Photo © P. Hetherington 01/10/06 |
Saturday seemed to be a reasonable day, weather-wise, so I thought
I'd better seize the opportunity to paint a bit more of the underframe
in primer. The finished result doesn't look so far advanced from last
weekend, but it all helps. |
Photo © P. Hetherington 01/10/06 |
Sunday, on the other hand, was notable mainly for the torrential
thunderstorm which passed over at about mid-day. Painting was pretty
much out of the question, other than a bit of touching-up, so instead
I decided to start dismantling the brake rigging. Why? Because it is
in the way for painting the underframe, and if I'm going to do a
thorough job it seems to be easier all round to take some bits off.
I just hope I can work out how it goes back together...
Other than that, I freed off the last two lock-nuts on the
load-tensioning screws, removed a couple of air-pipe clips which were
still lurking under the frame, and bashed out the sawn-off remains of
some bolts which once held the original vacuum pipe brackets. |
Photo © P. Hetherington 08/10/06 |
It was another (relatively) dry weekend, so the painting continued.
By the end of Saturday another two sections of underframe had been
prepared and primed (left). |
Photo © P. Hetherington 08/10/06 |
By the end of Sunday another section had been done - except that I
missed a bit with the wire brush, and then ended up painting it in
near-darkness, so I had to re-do a bit on Monday. |
Photo © P. Hetherington 08/10/06 |
In order to paint that last section I first had to remove the block
of wood on the outside of the underframe. I have absolutely no idea what
this block of wood is for, other than to trap rust, but a thin layer of
cork-like material sat between it and the frame. The point of all this
is that, when I removed the 'cork' layer, I found the most fearsome
looking spider lurking beneath it... |
Photo © P. Hetherington 08/10/06 |
Now, the Palbrick has been infested with spiders for quite a while
(although they don't like the yellow primer), but what on earth is one
of these? It pretended to be dead, by the way, but it scurried off when
I wasn't looking. |
Photo © P. Hetherington 09/10/06 |
I dropped by on Monday to re-do part of the underframe as noted
above, and while I was there thought I'd better paint a few of the
brake rigging pieces I'd removed. They're seen here hanging up to
dry under a handy box van. I will turn the entire yard into a giant
washing line before I've finished...! |
Photo © P. Hetherington 15/10/06 |
Sunday was a lovely day, ideal for painting, but there was very nearly
no painting at all. I spent most of the day removing the brake rigging
linkage from the north end of the wagon - or more specifically, I spent
most of the time removing a single pin. The offending item was at the
top of the piece shown on the left; it goes through four pieces of metal
and had seized to the two inner ones. Still, we got there eventually
thanks to a dose of oil, four different hammers and several cups of tea.
Thanks to Steve for his brief but timely assistance... |
Photo © P. Hetherington 15/10/06 |
Photo © P. Hetherington 15/10/06 |
The purpose of removing all of the brake linkage is to enable painting
of the underframe at the north end of the wagon - but after all of the
fun and games with seized pins there wasn't much time for actual painting.
I managed to get one more section done though, and I am at least now ready
for the next bit!
Returning briefly to the dragboxes... on Monday I collected two 20mm thick
steel plates which will sit between the drawhook and the outside of the
dragboxes. They'll need a bit of 'beautifying' before they're quite ready
to fit; I'm still not sure what the Palbrick's original arrangement would
have looked like, but there are similar plates on some other wagons so
I'm confient that they'll do the job. Meanwhile, I hereby proudly present
perhaps the world's most boring photograph...! |
Photo © P. Hetherington 16/10/06 |
Showers were forecast. However, I didn't realise that this meant a
constant downpour for the entire afternoon! By the time it started raining
I had two more sections of underframe ready for painting, other than the
'fiddly bits' around the brake rigging supports. These last areas were
wire-brushed from under a hastily-arranged plastic sheet, and the day
turned into a damage limitation exercise with all of the 'fiddly bits'
painted and as much of the rest as I could reach from below.
The south ends of the two sections were outside the plastic sheeting,
so I'll have to wire-brush them again next weekend as well as the top
surfaces.
