What was "ex mover"?

[SP Steve]

Taken from BR29620/2 "Handbook of Instructions Relating to Carriage Cleaning & Servicing" which covered the North Eastern Region dated January 1956.

 

The reference to "M.31" is listed in an appendix of equipment and part numbers as "Cleaning Emulsion M.31".

 

Another appendix shows facilities for each of the NER Cleaning Sheds and only Gosforth, Heaton and York Clifton had a wash plant facility - I'm guessing a lot of elbow grease was the order of the day at the others.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 31, 2022 by SP Steve

[Ken.W]

12 hours ago, keefer said:

, if it was left on too long it would start attacking the paint finish - hence all those pics of diesel-hydraulics whose paint seemed to be being removed one layer at a time.

 

8 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

Mike makes the important point about how long the Exmover was left to "pickle" Carriage washers were designed so you ran the train through, at 3 mph, 

      Later installations tried to have sequential acid and rinse in separate plants - but how much length does your yard need to do that? Rather more than 3 x 12-cars! And we think we have space limitations to cope with!

 

The old wash plant at Heaton (at least the 1970s depot rebuild one) had two separate stages for wash and rinse around just over a train length apart.

The cabs of the 08 pilots used to leak like sieves, so the technique was to stop with the rear of the last coach just through the wash leaving the cab just outside (we were propelling through), and wait till the wash stopped before going through.

This meant of course, that the engine bay of the pilot got a rather unhealthy dose of Exmover, the regular pilots there seemed to be fading from blue back to green!

Seemed as though it was somewhat unhealthy stuff

 

The new plant there installed in more recent years is a single  unit for wash and rinse

If Exmover was used on modern trains it would probably wash the vinyls off!!

[EddieK]

When I worked at a carriage depot on the WCML in the early 1990s, the sides and fronts of the DVT cabs were cleaned by "Cat 2" Craft Assistants while the carriage wash plant cleaned the bodysides of the DVT and the carriages. As I recall, one of our Cat 2s developed a special mix of 50% Exmover and 50% Grimeshifter. It seemed to do the job, but I have no idea how that fitted into the Inter City Cleaning Manual's intentions.

[The Stationmaster]

On 18/06/2020 at 11:38, spikey said:

Fascinating.  Did they never try hosing down the carriage sides rather than bucket-and-brushing it? 

 

Whatever, seeing that shoddy being used prompts me to ask - what is/was the difference 'twixt shoddy and mungo?  Back in apprentice days, I was never sure which I was using ...

Hosing off Ex didn't work - you could always tell a depot which had tried it because it invariably left streaks and patches, and our Regional Carriage Cleaning man knew exactly who to give a going over when it happened..  The only way to get it off properly during the rinse stage was with a brush, - either in a CWM or used by hand because it had to be 'wrked' to make sure it came off.

 

I was also dangerous to hose it because it could splash all over the place.  a clever cleaner would keep a slow running hose on his water bucket when hand washing to make sure that the rinse water was kept clean.

 

On 18/06/2020 at 13:23, Nearholmer said:

Spent a good long time working with others on a project to design and fit an accurate line-side speed-indicator system for train divers, to help them get this right, because it is very hard to judge from the cab with a speedo that isn’t even “off the stop” and very notchy control. Lots of running up and down a siding at Strawberry Hill testing the system. What I don’t know is whether it was ever finalised and installed at any washers - being young at the time, I was off to a different job before then.

Getting the speed right or wrong by even a tiny amount made a huge difference to the result.

Ideally a slow speed control needed to be provided on locos working stock through CWMs - there seemed to be a natural tendency on the part of some Drivers for speed to creep up as the train passed through.  However a 350/08 was quite a good one to use as you could keep them moving at slow speed fairly easily compared with mainline locos.  One of the best looking sets at Old oak was the Penzance sleeper stock which in the days when it was worked down from Paddington by A Pilot which was a 350 turn although their cab doors tended to leak a bit (too much).

 

On 18/06/2020 at 12:40, Oldddudders said:

Mike makes the important point about how long the Exmover was left to "pickle" Carriage washers were designed so you ran the train through, at 3 mph, taking on the acid, then ran it back through with a water wash to rinse. Simple, eh? But with a 12-car train, that meant the leading vehicle had far, far more time with acid on than the last vehicle. Later installations tried to have sequential acid and rinse in separate plants - but how much length does your yard need to do that? Rather more than 3 x 12-cars! And we think we have space limitations to cope with!

Back in the days of the Regional Carriage Cleaning man (officially he was the Carriage Cleaning Inspector) Arthur, the man concerned was always moaning about Plymouth because it was a through and back washer (I presume it still is?) and its results tended to be somewhat inconsistent.   Atthur was a real expert on exterior cleaning although one of the supervisors at Old Oak knew even more and was one of the best hand cleaners of coach exteriors I ever came across - He was also a top notch chap on how to do interior cleans very quickly but in a way you couldn't tell they'd been done in half the Standard Time.   

[luckymucklebackit]

I vividly remember in the 1960s the class 303s went through a spell when you could barely see out the windows for the yellow scum on the windows.  I seem to remember the explanation at that time was that the chemicals used to clean the trains were reacting with the brake dust, would that have been Ex-mover?

 

Jim 

[The Stationmaster]

52 minutes ago, luckymucklebackit said:

I vividly remember in the 1960s the class 303s went through a spell when you could barely see out the windows for the yellow scum on the windows.  I seem to remember the explanation at that time was that the chemicals used to clean the trains were reacting with the brake dust, would that have been Ex-mover?

 

Jim 

Sounds as if it was  - probably due to the Exmover not being properly rinsed which could lead to yellowish staining.  Most likely down to a defect in a CWM (Carriage Washing Machine)

[Neville Hill]

I realise interest in exmover has subsided but, just for the record, the chemical composition was 82% oxalyic acid, 16% synthetic detergent and 2% capryl alcohol dissolved in water to a 5% concentration. Pipework had to be anti corrosive. Wish I had known that when exmover was dripping on my head one night when I had to crawl into the neville hill plant as senior opersting supervisor when it was thought a train had derailed in there.

 

Edited July 8, 2020 by Neville Hill
Typo

[jessy1692]

On 18/06/2020 at 09:08, 62613 said:

On Manchester MRCs Dewsbury Midland layout. I think the actual building still survives

Certainly was last time i was there