23 November 2018

November News Part 3

Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853


Extensively pictured last week were the four buffers which had been loosely fitted. A great deal more effort has been put into them this week which has meant that all four are now tensioned, are fully secured at the rear and are all correctly sprung and spaced. This signals completion for this particular aspect of the restoration.

On the body, work to repair the droplight frames continues. The door catches for the four passenger doors, recently brazed, are now all permanently fitted into position, tested and painted.


Painting of the insides of the passenger doors is reaching an advanced stage with more coats of cream and brown being applied.


One of the more visual moments came when the electrics for the coach burst into life following the installation of a control panel and associated wiring. The compartment lighting and the inset tail light are now both armed and operational!


London North Eastern Railway 1937 Restaurant Buffet E9128E


Painting continues. The seaward side main panels are now finished having received two coats of Crimson & Cream gloss, whilst the landward side has one coat of gloss and currently awaits a second.


The roof boards meanwhile have now been varnished and refitted into their rightful positions on the roof. The suggestion of swapping the boards around to create trains going from Liverpool Street to Liverpool Street fell on deaf ears!


London North Eastern Railway 1950 Brake Corridor Third E1866E


Awaiting transfer from Holt down to Weybourne for work to begin.

British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224


Work continues with focus still both above and below floor level. Underneath, the new steam heat piping is now substantially complete and clamped into position, with the exception of a few flanges and valves which will be fitted in due course once parts can be machined or ordered in.

In terms of the two bogies, focus is now solely directed at the wheelsets. The first wheelset (of four) is now turned to correct profile and has been swapped out of the wheel lathe, to be replaced by wheelset No2. The latter is now in the process of being turned. Set No1 is back in our workshop and has been needle gunned of all its old paint and rust and treated to a coat of rust kill primer.


Both of the bearing casings from both wheelsets, four in total, are also in bits being cleaned and repainted so they can be refitted to the wheels when ready. We hope to have the two wheelsets ready for fitting into the Holt end bogie very soon.

The brakegear mentioned last week and the battery box interiors have all progressed into undercoat.


Inside the vehicle, the compartment ceilings are now fully caulked so they are ready for repainting.

British Railways 1959 Tourist Second Open M4843


The big news for this coach is that the metalwork replacement work is now complete! This has turned out to be a huge job and not originally envisaged for this vehicle at all.


Getting it done is a major symbolic milestone for the vehicle and will hopefully spur on the remaining work required to see the coach pushed through to completion. The final welding work involved completion of the roof hoop on the Holt end and welding up replacement sections in the roof skin at that end.


Work to reconstruct the Holt end toilet/store cupboard is also progressing, with internal wall supports being returned into their original spaces, but onto brand new metal.

17 November 2018

November News Part 2

Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853


With the Gresley Buffet vehicle moving into the "painters only" zone, labour has been able to be transferred back onto our oldest coach in the workshop. The big step forward this week has been the sort-of fitting of the buffers. As mentioned last week the machining had been in progress under Richard's watchful eye, which was great to see as the machine shop is currently understaffed so we are grateful to them for being able to fit our work into an already stretched system.


We offered up Monkey for the recently advertised position of Machine Shop Supervisor, but whilst Monkey does qualify being a member of the primate family, he lacked the experience in standing upright which is unfortunately an essential element when using large machine tools. However every cloud has a silver lining, so whilst Monkey was knocked back on this occasion we do get to keep him in Carriage & Wagon!


Anyhow - once the buffer shanks had been machined down to the correct size (via human endeavor) they were able to be painted up to black gloss to protect them.


The next day they were fitted into position loosely but have yet to be fully tensioned and have their securing pins fitted on the inside. Once they can be fully compressed the pins will be fitted.


On the body, work to construct a set of droplight window glasses for the doors is ongoing, as is the final fitting of the door catches now that they have all been braised together. The braising has changed their shape ever so slightly, so each one is requiring further cleaning and "fettling" to achieve the final smooth fit.

London North Eastern Railway 1937 Restaurant Buffet E9128E


I have been guilty of being sent photographs taken by other volunteers and forgetting to include them in previous Blogs. Therefore, if me may, we shall return a week or two when the sides of the buffet were being sanded, filled and prepared for the paintwork.



On the paintwork side of things, progress has been very obvious. The roof is now completed, resplendent in grey. This has been followed by repainting of the two ends into black.


The bodysides themselves, which take a little longer, have also done well. All priming is now completed and the landward side is now covered in undercoat: red and white as required by the crimson & cream livery the coach will carry.


