Routing and Clouting

To fit the side members that support the side planks and protect the end-grain of the floor planks I had to route out some channels to accommodate the large washers for the bolts that support the axle-guides, and the nuts for the bolts that hold the upper straps for the sole-bar to headstock fixing.

I went along to Bitton today with a tool box containing my router, which I then put to work to make the channels.



I took rather longer than was necessary to mark out the positions and extent of the channels. A simple outline on one face of the timber would have been enough as I set the router's depth stop so I couldn't make the channels too deep. Simply marking the outline in one plane would have saved half the time or even more. You live and learn!

Once the channels were cut it was time to assemble the side-members to the sole-bars.



We had to drive the side to side tie bars right through so that their ends were flush with the sole-bar face on one side then fit that side's side-member. I put ratchet straps on again to pull the side-member down straight, then we drove the tie-bars back through to hold the side-member in place, making the tie-bar's other end flush with the other sole-bar.

The half-inch coach bolts went through easily enough and we tightened them up before moving to the other side where we repeated the process. This side was not so easy as the first one and we had to use a jack to force up the side-member a little so as to get the half-inch bolts in.



At last the side-members were in place and Ollie decided he wanted to see what the hockey-stick or J irons looked like in place. I took the piss because he's always leaping ahead to see what it will look like next - he did it again later with the buffers. However I had to get into the act by taking a photo of the J irons in place.



After tidying up the stuff we'd used to put the side-members in place we moved on to try out hanging a spring again. When we tried this before the spring leaves fouled the spring hangers, so Ollie got Andy to mill an eight-of-an-inch off the hangers and we set out to try hanging a spring again. We were perplexed when the spring still wouldn't go into place, until John came by and suggested that we try a different spring. We did, and it fit!



We were very pleased.

Ollie really had the bit between his teeth now and decided to install the inner straps that hold the sole-bars to the headstocks and at the same time support the buffer bodies. He'd got the gusset straps installed during the week, and now the whole wagon is taking shape.





Our next job is to install the axle-guide/W irons.

Of all our work what is most satisfying to me is that we've managed to salvage most of the original iron-work of the original wagon. Here is one of the iron straps that we have refurbished, John welded a new threaded part to the original strap that still has the maker's mark on it.



The wagon is taking shape now and soon we'll put it back on its wheels ready to be floored and the sides planked.

Metal Recovery



For the most part I don't think that the filler has any function towards strength but it does fill the deep corrosion in places and provides a flat surface to bear against the timber members.










The hockey-stick iron strengthening struts for the side planks of the wagon were thin in places and one of them was so thin that it fractured and had to be welded. I've filled the thinned parts.



Foundry Marks

While I was doing it I took these photos including ones of the foundry mark on one of them.


This clearly shows "Parkgate" and the tail of the fish mark that is all over the ironwork of this wagon.
There's interesting stuff and photos about Parkgate here and here.


Here is the "MR" showing that the wagon was originally built for the Midland Railway.

Metal Filler


We are working to preserve as much as we can of the original ironwork.

John, the railway's engineer, has taken a look at it all and with a few exceptions thinks it's fit to keep, considering the light use the wagon will get and the importance of preserving as much as possible not only of the wagon but of its history.


I have begun work on the axle-guides to give them a flat surface to face up against the inside of the sole-bars. Using a two-part filler I am building up that face of the guides before we begin painting them. Yesterday we also took a look at the bearing edges of the guides where the axle-boxes run up and down. There is a fair amount of wear in them both in the thickness of the metal and in the width between the guides. We may have to make sleeves for the axle-boxes to run up and down the guides or build up the metal of the guides. We'll see.

History

Work on the wooden five-plank wagon is moving ahead.

Ollie, who's overseeing the project, has moved what's left of the wagon to the siding where he is dismantling it. There's not a lot left!

We are rescuing what we can of the original wagon, if it is at all original. I suspect it's like my grandfather's axe that's had two new hafts and three new heads but is the one my grandfather owned.

There is an ongoing debate, as there always is about renovating antique objects: How far should we take it back to its original state of being? That begs the question: Do we really know its original state of being? We can be pretty sure it was originally one of the wagons from the series D299 but we don't know its exact date of building.

It is tempting to try to revert it to the way it was when it was first built. That means knowing what it was like, for example, many wagons at about the time it was built, somewhere about 100 years ago, had brake mechanism on one side only. I happen to think this may have been one of those. My opinion is based on the fact that the details of the mechanism's components on each side are different. However it was pointed out to me that the wagon may have been built with brakes on both sides but one side later sustained damage and was replaced with parts that were detailed differently. We can't be sure how it looked when it was built.

John, who's the engineer at Bitton, pointed out to me today that even if it had been built with brakes on one side only, it now has brakes on both sides and that addition is part of the wagon's history, and it is that history that we seek to preserve. Taken to its logical, if absurd, conclusion, this line of argument would leave us with an unreconstructed pile of rotten timber and rusting iron-work, because the rot and rust are also part of its history.

In the end its a question of choice. Do we let it rot at the one extreme; do we find out exactly how it was when it left the wagon works and put it into that pristine condition at the other extreme; or do we find a useful and acceptable compromise?

I vote for compromise. Partly because it's easier and partly because in doing so we can honour its origins and its history while preserving it for people in the future to see how railway wagons were made and developed.

There are photographs of the wagon here.

I'll add more to them and to this as time goes on.