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Preservation Archive Part 9: December 2007 to August 2008:

Brake rigging, part I, 16/12/07.

Photo © P. Hetherington 16/12/07

You know it's too cold to paint when the brush which you left in a tin of water is found standing in a tin of ice... ...So I decided it was a good day to stay indoors. I drilled split-pin holes in all 16 of the new bolts which will hold the 'safety loops' on. I did, however, venture outside for long enough to actually fit the first two loops, since these had been kicking around in a fully painted state for ages. In fact, they've suffered a few chips here and there so I wire brushed and primed in a few places (after first leaving both the paint and the brush stood on top of the mess room heater for a while!

Brake rigging, part II-III, 23/12/07 & 26/12/07.

I only had limited time available over Christmas. On the two days I did manage to fit in some wagon work, it was too cold or damp or both to much on the wagon itself but I wire brushed and primed the second brake handle and the two vacuum pipe 'swan neck' fittings - one of which required the chipping away of lots of scale before it could be painted, which is a tedious job if ever there was one.

Brake rigging, part IV, 06/01/08.

Photo © P. Hetherington 06/01/08

I spent a good part of the day working on the Conflat but in-between times I got the undercoat out and treated the two brake handles and the long bar from the brake rigging. I'll have to turn them over to do the other side next time... I also painted the 'swan necks' for the vacuum pipe - forgetting, of course, that as they are to be painted red I had intended to use the other undercoat. Oh well!

Photo © P. Hetherington 06/01/08

Brake rigging, part V, 20/01/08.

This weekend was basically a complete wash-out, though I did manage to paint in undercoat the other side of the brake handles and brake rigging bar, since these are more-or-less under cover.

More significantly, I sent off a cheque a couple of days ago for a selection of detail drawings of diagram 1/026 Palbricks, having discovered that a complete set survives in Derby. Due to the exorbitant cost of these (don't ask...) I've only gone for what should be the most essential drawings, but these should include details of the missing side stanchions and panels so hopefully things should start to move on that front soon.

Underframe painting, parts L & LI, 09-10/02/08.

Photo © P. Hetherington 10/02/08	Photo © P. Hetherington 10/02/08	Photo © P. Hetherington 10/02/08
An unseasonably warm weekend, just nice for painting, although with an overnight frost predicted it had to be the fast-drying primer. Unfortunately it was one of those weekends which was full of interruptions, so plenty of talking got done and not much painting. Still, it all helps.	On Saturday I cleaned and primed the south-eastern corner of the solebar, and the mounting bracket for the brake handle on the west side, as well as touching up a couple of bits on and around the cross-shaft.	Then, on Sunday, I prepared and primed most of the north-eastern corner of the solebar, leaving only the fiddly bit behind the brake handle guide.

Underframe painting, parts LII & LIII, 17-18/02/08.

Photo © P. Hetherington 18/02/08

I hadn't planned on visiting the GCR this weekend as I had commitments elsewhere on the Saturday, however the weather forecast was so good that I decided to drive up on Sunday especially to put some undercoat on last weekend's primer - I don't like leaving it in primer for too long. I'd booked Monday off work, but although it was beautifully sunny, night-time temperatures were well below zero so top coat was out of the question. Instead, I put a second coat of undercoat on; this should see it through until we get some warmer weather.

Photo © P. Hetherington 18/02/08

Underframe painting, part LIV, 09/03/08.

Photo © P. Hetherington 09/03/08

Most of the day was spent preparing and priming the awkward bit of solebar behind the brake handle bracket on the northeast side of the wagon. It may not look much, but it was fiddly! I recently purchased a number of drawings for the Palbrick which should assist with the manufacture of missing parts. Here, the underframe drawing is laid out so that the positions of the vacuum pipe bracket holes could be marked; this will assist with the manufacture of a new pipe.

Photo © P. Hetherington 09/03/08

Underframe painting, part LV, 30/03/08.