The seaward side is even more advanced with the first coat of gloss applied, giving a good idea of how it is going to look when finished.


Also underway is the varnishing of the destination boards which sit on the roof. These have now been varnished on one side which has returned them to a gloss finish, whilst the other sides await the same treatment.


London North Eastern Railway 1950 Brake Corridor Third E1866E


Awaiting transfer from Holt down to Weybourne for work to begin.

British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224


Our main Mark 1 overhaul project has had another good week. The best news has been the completion of the underframe repainting, an end to a truly huge task. This vehicle now joins the dining train SO (M4372) as the only mainline Mark 1's on the railway to have received full underframe strip downs to metal and full repainting inside the frames.


The first wheel for the Sheringham end bogie has unfortunately encountered problems with defects within the metal. This has sadly meant that many years of life has had to be cut off the tyre in the wheel lathe to find good metal beneath. This is disappointing as the tyre is now significantly closer to becoming of scrap size, which would be expensive to rectify (via retyring). Of some comfort is that good metal was eventually found before reaching scrap size, so the wheel is now in the process of having a finishing cut and correct profile added to make it ready for service.

The bearing casings for this wheel, whilst it has been in the lathe, have been needle gunned and are in the process of being repainted ready for refitting. They are currently up to undercoat stage.


The brake pin checking and lubrication on the Holt end bogie is now also complete, and it has now been fully reassembled and just awaits attention to its wheelsets.


There has been more action under the coach whilst it remains lifted on the jacks. The battery boxes have been cleaned out and resealed with primer, as they were a bit...acidic from previous spillages.


The brakegear under the coach (which join the bogies to the brake cylinders via various arms and links) is receiving the same strip, repaint, and lubricate attention that the bogies have had to gain a fully checked and well oiled system. There are various sections currently around the workshop being painted up ready for fitting.


Also underneath has seen the completion of the main pipe runs for the brand new steam heat pipe. There are just a few flanges and small copper connecting pipes now to attend to.


This pipe includes a main end-to-end pipe with a subsidiary branching off to feed all of the individual compartment heaters.


Meanwhile, the air brake cylinders themselves are now fully repainted into gloss are now just await the correct grease before they can be reassembled.


Moving inside the coach, interior refurbishment of the guards area continues with the unsightly patches over the old periscope apertures being re-patched giving a smoother finish.


Inside the compartments, the ceilings have now all been sanded, and two sections of broken beading have been remade and replaced. Some gaps are now being filled with decorators caulk prior to repainting of the ceilings starting.

British Railways 1959 Tourist Second Open M4843


We now have another door refitted, the landward side door at the Holt end this time. This is allowing the old toilet in the same corner to be reconstructed.


Given recent events elsewhere in the heritage railway world, it is no longer acceptable to just close the door on un-restored toilets and put the coach into passenger service ignoring those areas as "not part of the coach".

We have never run M4843 with working toilets and now that the steel end repairs are approaching completion we are rebuilding the floors of the ex toilets. These will be quickly panelled out, to a less exacting standard than normal, and then painted and left as store cupboards. This mirrors what we have done with the old toilet/shower area in E21224.

Also at the same (Holt) end, the upper sections of the renewed steel ends are being completed. Just one section of roofing now remains to be welded in place.


The curved angle section is currently being produced and fitted which arches across the whole vehicle.


Inside the vehicle, further coats of black paint have been applied to the covers which go in front of the heaters, and also the table legs. More varnishing work is also taking place in various areas.

Miscellaneous


One or two modifications are required (extra eyes) in the Y14 storm sheet.


09 November 2018

COMPLETION SPECIAL: London Midland Scottish Railway Plate Open TDB726631


In a surprise move for the department, we are pleased to be able to record the completion of the first company (NNR) owned wagon restoration since 2012, LMS plate wagon 726631. This increases the length of the demonstration freight train to 12 wagons on paper, 10 wagons in practice. This represents a high point for the development of the freight set, making it the biggest it has been in recent times and possibly the largest ever! (Longstanding followers of the railway may be able to correct me on that particular suggestion).

In terms of history, the lowly plate wagon has one of the most boring of anything on the railway. Plate wagons were rough, nondescript items of plant that were built in fairly large numbers by the North Eastern Railway, London North Eastern Railway, London Midland & Scottish Railway and lastly British Railways. They were designed to be simple and effective: a standard 4-wheeled wagon chassis, often unbraked, with a floor and low sides (sometimes hinged). They were meant for a variety of freight traffic, whatever was required of them, and typically used for steel plate (giving them their name), cable drums, items of machinery, concrete sections/beams etc. They were far too useful to be confined to specific items of freight, and photographs exist proving that these wagons were used for moving almost anything one can think of, provided it can be fitted safely on and secured! Total weight fully loaded was 22 tons.

