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Carriage & Wagon Works News

Quick repair of the Queen Mary Brake
July 2021


 
Queen Mary in works - Matthew Lander - 3 July 2021
This Southern Railway bogie brake van, No. 56290, has been heavily used since its overhaul which was completed in 2007, being the only fitted Brake Van operational on the Railway. In July 2021 it became an "all hands to the pump" project with the sudden requirement to get it back into a fit state for Brake Van rides at the "60 Plus 1" Anniversary Event in early August.

The van had some badly rotten floor boards (which are the ones not replaced previously), the doors and hinge pillars at the south end were collapsing, along with peeling paint work, so the Railway requested the "Goods Division" to do the work to get it back up to reasonable standard.

The longer term plan is that, once the other SR fitted brake (ex-War Department) is overhauled, this van can then have a full intermediate repair, but for the present it's a case of patching it up for a few more years' service.

The photo above shows the van at the start of the work (Matt Lander, 3 July 2021) and that below after its quick overhaul and repaint, just a month later (Richard Salmon)

Queen Mary Brake van compelted - Richard Salmon - 4 August 2021

Richard fitting new end moulding - Matt Lander - 29 July 2021
29 July - 1 August 2021

Very few days were available to finish the van ends. Firstly Richard fitted the replacement piece of capping on the north end of the roof and then the whole team set about sanding down and priming that end, and top-coating the other end. By the end of the Model Railway Weekend we were able to finish the painting of the ends, as seen below (photos of the South end from 30 July).

The red paint used is based on that specified in the HMRS SR livery register (and Southern Style Part 4), with Munsell value 7.5 R 3/12. The closest standard colours, which are all extremely close to being identical, are:
* BS 0-006 (of BS 2660) - Post Office Red (old version)
* RAL Classic 3001 Signal Red
* RAL Classic 3002 Carmine Red.

The HMRS name this as Venetian Red, but that name is associated with two rather different standard colours, neither of which is anything like the Munsell value given.

Part-painted South end - 30 July 2021 Completed South end - 30 July 2021

New floor timber in cabin doorway - Richard Salmon - 1 August 2021

 

 

 

 

One section of rotten floor timber remained, in the northern cabin doorway, which hadn't looked too bad, but was probed, and found to need replacing. This was easily replaced on 1 August using a convenient off-cut of Iroko which was to hand, as seen in the photo on the left.

The van was thoroughly cleaned up, and left the shed the following day, ready for brake-van rides over the following 60+1 Gala weekend.


Matt tracing chalk outline - 28 July 2021
28 July 2021

A lot of work today on the sign-writing from Matt - this first photo shows the chalk outline of the letters transferred from the tracing. We finished fitting and bolting down the floor planks. The two new doors having been fitted, with bolts primed and painted, were given another coat of paint, and the timber capping fitted in the verandas.

Below, Matthew Lander's photos show the touching up of the numbers, and the completed lettering on the East side.

Numbers before and after touching in - Matthew Lander - 28 July 2021 Completed East side - Matthew Lander - 28 July 2021

South end sanded and steelwork primed - Steven Goldsmith - 28 July 2021

 

 

With the work having gone well, and a couple of days in hand, we concluded we had time to repaint the ends, so work was started on that, since the old paint was very badly faded.

Left: South end sanded and the steelwork primed (Steven Goldsmith)


25 July 2021

This weekend saw second topcoats applied to both sides, ready for signwriting next week.

Below are seen Jack painting the east ducket (Matthew Lander) and Matt painting the lower part of the same ducket. (Jack Gregory)

Jack painting east ducket - Matthew Lander - 25 July 2021 Matt painting east ducket - Jack Gregory - 25 July 2021
East side after receiving second topcoat - Jack Gregory - 25 July 2021

 

 

Right: The east side after receiving its second topcoat. (Jack Gregory)

Below: Simon Bass rubbed down and painted the second coat on the west side today. (Matthew Lander and Richard Salmon)

West side rubbed down - Matthew Lander - 25 July 2021 West side in second topcoat - Richard Salmon - 25 July 2021
Number masked for painting - Richard Salmon - 25 July 2021

