it doesn't look in too bad condition, until the doors are opened and floor examined.....
    DSC02197.JPG
     
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  4. Flying Phil

    Flying Phil Part of the furniture

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    We are having a "Discussion" about liveries and 16T mineral wagons - naturally -- are we sad?
    Anyway, we now have approx 24 grey minerals despite the fact that vac braked ones should be bauxite. As can be seen, we are now working on the black Nailstone colliery wagon which is not authentic, but it matches with the 08 shunter. However we are thinking of the fact that some of our wagons were painted ICI blue for a while, some were MOD black. We also have a bauxite wagon.
    This gives us the option of a short rake of 16T Variety liveries......or should we just stick with "Windcutter Grey"?
    Other opinions are welcomed...
     
  5. Johann Marsbar

    Johann Marsbar Well-Known Member

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    If the ICI one is as produced in the Mainline Railways OO range about 40 years ago (Mond Division - Bulk soda ash) one of those with the orange solebar would look rather smart !
     
  6. Johnb

    Johnb Nat Pres stalwart

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    Wind cutter grey with one or two bauxite ones, it makes for a realistic train that could be seen all over the system. The fancy liveries should be the province of the preserved industrial railways. Having said that the final decision lies with those who do the grafting.
     
  7. M59137

    M59137 Well-Known Member

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    Usually I support variety but when it comes to the Windcutters, personally I think the length of the train specifically recreates something so unique that keeping the uniform grey along the whole set is beneficial to what is so special about the set. Having a mixed livery showcase of different eras would somewhat erode the purity of the recreation.

    I will also repeat what's been said above however, that the wishes of those doing the graft trump the opinions of anyone else of course!

    Sent from my moto g(8) power using Tapatalk
     
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  8. Cartman

    Cartman Well-Known Member Account Suspended

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    Grey and a bit of rust, with perhaps one or two bauxite, it's a fantastic recreation, keep it real
     
  9. Sidmouth

    Sidmouth Resident of Nat Pres Staff Member Moderator

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    Something different gives you the opportunity to raise the profile of the group so an authentic livery may lead to fund raising opportunities etc . That said and echoing others , the full rake in grey is a sight to behold and it would then be a shame if a bright ICI one became the lead vehicle at gala's . The blue fish van for example has often been at the head of the van rake (nothing against the fish van but it can look a little incongruous)
     
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  10. pmh_74

    pmh_74 Well-Known Member

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    If the 6 at Pontypool ever return 'home' giving 36 wagons, and the project gets anywhere close to all 36 running, then two rakes of 18 (one grey, one bauxite) would be nice, with the braked-from-new ones generally bauxite and the through piped / converted later (i.e. grey when new) ones generally grey. That's about as near authentic (per vehicle) as I think is reasonable or achievable.

    But where the project is at the moment with 30 wagons on site, mostly grey (or rust) with the odd bauxite interloper seems pretty good to me. I don't much care for industrial liveries on the GC, there are other places better placed to recreate those.

    I'd like to see B279714 painted bauxite though. Its original number was B595478 and we are fortunate enough that Paul Bartlett photographed it ex-works in 1975:
    https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brmineralclaspvb/haad93fb#haad93fb
    Complete with bauxite solebar, it's a striking livery and there's enough detail on that photograph to get it absolutely spot on, which is pretty rare for a humble coal wagon.
    Unfortunately (for me) it's one of the ones at Pontypool.
     
  11. Flying Phil

    Flying Phil Part of the furniture

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    Thank you all for these detailed replies.
    There is an unusually high degree of agreement that we should stick to the plan and get an (even) lengthier train of grey minerals so that is what we will continue to do. As said before though, the black Nailstone will stay black for a while longer - and probably stay at Rothley to be with the O8. Then it will go back to grey......mind you, it could be "undercoated" in ICI livery first.....Whilst a few pictures were taken?
     