The first examples were built by the North Eastern Railway and building continued by subsequent companies, with earlier unbraked wooden bodied examples giving way to vacuum (and air) braked steel versions. The last ones were built by British Railways before they were superseded by a revised design of 4-wheel air braked wagon during the 1970's.

Our example, 726631, lies somewhere in the middle of the story, built by the London Midland & Scottish Railway in 1947, unbraked, steel (riveted) bodied and probably grey coloured. We have no means of knowing most of the history of our wagon, needless to say that less than a year passed after being built before it was absorbed into the nationalised British Railways. Whilst in their ownership, it would have wandered around the UK, at a less than efficient pace, occasionally earning some money moving the various loads described above. At some time unknown, BR deemed the wagon surplus to requirements, selling it to Boulton & Pauls in Norwich, a prominent manufacturing company (remember those?) most known for their aircraft, but in practice were general manufacturers. Their site would have used 726631 as an "internal user" (not allowed to leave their internal railway system back onto the BR network) for several years before it is believed the wagon derailed and suffered damage to the "W iron" which held one of the wheelsets into plate. Such a low cost vehicle was then condemned once again and preserved by the North Norfolk Railway.

On arrival at the North Norfolk Railway, 726631 had the bent W iron bent back to allow it to be moved around once again. However, in a somewhat similar fashion to bending a paperclip and then bending it back again, the W iron never quite returned to its original shape, so 726631 continued to be plagued by unstable riding characteristics which eventually caused it to be removed from normal duties on safety grounds. It was also thought at the time that the wheels were worn to scrap size and therefore shouldn't be used in the demonstration freight train. By the 2000's, the wagon had received a steel floor (replacing its wooden one) and was used as an ash wagon by the Locomotive Department, carrying corrosive waste ash generated from the steam locos.

It's general condition was still fair, but cosmetically it was worsening. By the 2010's, its only use was being used as a Bandstand for the 1940's weekend and Beer Festival events, and its worsening appearance and usage restrictions had led to the wagon being put in the "problem" category and there were calls from some quarters to sell the vehicle and move it on.

However in the summer of 2018 a deal was able to be reached between the NNR and M&GN sections of the railway's Carriage & Wagon department. Whilst the NNR had no workshop capacity or available labour to dedicate to wagon restoration work, the M&GN side had an unusually high level of volunteer labour available. With such a good summer in progress, it was agreed that the NNR owned wagon could sit outside of the shed and be repaired and restored as a 100% volunteer project, similar to Great Eastern Railway 853. For this the NNR is grateful, and it is a shining example of everybody working together for the greater benefit of the overall aim, in this case a better freight train.

726631 was duly moved from storage at Holt into the yard at Weybourne for the process to begin. It has been given a light overhaul, as its condition was not bad at all and focus was mainly on fixing problems rather than un-turning every stone. At the top of the list was removing the mechanical problems that had brought the wagon out of service. The wagon's "scrap" wheels were measured and proven to be well within operational limits, making that particular allegation unfounded. The unstable riding characteristics (which had limited it to 10mph) were cured by re-straightening the problematic W iron for a second time but this time more accurately. An out-of-adjustment handbrake was repaired which cured a nasty habit that the wagon had of not securing itself properly if the handbrake was applied. Finally, a through vacuum pipe was fitted which is now a requirement for any vehicles being out into the demonstration freight train.

Cosmetically, the vehicle was able to be quickly transformed with a decent brush down, rust treatment and repaint, including the floor. It has been liveried and lettered up as the North Walsham reach wagon. Whilst not correct for this exact wagon, another plate wagon was used for this purpose, presumably in connection with the gas terminal there, and a photograph was used of that example to copy onto ours. This is in line with our policy of attempting to represent East Anglian history (where possible) on vehicles within the freight set. A photo of the original North Walsham example can be found as part of the excellent Paul Bartlett Wagon Website.

With all operational restrictions lifted, and the wagon's appearance transformed, 726631 now assumes a place within the demonstration freight set, although it can continue to be extracted for use around the railway where required and return to its role of the bandstand at the 1940's and Beer Festival weekends.


Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853


The buffers have now had their oversize shanks machined down so that they fit properly within the underframe of 853.

