Carriage & Wagon Report, April 2004
by Richard Johnson

Last week, we finished our refurbishment of the GWR Mogo, and it was taken out of our workshop, ready to go back into the P/Way train. It is finished in GWR grey, with the small post war style lettering. It should now give good service to our permanent way department for many years to come.

Taking its place in the shed was one of the ballast hopper ‘Dogfish’. The railway has seven of these useful wagons, which are used by P/Way in track relaying. Each can carry about one 60’ track panels’ worth of stone, which is dropped onto the newly laid track through opening doors in the underside.

This particular wagon had had to be withdrawn by P/Way because it was found impossible to create vacuum in the braking system. When we got it into the shed, we found that the vacuum brake cylinder had a large dent in the side, which had distorted the cover and broken the airtight seal. Also, the handbrake wheel and hand wheels for the hopper doors were very stiff, and almost impossible to turn. The wagon will be given a complete overhaul, ready for use on the Broadway extension.

A major shunt also saw us bring one of our newly acquired TSO’s (Tourist Second Open) 4772 round to the front of the shed, to allow refurbishment to begin. This is going to be ‘fast tracked’; with a view to getting it into use later this year. Contrary to our usual practice, we are going to only give the interior a thorough clean as it is in quite good condition. One thing we will change is the colour of the interior vestibule wall panelling. Its last owner painted it a sickly shade of bright yellow. It will become a tasteful shade of mid-grey.

Work on the BG continues in the shed. One side of it is now being transformed into Carmine & Cream. Mechanically it is largely complete; there is still a fair amount of work to be done inside. It has already been inspected by two of the volunteers who have plans to use it for Santa trains at Christmas, and they pronounced themselves well satisfied.