Photo © P. Hetherington 29/10/06 |
I wasn't 'officially' working on the wagon on Saturday, but I
stopped by for a couple of hours in the afternoon to finish painting
the sections which got rained off last weekend. Obviously a certain
amount of re-preparation was needed. Oh for a nice dry workshop... |
Photo © S. Nicholson 29/10/06 |
Sunday was a beautiful day - is it really the end of October? I
prepared the next two sections of underframe, and for good measure
decided to re-do the two small sections shown here. These were only
painted a month ago, but got rained on before the paint was dry. I
wasn't totally happy with the result so I re-did the top surfaces. |
Photo © P. Hetherington 29/10/06 |
That done, I painted the two larger sections I'd prepared earlier.
I've now reached a point where I need to decide what to do next. The
original idea was to paint all of the 'load space', but the next section
needs some more of the brake rigging dismantling. It might be better to
carry on with the underframe at the north end of the wagon, then get
these areas up to top coat and the brake rigging back together before
dismantling the south end. We'll see! |
Photo © P. Hetherington 03/11/06 |
A nice, dry few days, although it has certainly turned cold. I
decided to carry on northwards with the primer, so on Friday I prepared
and painted the next couple of sections and, for good measure, the buffer
and the frame which holds the brake shoes. |
Photo © P. Hetherington 03/11/06 |
Photo © P. Hetherington 04/11/06 |
Each of the brake shoe supports has a couple of brackets to catch
it if it falls to bits. We'd removed the two northenmost brackets a few
weeks ago - with the help of a large amount of heat. I'd been painting
around the others for a few weeks, but on Saturday it was time to do
something about them so I spent the morning removing 12 split pins
(most of them with the aid of a hacksaw) and the afternoon heating up
nuts. It quickly became apparent that they didn't want to budge more
than half a turn so in the end I cut them all off. I already have new
nuts and bolts for these anyway. |
One interesting point is that whereas the horizontal bolt has the
washer under the nut as you'd expect, the vertical one has the washer
under the bolt head. I have no idea why this is... |
Photo © P. Hetherington 05/11/06 |
While I had the heating gear out I planned on sorting out three
bent gusset plates on the underframe. In the event this job didn't
get done until Sunday, and as you can see I'll need to re-do some of
my earlier painting as a result, but I think it was worth it. |
Photo © P. Hetherington 05/11/06 |
Photo © P. Hetherington 05/11/06 |
That done, I returned to painting mode, preparing and priming
another couple of sections of underframe at the north end of the wagon,
although as you can see I didn't get quite as far as doing the buffer
this time. |
I'm now running out of primer, so I'm not sure how much further
I'll get before starting on the next layer. Watch this space! |
Photo © P. Hetherington 10/11/06 |
Another Friday off... so I prepared and painted the areas I'd burnt
the paint off last week (gusset plates and areas around holes for
brake rigging brackets), and also another of the frames supporting
the brake shoes. |
Photo © P. Hetherington 10/11/06 |
Photo © P. Hetherington 12/11/06 |
On Sunday, the arrival of a 110V needle gun allowed the 'back wall'
of the north end dragbox to be tackled. On the left hand picture the
surface is only part-prepared; this is the worst area of the wagon
for corrosion so worth preparing properly. Interestingly, this small
cross-piece seems to be unique to Palbricks and specially designed
as a rust trap! |
Photo © P. Hetherington 12/11/06 |
Photo © P. Hetherington 18/11/06 |
On Saturday I needle-gunned the 'inner' end of the south dragbox
to match the north one I'd done previously. Having done so, I'm now
almost completely out of primer. |
Photo © P. Hetherington 18/11/06 |
Photo © P. Hetherington 19/11/06 |
On Sunday a small but significant step took place, as the wagon
actually got slightly heavier! The reason was the re-fitting of the
bracket seen in the left hand photo; the purpose of this is to catch
the brake adjuster if the pin falls out, although at present this
part of the brake rigging is off the wagon.