London North Eastern Railway 1937 Restaurant Buffet E9128E


The Gresley Buffet has now entered the shed and its progress has been dramatic.


After arriving inside it was left to dry out and several rotten beading strips below the windows were removed and replaced with brand new examples machined in house. A small army of volunteers then took to the bodysides and have been busy sanding and filling the remaining wooden panelling that is still present in the upper half of the vehicle.


The beading on the lower half, which contains some 900 screws, had the screw heads filled over and the tops sanded smooth.


Progress has been so great that after just a week painting on the seaward side commenced, with the landward side joining a few days later. All of the bodysides have been painted in an all-purpose primer which has able to be applied to the Di-bond lower panels and the wooden upper panels simultaneously.


With the primer completed, a red undercoat has also been applied to the lower half of the seaward side.


Up on the roof, now that the vehicle is underneath the safety line, a series of canvas patches and repairs have been made to correct some questionable areas. These done, painting of the roof has also progressed with about 75% now completed.




London North Eastern Railway 1950 Brake Corridor Third E1866E


Awaiting transfer from Holt down to Weybourne for work to begin in earnest.

British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224


Work has continued to be progressed at a good pace, keeping the momentum up from previous weeks. The repainting of the underframe has continued into the gloss black (topcoat) stages, and this final coat is now 90% applied so the end is nigh for this substantial task.


The Sheringham end bogie is now complete in terms of its brakegear overhaul, with all sections now stripped, cleaned and lubricated to mainline running standards. Work has now started on turning (on the wheel lathe) the first of a pair of replacement wheelsets for the bogie.


Meanwhile the same process of overhauling the Holt end bogie is now fully in progress, with those involved showing their best sides as always!


Some of the parts have been very troublesome to separate, which reinforces our view that its important during the restoration stage to get everything apart and working freely and properly.


The Holt bogie is now roughly half way through this process.

Also concerning the underframe has been the installation of a brand new steam heat pipe, required as this coach was electric heat only when we purchased it. The main pipe runs from end-to-end with a subsidiary pipe (half size) also running along most of the vehicle to feed the various heaters in all of the compartments. So far, about half of the main end-to-end pipe has been manufactured and is currently test fitted (suing clamps) into position.


Inside the vehicle, a further two compartment ceilings have been sanded ready for repainting, leaving only two still to tackle. The luggage rack brackets mentioned last time are now back from the aluminium welders and are awaiting polishing before they can be fitted back into the luggage racking.


British Railways 1959 Tourist Second Open M4843


Good progress at the Sheringham end this week, with the door re-hanging on the seaward side now fully completed.


The door on the landward side is also not far behind.


British Railways 1960 Brush Type 2 D5631


The Class 31 has been rolled out of our shed, resplendent in its green paint, and returned to the Locomotive Department for them to progress the remainder of its overhaul.


British Railways 1968 24T Tube Open 4228


This week the railway has bid farewell to a wagon as well as completing the restoration of another. The M&GN Society's un-restored tube wagon (obtained in 2013) has been sold and was collected this week for a new home at the Spa Valley Railway.


With siding space precious and no immediate restoration plans possible, it was felt this wagon would have a better future elsewhere.


Maintenance


During steam heating testing two main Open Second vehicles, M4236 and E4667, were identified as not warming up and the normal tweaking at Sheringham proved ineffective. They had to be tripped to Weybourne for workshop attention. Several major blockages were discovered in the drains which when removed and properly rodded out produced a lake of water which had been permanently sitting in the system preventing the steam from getting to the heaters.


It was also discovered that a valve deep underneath the coach on M4236 had also been cutting off part of the vehicle from the rest of the system, the concerning part being that it would seem the coach has been running like this for years! The steam heat pipework was slightly altered to remove the surplus valve and returning all four corners of the coach back into the world of heat.

By using locos on shed being steam tested, the repairs on the two coaches were tested and a major rise in heat reported inside the saloons. The two coaches have been returned to Sheringham and will hopefully be keeping our passengers much warmer this Santa season!


Given how blocked up the drains were on these two coaches, time has also been spend on removing some components under the running coaches stabled at Sheringham as a preventative measure, to remove any grime/slime/detritus that was building up slowly in those areas. This will hopefully reduce instances of coaches becoming blocked with water in the next year or so. When the Santa Special trains start running, we will see if this work will pay off...

Miscellaneous


One of the many side jobs we have completed, has been the creation of a storm sheet for the Y14 locomotive.


This was sewn up by using canvas from a genuine Norfolk Wherry which was donated to us some time ago, and it has now been fitted to the loco.