Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853
There are no prizes being given out this time for those who have guessed that the doors have continued to be worked on this week! The step irons, featured last week, have continued to progress and have now been fully fabricated and painted in primer.
Although the body has not yet been lowered onto the ground, underframe components have been removed from storage in readyness for restoration on an ongoing basis. These parts were removed from another PMV (Southern Railway Parcels Van) about 20 years ago when the railway scrapped the chassis from it. The body of this vehicle survives as the headquarters of the Permanent Way department and resides on the ground just outside the C&W shed! The underframe parts and brake-gear were retained as "long term spares", so it is pleasing to see that they are being extracted for useful employment under the Great Eastern body.
Inside the body itself, some of the corner strengthening brackets have had their old bolts removed and new ones fitted, as several had corroded to the extent they were no longer carrying much in the way of a load.
Great Northern Railway (later M&GN) 1887 6 Wheel Third 129
No progress to report.
British Railways 1960 Restaurant Buffet (Refurbished) E1969
I strongly suspect that Monkey has gotten hungry and been nibbling at the doorway edges on E1969. Words will have to be had. As well as the corrosion discovered in the windows, sadly the doorway edges have suffered the same fate in many cases, and even behind the door hinges as well. This week has been spent removing the remaining windows, taking off the doors and removing the edging strips from the doorways. The affected metal areas which are not too bad have already been cleaned up and treated.
There are several areas which are too corroded and require replacement with new metal, however our resident welder is currently tied up on other tasks so these windows have been left for now until the new material can be let in. Whilst all this has been going on, the dozen or so windows which have been removed have been stripped of their glass panes and are painstakingly being cleaned up of their residual sealant and paintwork so that will be ready for refitting once the body of the carriage has been...dealt with.
British Railways 1955 Mark 1 Suburban Composite Lavatory E43041
Work has focused solely on re-varnishing compartment woodwork (building up further coats to give them a real extra shine) and repairing leaking pipework in the toilet areas which were identified last week when the tested the water systems. Both are progressing well and may reach a conclusion next week. A strange problem occurred part way through the week after the batteries drained very quickly and attempts to charge them resulted in blown fuses. The covers are now back off (again!) to investigate the cause.
Some more First Class upholstery has come through from the upholstery team, so the side cards have been pinned in position in the third, and final, of the First Class compartments. The brass compartment donor plaques, mentioned last week, have now been completed and will be fitted once varnishing has been completed in the relevant areas where they are to be fixed.
British Railways 1958 Class 101 Railcar Driving Trailer Second Lavatory M56352
The long task of preparation work is now largely complete, with all the welding finished and only limited areas requiring tidying up before we can start to think about painting. The areas where windows have had to be removed have been protected in gloss paint before we refit them next week.
The secondman's door, which has been refurbished over several weeks, has now been fitted into the vehicle, and the old holey example removed! However it does not quite fit straight away, so although it looks right some more adjustments are necessary before it's signed off.
Roger has done a fantastic job on the roof, having tackled this mammoth task by himself. He has declared it complete from a scraping point of view, and it is now awaiting a few rivets to be replaced before we can paint it.
British Railways 1959 Class 03 Diesel Shunter D2063
Painting of our visiting engine has progressed rapidly. Over the week, the entire loco was first coated in a green primer before being followed by blue and yellow undercoat.
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