That done, I decided that as it was a nice day I would get the
undercoat out and start on the next layer of paint. The areas I've
missed were missed deliberately, as there are gusset plates to weld
on below and the welding will probably burn the paint off. |
Photo © P. Hetherington 19/11/06 |
Photo © P. Hetherington 20/11/06 |
I dropped by on Monday with the intention of top-coating the area
I'd painted in undercoat the day before. However, when I looked at the
undercoat I'd done I decided it needed touching up in a few places, and
so having got the undercoat out I thought I might as well carry on and
do some more.
Of course it started spitting with rain just as I was finishing off -
hence the plastic sheet over the last area I'd painted. It will probably
stick to the paint... |
Photo © P. Hetherington 20/11/06 |
Photo © P. Hetherington 01/12/06 |
Some of last week's top coat must have got rained on before it was
properly dry, as it's gone a bit matt. Still, it will protect the metal
well enough for the winter and I can put another coat on in the
spring.
I spent Saturday touching up the black in a few places, then painting
another large section of the underframe. I've left some of the top
surfaces on the left hand side where I'm not happy with the undercoat.
The two small boxes to the right were left because it got dark, but
Sunday morning was sunnier than expected so I finished them off then.
That done, I got the undercoat out and painted a few more bits and
pieces, as shown below. |
Photo © P. Hetherington 02/12/06 |
Photo © P. Hetherington 02/12/06 |
Photo © P. Hetherington 02/12/06 |
Photo © P. Hetherington 02/12/06 |
Photo © P. Hetherington 17/12/06 |
I dropped by on Saturday afternoon to do a spot of needle-gunning
on the 'outer end' of each dragbox, in preparation for the welding
which was booked for Sunday.
The weather was kind to us on Sunday and contractor Dave Hewson began
by welding in the lower channel for the north end dragbox. This was a
more complex job than we first realised, particularly given the
awkward access!
I was comcerned that if water seeped between the channel and the back
of the headstock it could become trapped and cause problems later on.
After a bit of thought we decided to put an extra run of weld along the
'front edge' of the channel to prevent such seepage.
While Dave was doing the welding, I was preparing the outer plates which,
you may recall, had been delivered with the holes cut but without the
edges chamfered. The chamfering was achieved with a combination of angle
grinder and file (the filed bits are neater!) and allows these plates to
sit properly against the draw hooks. Interestingly, the two draw hooks
aren't quite the same shape so one end is going to be a bit loose; it won't
matter though once the big nut on the back has been tightened up! The other
one won't quite sit square - I think the draw hook itself is slightly
twisted; it has probably been like that since new.
Having welded the channel in as above, it occurs to me that in solving one
potential rust-trap we've created another one. When the front plate goes on
there will now be a 'slot' which will hold water. We discussed filling the
space with weld, but I think a better option will be to create two drainage
channels by cutting grooves in the back of the front plate - it's plenty
thick enough to allow this. Watch this space! |
Photo © P. Hetherington 17/12/06 |
Photo © P. Hetherington 17/12/06
Picture taken using the screen on a digital camera. A little
reminder that it is not advisable to look at a welding spark
anyway, let alone through a lens... |
Next up were the four air pipe holes - two at each end - which were
cut during the Freightliner modifications back in 1967. I'd previously
prepared discs of the right size to fit the holes, so Dave welded them
in.
While Dave was working on the south end of the wagon, I ground flush the
outer welds at the north end and applied a quick coat of primer to keep
the rust at bay. The south end will need similarly grinding next time. |
Photo © P. Hetherington 17/12/06 |
Photo © P. Hetherington 17/12/06 |
In-between times Dave spent a bit of time inside the south end
dragbox strengthening up the existing welds in the corners, as we
won't be able to get to them once the new channel goes in. He did a
similar job at the north end - hence the vertical paint burns in the
photo above - although I must admit I forgot to tell Dave about this
part of the job before he'd got the lower channel tack-welded into
place at that end. So he did what he could reach from inside and around
the channel, which covers most of it apart from the lower corners.
These are the most likely areas to trap water, of course, but I'm not
too worried as the other welding he did pretty much sealed everything
in.
