June News Part 3

Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853

The guard's van interior reconstruction continues. The guard's wing walls have been trial fitted and the two supporting posts for these walls have been expertly upholstered by Martin Symes our resident upholsterer, in a brown leatherette style material.

Monkey pointing to the upholstered post, on the right is the cosmetic chimney mentioned last week

Great Northern Railway (later M&GN) 1887 6 Wheel Third 129

More major shed tidying work has been undertaken to prepare for squeezing the replacement chassis for 129 back into the shed.

British Railways 1957 Mark 1 Tourist Second Open E4641

The cosmetic section of the bogie improvement works has now been completed on the Sheringham end bogie, which has been painted in gloss black this week, improving it's appearance greatly.

Dan applies anti-rust primer

Painted bogie

The battery refitting (mentioned last week), has now been completed and there is now a full set of batteries installed in the carriage.

The interior of the carriage has now reached an advanced stage with only loose ends now left to complete. The seat upholstery has been fully fitted and all 16 tables returned to their rightful positions, these being the last interior components to be fitted to the passenger saloons. The end is really now in sight for the major rebuild of this coach.

Completed passenger saloon

Completed seating bay

British Railways 1955 Mark 1 Suburban Composite Lavatory E43041

The metalwork on the landward side has now been fully completed, and the welder has now moved onto the final section of the whole coach: the Holt end. Interestingly, when cutting away rotten metal from this end, three eras of original lettering were found describing the suburban routes to which the carriage was allocated in British Railways days. The first layer (1970's BR Blue era) showed "King's Cross Outer Sub".

The second layer (1960's Maroon end) also showing "KINGS CROSS OUTER SUB" in an earlier style of lettering.

The third layer (1950's Black) revealing "GRANTHAM No1". A small piece of history which will never be seen again as the metal will be replaced.

Now that E48001 is getting closer to the painting stage, more resources are being spent on E43041 to progress its rebuild. Some hardwood supports have been machined destined to support the new wooden flooring. A start has also been made on aligning the original wooden window "gripper bars" with the new metal window surrounds, and holes drilling in them in order to take small threaded bolts which will eventually hold the window glass in place. There are lots to get through!

British Railways 1955 Mark 1 Suburban Third Lavatory Open E48001

More finishing works have been undertaken on the interior,with the Formica paneling being cleaned, the last of the luggage racks fitted, picture frames (minus prints) trial fitted to the walls, mirrors fitted and inter-saloon hinged doors hung. Some more re-varnishing work is now being undertaken on areas which required modification to make fit.

Completed seating bay

The body preparation is substantially complete now, with only fine sanding and paint preparation still to undertaken. More lettering, similar to E43041, has been revealed on this coach before any repainting commences, with "FENCHURCH STREET SHOEBURYNESS SERVICE" on one end and "SHEFFIELD - MID LINK" on the other.

The lettering was measured, photographed and traced before the sanding back continued, destroying the 60+ year old lettering forever...

British Railways (LMS Design) 1949 20 Ton Brakevan B950133

The M&GN Society's brakevan, which is a stalwart performer in the railway's demonstration goods train, has been suffering recently from the same fate as many of the wooden goods vehicles normally kept at Holt, that of peeling paint and a general careworn appearance. Two volunteers have bravely suggested undertaking an exterior refurbishment and repaint outside at Holt, in a similar fashion to the work undertaken recently on the M&GN Tool Van No12. This work has been started this week.

The LMS Brake, a deceiving image as it was taken 8 years ago when the van's paintwork was far fresher!