 

 

Left: Matt masked the numbers, rubbed down the steel parts along the lower bodyside, and topcoated them. (Richard Salmon)

Below: Tare lettering after repainting round it, and the previously prepared patch now bolted over the rotten plank end, with its second topcoat completed in situ. (Richard Salmon)

Tare lettering after repainting round it - Richard Salmon - 25 July 2021 Patch now fitted and second topcoat completed in situ - Richard Salmon - 25 July 2021
Number masked for painting - Richard Salmon - 25 July 2021

Right: The end moulding in topcoat. The rest of the van end is badly faded, but will only be repainted if there is time to prep and paint it next week. (Richard Salmon)

Below: One of the replacement doors, which are now in topcoat on the outside and second topcoat on the inside. The second topcoat will not be applied to the outside until the door is fitted. The various items of door furniture are now almost all topcoated too. (Richard Salmon)

One of the doors in topcoat - Richard Salmon - 25 July 2021 Door furniture are now almost all topcoated - Richard Salmon - 25 July 2021
Relaid floor in north veranda - Jack Gregory - 25 July 2021

 

Left: Richard has completed all the floor planks, those in the north veranda are seen here. Most of the holes have now been drilled ready for bolting down, although those which cannot be drilled from beneath are yet to be done, which will require some careful measurement. One plank in each group is left out for the present, since if all were fitted it would be almost impossible to lift them again. (Jack Gregory)


West side - Richard Salmon - 21 July 2021
22 July 2021

Another Wednesday evening shift, last night, saw more paint being applied, and progress with the floor planks.

The west side (right) has now mostly had its first coat of top-coat, as has much of the east side (below).

The two most difficult floor planks to fit so far were those towards the south end (below right) where the metal sub-floor was distorted, requiring some sections of each plank to be planed thinner than elsewhere.
(All photos Richard Salmon)

East side - Richard Salmon - 21 July 2021 South floor - Richard Salmon - 21 July 2021
Hinge pillars in topcoat - Richard Salmon - 21 July 2021

 

 

Left: The hinge pillars have had their first topcoat...

Below: ...as have the door tops and the various hinge parts.

Door tops in topcoat - Richard Salmon - 21 July 2021 Hinge parts in topcoat - Richard Salmon - 21 July 2021 Hinges in topcoat - Richard Salmon - 21 July 2021

Door in undercoat - Richard Salmon - 21 July 2021 Door in undercoat - Richard Salmon - 21 July 2021

 

 

Here are the new doors, now in undercoat after Monday.



New floor planks - Richard Salmon - 18 July 2021
19 July 2021

Good progress again over the weekend, and Tom and Laurie got quite a bit done today, including the first topcoat on part of the west side.

Laurie painted the sub-floor a nice bright yellow topcoat (it won't be seen, so the colour is immaterial!) first thing on Saturday, and the photo here from Sunday evening shows some of the new planking for the floor cut to length and width (by Richard and Tom), but not yet fully fitted to the floor. Hopefully this part of the job will be completed on Wednesday evening. (Richard Salmon)
 
East side ducket - Richard Salmon - 18 July 2021

 

 

Left and below: Over the weekend Matt completed the removal of flaking paint from the metalwork on the west side, treated it, primed and undercoated it, and the same for both duckets, and rubbed down most of the remaining paintwork. He also took a tracing of the number to asist in repainting that on the east side. (Richard Salmon)

West side - Richard Salmon - 18 July 2021
New doors primed - Richard Salmon - 18 July 2021

 

 

New doors for the south end now primed on both sides. (Richard Salmon)
 
West side - Richard Salmon - 18 July 2021

 

Right: Tony finished drilling and cutting the required cutouts on the door pillars, and these are seen here primed. The small patches for the West side of the cabin are primed and undercoated, as was the new section of roof-end cover strip (which is here in red undercoat). (Richard Salmon)

Below: the pillar-mounted part of the hinges have had a second undercoat, and other metalwork for the doors are also in undercoat. The hinge sections for the doors were needlegunned by Tom (but not photographed).
 