Photo © P. Hetherington 30/03/08

Most of the day's effort was spent in preparing and priming the underside of the vacuum cylinder. However, the paint didn't want to stick in a couple of places, probably because I hadn't de-greased the cylinder properly, so some remedial work might be necessary next time. The part of the north-eastern corner of the solebar which was still in primer received a coat of grey undercoat too, though there are a couple of areas nearby which need a bit of touching up.

Photo © P. Hetherington 30/03/08

Brake rigging, part VI, 13/04/08.

The weather seemed a bit suspect, so the day was spent wire brushing and priming the brake rigging 'safety loops' from the south end of the wagon, since these could be hung up to dry indoors. The remaining two from the north end have been in undercoat for too long, so were touched up as necessary - in practice one was brushed down and completely re-painted as it had been stored in the wet.

Photo © P. Hetherington 26/04/08

Brake rigging, parts VII & VIII, 26-27/04/08.

Photo © P. Hetherington 27/04/08	Not much time on Saturday, but it was a nice day so I dropped by to do a bit of painting. First I undercoated the underside of the vacuum cylinder and the six brake rigging 'safety loops'.	Photo © P. Hetherington 26/04/08
Photo © P. Hetherington 26/04/08	Next I got the black gloss out and top-coated a few little bits here and there - although I decided that a couple of areas of underframe needed some touching up, so didn't finish those bits. On Sunday I spent most of the day wire brushing and priming a few little areas where 'touching up' seemed to be required, then finished by re-fitting the north-end safety loops and a couple of pieces of brake rigging.	Photo © P. Hetherington 27/04/08

Brake rigging, parts IX & X, 25-26/05/08.

Photo © P. Hetherington 25/05/08 Photo © P. Hetherington 25/05/08	Sunday was just too wet to achieve much, but I decided to rig up a plastic sheet under which I could continue the re-assembly of the north end brake rigging. The result is as seen above left, and as you can see I had to touch up the paint in a few places where the parts had got chipped in storage. I then decided to get the black gloss out and top-coat various parts which are currently off the wagon, as seen below left and right.	Photo © P. Hetherington 25/05/08
Photo © P. Hetherington 26/05/08	On Monday the weather was drier (it's all relative) but very windy and hence too changeable to risk painting. I decided instead that, having mostly re-assembled the north end, it was time to dismantle the brake rigging from the south end of the wagon. This was done and the parts marked up; the only parts still to be removed in the picture on the right are the two central straps which swing on shouldered bolts.	Photo © P. Hetherington 26/05/08

Underframe painting, part LVI, 01/06/08.

Flaming June! Well it clearly hasn't arrived yet, it's been thoroughly damp so far, though it did brighten up briefly in the afternoon - enough to wire brush and prime the awkward bit of underframe which sticks down and serves as the 'fixed point' in the brake rigging. No, I haven't a clue what its name is. Prior to that I spent pretty much all morning removing the two bolts holding on those last two bits of brake rigging. The split pins had to be sawn off both bolts and the holes will need drilling out, and in one case the bolt was rusted solid into its hole, but I have no choice but to re-use them as they're such a specialist type of bolt. Fortunately the critical bits (i.e. the pivot for the brake rigging, and the thread for the nut) are all fine.

Photo © P. Hetherington 08/06/08

Underframe painting, part LVII, 08/06/08.

Photo © P. Hetherington 08/06/08

Finally, a nice sunny day just right for painting! I spent most of the day wire brushing and priming that last section of underframe, and very awkward and fiddly it was too. And don't look too closely, because it looks like I missed a bit - I'll put that right next time. After that I decided to do some top coat, so I got the black gloss out and did most of the bits previously in grey. Unfortunately this included some bits of brake rigging, so some grease got onto the brush and has made a bit of a mess of the bit in the photo - oops! I'll put another coat on next time... And yes, the rest of it could do with a clean!

Photo © P. Hetherington 08/06/08

Wheelset painting, part VII, 22/06/08.

