For many years I have nursed the ambition that one day I would like to make a wooden wagon or cart wheel. Often I looked at the wagon lying outside the book shop and thought it a pity to see it rusting and rotting away. Then one day it disappeared, only to be found later in a heap of bits behind the down yard shed - perhaps on its last journey to the skip? Stung into action by the thought of this, and rather than lose it forever I sought permission to take it home to try to save it by working on it between other jobs. Terry Walden and I spent a Saturday about three years ago dismantling it and loading the parts into my van and trailer. It took me some time to remove all the metal fittings from the woodwork, clean them up and paint them with red oxide primer. The old timbers were laid out on my lawn and measured for size and shape, taking careful note of the types of joint used. Unfortunately the timbers of the wagon bed were irreparable and no decking at all remained, so I ordered new wood from a friend who has his own timber yard. He cut the pieces I needed from good home-grown hardwood:-English oak. This timber, being fairly green, was shedded to dry out. About a year later I planed and shaped the wood, some pieces of which were over 15' long.

The wood was then set out and all the joints cut out to match the originals. Then the wagon bed was fitted together dry so that it could be taken apart and taken to the Centre there to be re-assembled.

I think it might have surprised a few people to see the job come together so quickly but as most of the work had been done at home beforehand it was not such a big deal!

Since then I have spent a few days in the PMV shaping new axles and putting all the stopped champers on them, along with all the twiddly bits done with a wobbly saw!

Terry Walden and I took apart the rear springs, cleaned up the leaves and made new shackles. Although the springs came apart easily enough, they were real sxxs to put together again. New shackle bolts and bushes have been cut, and some of the metal work has been re-fitted to the bed of the wagon. Where pieces were found to be missing new ones have been fabricated.

All wheels have now been cleaned up as far as possible and have been treated with wood preservative. It appears that woodworm dislike ash and elm, for only the fallows of the wheels are holed, the ash and elm bobs remaining sound. One wheel has had to be rebuilt completely but "thank heavens" the front wheels needed few fallows only.

The turntable is fairly good and needs just a few repairs. It is a nice piece of work, with lovely stopped champers and shaped tenons - well worth a look at. This has been primed, undercoated and gloss painted but will need several more top coats to get a good finish.

I hope to have the bed of the wagon, turntable, springs and axles finished this year, and to have the wheels fitted by next Easter.

There has been a lot of interest in this project from members and public. We have received some very interesting letters about railway horse wagons, and as far as we know there exists only one other L & Y dray (in the York Museum). If anybody knows where we can get a pair of shafts for our wagon, please let me know.

The finished colour of the dray is deep plum with white panels. We think the lettering is black but this awaits confirmation. The wheels and axles are finished in crimson.

It is hoped that when finished the wagon will be put on display - preferably in a dry, covered area?

Notes:
The text in this Quainton Railway Society publication was written in 1993 and so does not reflect events in the 20+ years since publication. The text and photographs are repeated verbatim from the original publication, with only a few minor grammar changes but some clarifying notes are added if deemed necessary. The photos from the original publication are provided as scans in this internet version of this long out of print publication.

Reference:
The Lancashire & Yorkshire Dray No.13203 - Lewis Yates (L & Y!) - Quainton News No. 73 - September 1993