One other job tackled was to repair the wagon's end bodywork where I'd
accidently burnt a hole through it when removing the coupling hooks.
This is another area which will need grinding flush next time.
So, all in all a good day. We didn't get quite as much done as I'd
have hoped, but there was certainly no slacking so I can't complain.
Another couple of good sessions like this should hopefully see the
welding phase completed (and my bank balance depleted!). |
Photo © P. Hetherington 17/12/06 |
Photo © P. Hetherington 30/12/06 |
The 30th dawned bright and sunny, so seemed like a good day to do
a bit of painting. First I got out the grey undercoat and finished off
a couple of the areas I'd deliberately missed previously, and then gave
the same treatment to some of the loose parts on the 'washing line'.
You'll note from the picture of the coupling hook that I've missed a bit,
but that can be done when the hook is back on the wagon. As for the lamp
brackets and vacuum dummy brackets, they've been in primer for so long
that a couple of them now need re-doing in places, which is why the
undercoat has only been applied patchily. |
Photo © P. Hetherington 30/12/06 |
Photo © P. Hetherington 30/12/06 |
That done, I got the black gloss out and painted the vacuum cylinder
and also some odd bits underneath the wagon. What the left hand photo
doesn't show is that I ran out of paint before finishing the other
side of these pieces!
That done, the heavens opened and my freshly-painted vacuum cylinder
got a good soaking while I tried to limit the damage to the other bits
by covering the underframe in plastic sheeting. So the cylinder will
need to be done again. Grr! |
Photo © P. Hetherington 30/12/06 |
Photo © P. Hetherington 14/01/07 |
Dave's first job was to weld in place the upper dragbox channel
at the north end of the wagon. That done, the two missing gusset
plates were welded in place. As these covered the slots which
I'd cut in order to feed in the new channel, we were then able
to simply place the fillet pieces on top and weld around them. |
Photo © P. Hetherington 14/01/07 |
Photo © P. Hetherington 14/01/07 |
Meanwhile, I cut two grooves in the back of the outer plate - to
aid drainage, as previously mentioned - and then Dave welded this
in place. This completes the welding at the north end!
These plates, by the way, were made from 20mm steel plate. This is a
'compromise' thickness based on measuring similar plates on several
BR-built wagons on the GCR. I have no way of knowing for certain what
the Palbrick's original plate (or, more likely, forging) looked like,
but the height and width should be correct as I based those on the
scars left from the removal of the originals. |
Photo © P. Hetherington 14/01/07 |
Photo © P. Hetherington 14/01/07 |
I cleaned up around the welds and painted the whole of the north
end dragbox area in primer. And then, for good measure, I found
a few other bits and pieces to clean and paint in primer too. |
Photo © P. Hetherington 14/01/07 |
Photo © P. Hetherington 14/01/07 |
Dave, meanwhile, made a start on the south end, by welding the new
lower channel in place. That done, we decided to take a different
approach and weld the outer plate on before the upper channel.
That's as far as we got, but the remaining work should only take
half a day - so there will now be a short interlude while I prepare
my Conflat - the
next project - for similar treatment, in order to make the best use
of Dave's time on his next visit. |
Photo © P. Hetherington 14/01/07 |
Photo © P. Hetherington 13/01/05 |
Photo © P. Hetherington 25/02/07 |
Photo © P. Hetherington 25/02/07 |
| Most wagons have a hook under each end to hang the coupling hook on
when it isn't being used. When the Palbrick was modified for
Freightliner use these hooks were in the way, so they were moved onto
a piece of angle welded between two of the body end pieces. They
were removed from here many months ago... |
Saturday was a frustrating day as I spent most of it sorting out a
broken window in my car. I've only owned the car a week! Grr!
When I eventually got to Swithland I ground to shape and drilled two
metal plates which we'd rough-cut the previous weekend, and cut the
coupling hooks off the channel to which they were previously
fixed. |
On Sunday the main focus of attention was the Conflat but we also welded
the various bits together to make the two coupling hooks seen
here.
Apart from the side stanchions - which will be contracted out - this
completes the welding phase for this wagon. Another step forward!
|