Photo © P. Hetherington 22/06/08

It seemed like nice priming weather, though a bit unsettled for the slower-drying undercoat or top coat, so I spent the day wire brushing and priming the 'inside' face of the southeastern wheel. It might not seem like much, but it did take all day! I noted the various stampings on this wheel which were similar to those on the north wheelset (see 16/09/07 report). The wheel itself has 'K1506' stamped on one side and something ending in '17' opposite (one of the holes has obliterated the rest of the text), while around the centre is what looks like 'CL C JB L 8 1959' although comparing with the data from the other wheel, the L could be a C. The wheelset number is also stamped but I forgot to write it down. Finally, on the face of the hub, on three lines, is '406 W12 406' but with the 'W12' part upside-down. What all this means is that the south end wheelset dates from August 1959 so is two months older than the north end wheelset - it all seems fairly consistent though so I'm fairly sure we have the original wheelsets.

Wheelset painting, part VIII, and underframe painting, part LVIII, 30/06/08.

Photo © P. Hetherington 30/06/08 Photo © P. Hetherington 30/06/08 Photo © P. Hetherington 30/06/08

I'd booked a day off work, nominally to recover from the Standard Motor Club's international rally but in practice the weather was too nice not to be outside painting pieces of Palbrick. I wire brushed and primed the southern axle and the inside face of the southwestern wheel - leaving just the two outer faces to do - and also touched up a few paint chips here and there on the underframe. Next, I got out the grey undercoat and painted the last section of underframe, then for good measure carried on and painted the inside face of the southeastern wheel, and started on the axle (as the primer was dry by this time). I'd probably still have been there by sunrise the next day, but I ran out of undercoat. Still, a good day! Along the way I noted the stamped markings on the axle ('JBC F1818' and what looks like '7 59 BR') and the remaining wheel. These markings are similar to those on the southeastern wheel but the characters opposite 'K1506' are 'K1506 51', i.e. the last two digits are different. The letter I thought might be an 'L' on the southeastern wheel is certainly a 'C' on the southwestern one, and the digits I recorded as '406' on the southestern one are '405' on the southwestern one. Most importantly, I remembered to note down the wheelset number: 'A174791A'. Maybe one day someone will tell me what all of this data actually means...

Wheelset painting, part IX, and underframe painting, part LIX, 05/07/08.

Sunday's weather forecast was appalling, and Saturday wasn't much better but as it did briefly brighten up for a bit, so I took the opportunity to stick a bit more paint on - black on the brake rigging bracket part of the underframe, a touching-up of the grey on the other bit of underframe, and grey on the remainder of the south wheelset - outside faces excepted, of course. That was about all that got done though, due entirely to the wonderful British 'summer' weather. No wonder this is taking so long...

Photo © P. Hetherington 05/07/08

Wheelset painting, part X, underframe painting, part LX, and Brake rigging, part XI, 17, 19 & 20/07/08.

Photo © P. Hetherington 20/07/08	No doubt much to the delight of my neighbours, I decided to take some grotty bits of brake rigging home to wire brush and de-grease there. I only managed one evening, but got three bits fully cleaned up and a fourth well on the way - it would have been finished if it hadn't been such an awkward shape, but I didn't have the right wire brush fitting to get to the fiddly bit. I only had limited time available on Saturday afternoon so didn't want to get too involved, but I got the primer out and primed those pre-prepared bits, with the fiddly one following on Sunday at which stage I also put undercoat on the first three.	Photo © P. Hetherington 20/07/08
Photo © P. Hetherington 20/07/08	Also on the Saturday I decided to do a bit of top coat, so I got the black gloss out and painted the south end axle and the inside faces of the wheels, and most of the last remaining area of underframe above, though with some of the fiddly bits to follow.	Photo © P. Hetherington 26/07/08
Photo © P. Hetherington 20/07/08	Sunday was a perfect day for wagon work, weather-wise. If I'd known how good it was going to be I'd have had Monday and Tuesday off work and carried on! I decided to tackle one of those awkward frames which supports the brake shoes, so I spent pretty much all day wire-brushing it until eventually I could prime it and, after waiting a while for the primer to dry, I also painted it in undercoat.	Photo © P. Hetherington 20/07/08

Wheelset painting, part XI, underframe painting, part LXI, and Brake rigging, part XII, 23, 26 & 27/07/08.

