Meet The Teams - Wagon Restoration

The Wagon RestorationTeam basically comprises two members, Richard S. and Paul E, with other members of Carriage & Wagon becoming involved as various aspects of the work become available. 

In the past all manner of vehicles have passed through the Works. Examples are the GWR Horse Box, Shell tanker, MICA van, Barry van, LNWR van, Shocvans, Minks, Mogos, China Clay wagon, Dogfish ballast wagons, Conflat, Fruit C van, Toads, Queen Mary, BR Guards van, Monster van, CCTs, Ferry van, Tool vans, GUV, PMV - the list goes on and on, and overall it is quite a range and all providing a lot of interest. 

So over to Richard as he describes the general background to the team and covers the rebuild of the China Clay wagon.

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I have tried to offer some insight into how we do a restoration as well as team dynamics and all with a sense of humour.  Here goes....

Given our department is called Carriage & Wagon it still seems to surprise some people that as well as restoring the heritage carriage fleet, so our customers can enjoy steam and diesel train rides in our beautiful Cotswold country, we also restore wagons.  After all, our railways led the industrial revolution by using wagons to transport all types of goods from coal, milk, fish, vegetables to beer, watercress and bananas.  Any child's model train set included a few wagons to change a toy into a layout.  We, as a railway, are fortunate in that we have a good fleet of wagons; a few have been restored to provide the basis of a freight train and the rest wait silently on side roads to be worked on when time, funds and opportunity present themselves.

The Wagon restoration team is by nature a fluid one and expands and contracts depending on what is to be done.  Paul and I tend to work as the principal team given the two main construction elements of metal frames and timber planks or panels.  Paul has a background in electrical engineering and so can advise on all things metal and mechanical.  I scraped an O level in woodwork and maintain a good working relationship with the Head of the Woodwork shop! Skills crossover is encouraged and Paul can sometimes be found with a saw or paintbrush and myself with a spanner or drill. Thankfully, wagons are much simpler in construction than carriages being essentially a metal chassis holding the wheels and brakes, a skeleton frame above and wooden planks and doors.

To introduce our work here is a photo gallery  starting with a wagon that has missing and damaged planking/floor, rusting metalwork and a non operating brake system.  I have chosen the China Clay wagon as not only is there the wagon to restore but also the cover hood to produce.

Our method for restoration if described in a 'Delia' recipe book would be...

Firstly, take lots of photographs and measurements...too many is much better than trying to guess later!

Take the wagon and remove all wood to leave the metal work revealed.

Remove all rust to bare metal, repair as necessary, prime, undercoat and topcoat to prevent rusting. This includes sole bars, all metal framework, axles, wheels, buffer beams.

Remove and clean brake components, check vacuum cylinder and replace as necessary, check all hoses, free off all moving parts and lubricate...more photos in situ before taking any thing off helps.

Cut timber to size and trial fit.  Prime, undercoat, gloss with as much paint as the Head of the Paintshop will allow you to use [as much as you need - Dave Clark].  Purists will note we use gloss paints although I am hopeful that I may be able to use a more matt finish in future restorations...in their original construction, especially in the 'austerity post war years' paint was only applied to visible surfaces and so inner beams and pipes were exposed to rust.  To try to add extra protection we try to paint all surfaces that can be accessed.

Fit the new floor with ply sheets and assemble the planks, repeat for the hatch doors and fit back the canvas hood frame.  Sign write with number and, at the request of the Upholstery team, paint 'Return to Fowey' where such wagons were an everyday sight and have long discussions regarding the canvas hood.  Should it be a single sheet as original or perhaps, given we want to use the wagon to dry store timber planks, a boy scout tent canvas with ends that can be accessed?  We decide to try a tent design!  The design is covered by the Head of Upholstery who produces a 'cad' (computer aided drawing)  to replace the previous crayon on paper sketch.

Await delivery of the 'tent' and then 'rope in' other interested helpers to fit and 'rope on'!

I think that might be enough and hopefully the pictures tell the rest of the story.

Richard S.

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Thank you Richard for a very comprehensive overview of the team, its work, and putting together the excellent set of photos.