  12. Flying Phil

    Flying Phil Part of the furniture

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    Before we get round to (Re) painting, there is the small matter of repairs to do first. With B 279716 it means taking the floor out as it was very "lacy" in many areas. This also makes the vacuum cylinder easier to extract and overhaul.
    DSC02214.JPG

    Later that afternoon

    DSC02215.JPG
     
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  13. pmh_74

    pmh_74 Well-Known Member

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    As it no longer carries B279716 can we start referring to it by its real number, B589054?

    Built by Pressed Steel, lot 2923, 1957.
    Rebodied, unusually perhaps, at Derby, in 1974. Identified from the Rover list by the rebody date.
    (My notes say that it also carries an 'inter repair' plate from location 4076 (Ashford) but I couldn't make out the date on that one. If you manage to read it during the clean-up, please let me know!)
     
  14. Flying Phil

    Flying Phil Part of the furniture

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    Hi pmh
    We will certainly renumber this wagon to B589054 when it goes back to grey but, at present, it does have a very big #16 on its sides so we will use that to identify it whilst it is black.
     
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  15. Flying Phil

    Flying Phil Part of the furniture

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    We have now just about finished cutting away the rusty steel. The next job will be to take out and overhaul the 15" vacuum cylinder.
    DSC02234.JPG

    Of note is the use of "I" beam section steel stanchions on the fixed end. Nearly all the other wagons have "U" section steel ( or more exactly "Top Hat" section) ref post #299.
     
    Last edited: Dec 14, 2022
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  16. pmh_74

    pmh_74 Well-Known Member

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    That’ll be an early-rebody-Derby feature then. A useful find given how similar they all look!

    EDIT: that said, 279714 doesn’t have this feature and is also a Derby rebody. So is 212705 but I only have a photo of the door end of that. (Both are at P&B.)
     
    Last edited: Dec 14, 2022
  17. Flying Phil

    Flying Phil Part of the furniture

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    Windcutter Annual Report Dec 2022
    What an outstanding year for the team.
    We have gained two new members and three more “Honorary members/Supporters”.
    We have returned to traffic four 16T mineral wagons B 551846 (Feb), B279703 Now B555696 (May), B 565224 (July), B570618 (Oct). We also repaired B589163 which had failed it’s FTR. The "Running Rake" of 18 wagons were also Pad examined and FTRd.

    So we were able to run 23 wagons and two brakes to make our “Lengthy train” for the Last Hurrah Gala. This is the most running wagons since about 1999. Many of the team were able to enjoy brake van rides during the weekend and see our wagons rolling through the Leicestershire countryside. It was very pleasing to see so many visitors watching, listening to and photographing the fruits of our labours.

    There were many comments about this unique spectacle that goes to make the GCR such a special place.

    We also had three information/sales stands during the year and two major articles about goods wagons in Steam Railway magazine. Our wagons featured in several published photographs.

    2023 will be the 30th Anniversary of the "Windcutter Restoration Team". We first met up at Rothley on June 19th 1993, so we will see how many of our wagons can be running this June!
     
    Last edited: Dec 20, 2022
  18. Flying Phil

    Flying Phil Part of the furniture

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    To work off some holiday excess, I popped along to Rothley and did some work on the insides and underframe, then heaved the floor sections into the wagon - to provide a better work footing and to get them out of the way! DSC02246.JPG DSC02247.JPG DSC02248.JPG
     
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  19. Flying Phil

    Flying Phil Part of the furniture

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    Last week saw a bit more removed from #16
    DSC02250.JPG

    Both side doors have been taken off so that the hinge support beams can be replaced. They were both heavily corroded at the ends and so new angle iron will be put in together with new hinge pins for the doors.
     
  20. Flying Phil

    Flying Phil Part of the furniture

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    We had our Information/Sales stand at Rothley on Sat and Sunday for the Winter Gala. Fortunately the weather was good (but cold!) and it was great to be able to explain about our work to many visitors. We were also able to raise a significant amount of money, so a big "Thank You" to those who are supporting us.
     

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