Hinge parts in undercoat - Richard Salmon - 18 July 2021 Door fittings in undercoat - Richard Salmon - 18 July 2021


New moulding for end of the roof - Richard Salmon - 14 July 2021
14 July 2021

5 people were working on the van on Wednesday evening. Here we see the new moulding to replace the rotten original which goes just below the end of the roof at the north end. One of the Iroko planks surplus from making the doors was exactly the right size for this. (Richard Salmon)
 
Doors made up - Richard Salmon - 14 July 2021

 

 

The two replacement doors were made up at the weekend. Here they are seen prior to sanding the filler smooth over the screw holes, which was completed by Alex Morley and David Chappell that evening. (Richard Salmon)
 
Decayed planks which will have a patch fitted - Richard Salmon - 14 July 2021

 

 

Plywood patches were prepared at the weekend which will cover this decayed plank end. The boards will be replaced when the van is overhauled in a few years time. (Richard Salmon)
 
New hinge pillars - Richard Salmon - 14 July 2021

 

 

New hinge pillars, one of which Tony Clements fitted (by cutting out rebates to accommodate the rivet heads) during the course of the evening. (Richard Salmon)
 


East side undercoated - Matthew Lander - 11 July 2021

10-11 July 2021

Another very busy weekend in the works carrying on from where the midweek volunteers had left off.

Work done:
- East Side scraped of loose paint, primed and undercoated
- West Side undercoated
- Started undercoating the exposed veranda sub-floor
- Hinges and hinge-pin heads primed and undercoated
- Hinge Bolts primed and undercoated
- New doors assembled, and had their screw heads etch primed and filled
- Top rails scraped, sanded, primed and undercoated
- Lettering positioning measured up before it is covered over
- New doors made up.
 
West side undercoated - Matthew Lander - 11 July 2021

 

 

Above: East Side patch primed and undercoated.
Left: West side. (Matthew Lander)
 
Sub-floor primed and undercoated - Matthew Lander - 11 July 2021

 

 

 

 

Sub-floor in north veranda primed and undercoated. (Matthew Lander)
 
Hinges cleaned, primed and undercoated - Matthew Lander - 11 July 2021

 

 

 

 

Hinges cleaned, primed and undercoated. (Matthew Lander)
 
Hinge bolts - Matthew Lander - 11 July 2021

 

 

 

 

Hinge bolts cleaned, primed and undercoated. (Matthew Lander)
 
Top rail undercoated - Matthew Lander - 11 July 2021

 

 

 

 

Veranda top rail undercoated. (Matthew Lander)
 


7 July 2021

Old hinge pillar timbers removed at south end.
Replacement hinge pillar timbers made up (in Iroko).
Veranda sub-floor steelwork cleaned and primed.


3-4 July 2021

Floor being removed - Laurie Anderson - 3 July 2021

 

 

Some of the original floor planks being removed. (Laurie Anderson)
 
Floor being removed - Laurie Anderson - 3 July 2021

 

 

Some of the original floor planks being removed. (Laurie Anderson)
 
Floor being removed - Laurie Anderson - 3 July 2021

 

 

Some of the original floor planks being removed. (Laurie Anderson)
 
New planking for the south veranda doors - Richard Salmon - 3 July 2021

 

 

New planking machined from Iroko for the south veranda doors. (Richard Salmon)
 
Side planking - Matthew Lander - 4 July 2021

 

 

The worst of the planking on the side of the van itself, which will be replaced at its next overhaul. (Matthew Lander)
 
North veranda planking - Matthew Lander - 4 July 2021

 

 

Planking on the side of the north veranda. (Matthew Lander)
 
North veranda with rotten floor planks removed - Matthew Lander - 4 July 2021

 

 

North veranda with rotten floor planks and doors removed. (Matthew Lander)
 
South veranda with rotten floor planks and doors removed - Matthew Lander - 4 July 2021

 

 

South veranda with rotten floor planks and doors removed. (Matthew Lander)


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Last updated by Richard Salmon, 4 February 2022
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