Photo © P. Hetherington 26/07/08	Once again I did a bit of wire brushing at home during the week, so the first job on Saturday was to paint those bits in primer. That done, I looked around for something else to do and decided to clean up and prime the outer face of the southeastern wheel, which I completed apart from a strip around the edge of the face of the wheel which seemed to be particularly affected by scale. Having managed to kill the angle grinder (faulty cable) I decided to abandon that strip until I could get to it with the needle gun.	Photo © P. Hetherington 26/07/08
Photo © P. Hetherington 27/07/08	First job on Sunday, therefore, was to needle-gun the offending area of the southeastern wheel, following which I did the southwestern wheel to match. I then fixed the angle grinder and re-did a couple of areas of the eastern solebar which had been annoying me for ages. I then primed the outer faces of each wheel and odd bits of solebar. The next job was to get the black gloss out, and top-coat the brake shoe support I'd prepared the previous week. I also (I think) finished painting that awkward bit of underframe just above the axle.	Photo © P. Hetherington 27/07/08
Photo © P. Hetherington 27/07/08	Next, all of the brake rigging bits in primer were painted in grey undercoat. The three bits which were already in grey then got a coat of black gloss too. And finally... in fading light, the outer faces of the two wheels I'd primed earlier were painted in grey undercoat, as were the two small sections of solebar.	Photo © P. Hetherington 27/07/08

Wheelset painting, part XII, and Brake rigging, part XIII, 03/08/08.

I had intended to get some more bits wire-brushed at home during the week, but in the event I only managed one piece of brake rigging. It's an important bit though as it will be one of the first to go back on once it's ready. I stopped by for half an hour on Saturday to prime it and hung it up with the others. The weather was looking a bit suspect for Sunday but after a brief shower in the morning the rain mostly held off, so I decided to risk painting. In the event it was a good day - that last piece of brake rigging went into undercoat, the last of the brake shoe supports was wire-brushed and primed, and later undercoated, and the outer faces of the two southern wheels were painted into black gloss, as were the bits of underframe I'd been patching up the previous week. Finally, some of the brake rigging components received a coat of black gloss. I'd have done more, but I ran out of time.

Photo © P. Hetherington 10/08/08 Photo © P. Hetherington 10/08/08

Brake rigging, part XIV, 10/08/08.

Photo © P. Hetherington 10/08/08

The weather was really not conducive to outdoor painting, which was a shame as it was quite sunny in-between rain showers. So I spent most of the day cleaning up brake rigging pins and washers, and by the end of the day had a long line of them all painted in primer. The other thing I managed to do was to re-fit the brake handle to the eastern side, although it isn't connected up yet as a few of the bits of linkage needed another coat of paint. The western brake handle will be a while longer as the linkage for that side is still sitting in my shed in grotty condition.

Brake rigging, part XV, 24 & 26/08/08.

Photo © P. Hetherington 31/08/08

A concerted effort over a couple of days, plus the odd half hour's painting on the 15th, 23rd and 25th, saw most of the south end brake rigging re-attached to the wagon, with only one pin remaining to be fitted at the time of writing. That will go in soon, but was waiting for some paint to dry on one of the other pieces. Of course, there are still a few bits missing between the north and south sections of brake rigging, so it doesn't work yet! Two of the safety loops have been fitted, with the last two ready for fitting but not yet on. The east side brake handle linkage was also re-fitted, apart from a single large (by which I mean half inch diameter by four inches in length) split pin for which I need to buy a replacement - which would be fine if I could get a box of less than 50. I'll need one for the west side too - I suppose the other 48 will come in for something?

Back to Part 8: August to December 2007

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