Firstly we would like to give a big shout out to the majority of our volunteers, whom we have now lost to the social distancing measures in place. Keep smiling! Whilst progress on all things Carriage & Wagon has slowed considerably, we are still going at the moment, but for how much longer we shall see.
Great Northern Railway (later M&GN) 1887 6 Wheel Third 129 (BRONZE)
No progress to report.
London North Eastern Railway 1950 Brake Corridor Third E1866E (GOLD)
Those who have been able to come in have been busy continuing to progress the wooden framework repairs to the twelve doors currently dismantled. Lots of blocks have been inserted, some larger than others, to rid the frames of the considerable rot that had affected them.
British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224 (GOLD)
The last two weeks has seen a large part of the seaward side of the vehicle prepared for final paintwork, with lots of filler applied and sanding down to achieve that all important smooth finish. A lot of detail sanding is still required, however the entire exterior of the coach is now ghostly white and very smooth to the touch.
The last of the four water filler pipes have also been sanded down of their old paint and so they also are now ready for the big repaint. Working towards the same aim, the individuals working on the guards end doors are also doing very well. The inward opening guards doors, which have arguably been the most troublesome when it comes to adjustments and getting them "right", are now on the verge of completion. The inside planking has been fitted into place permanently, with many planks requiring material to be added or removed to get a snug fit. Draught excluder has also been fitted around much of the doors, as have the lower "boots" which sit at the bottom on the inside. On the landward side along the passenger corridor, a "bump stop" has been fitted to the wall of the corridor so that if the door swings inwards the full 180 degrees and hits the wall, it won't damage anything.
The pair of double luggage doors on the landward side are now all but complete, with just the draught excluder strips left to fit. They are now fully planked, locking mechanisms fitted and working successfully. Planking on the seaward side pair is now ongoing.
Inside the vehicle, with the trim now completed in the toilet, some of the signage and fittings which sit on the walls have been able to be fitted. Although impossible to photograph all at once, most of the wall labels are now in place, along with one of the two mirrors and the paper towel rack. We can fit the rest of the wall furniture, but can't yet fit anything that sits on the floor (such as the sink etc), as these will have to wait until the lino flooring is laid.
Speaking of flooring, sanding of the floors has progressed with the aim of getting it smooth enough for the flooring contractors to lay the lino throughout the coach. With all of the flooring repairs and disturbance, there are quite a few holes, ridges and hollows to either fill in or knock back so that there are no sharp edges that would stress and crack the lino in the years to come.
Inside the compartments, the fixing bolts for the luggage racks have been painted, which completes the wider job of the luggage rack installation. Pictured
last time was a two-tier first class rack, so for comparison this week there is a glimpse of a single-tier second class example.
Possibly the largest transformation this week on the coach has been in the luggage area. Two weeks ago the ceiling area was still completely stripped out. However the pre-prepared ceiling panels were all fixed into place one glorious Wednesday, and the following week was spent cutting and fixing all of the beading back into place over the joins and around the edges. This in turn was followed by the installation of the centre wiring trunking which runs along the middle of the ceiling containing both wires for the interior lights and also coach-to-coach through lighting wiring. The latter had had to be cut in two a few years ago as it was impossible to fully strip out the ceiling with it still in place. These were jointed back into place and heat shrunk to prevent shorting. This done, it was all able to be boxed up and all the trunking and lids painted. It made sense at the same time to also fit the two surrounds for the lights that will illuminate the luggage area, and also to wire up the switch that controls these lights. The beading is now in white undercoat and hopefully next week the entire ceiling (panels, trunking and beading) will all be sealed in together with one, final, coat of white gloss.
Elsewhere in the luggage compartment, the end wall which the sliding corridor door disappears behind when opened has been bolted back into place and planked out. This now means that all the wall planking and trim is now fitted and just required further sanding and filling work before it too can be painted and declared complete.
With the compartment wall panelling and trim now complete, the same volunteer has turned his attention to the same task along the side corridor. Early days yet, but test fitting of the veneered side panels and window surrounds around the nearest window to the Holt end has started.
British Railways 1957 Tourist Second Open E4521 (SILVER)
Great progress has been made on the metalwork repairs. The Sheringham end is now complete (hooray!) with the final sections of roof hooping being finished last week. The bare metal has been spot-primed in primer, as on the
last silver overhaul (M4843), we made the mistake of thinking "it won't be that long before we do the full paintwork on the coach, and it's staying indoors so we will leave the metal bare for now". This resulted in minor surface rusting, so this time we have covered over the repaired metal as we aren't sure how long this coach is going to be before we are applying the paint work and readying it for service!
With the Sheringham end done, we move onto phase 2 (there are four sections of metalwork overhaul) which is the area between the Sheringham end and the centre vestibule/doorway. So far we have had a really pleasant surprise. With the areas around the windows in such good condition, we had already decided we were going to take a risk on hidden corrosion and not disturb them this time around (Silver overhaul, not Gold!). This meant the only areas to replace along the bodysides is the longitunal joint that BR introduced when they riveted a new six inch strip to the bottom of the coach, presumably in the 1970's. Usually when we cut these off it reveals bad corrosion to the framework of the coach below, which in turn requires lots of interior disturbance and stripping out to access. However after cutting off the corroded lower strip of metal skin along the landward side, we were greeted with the sight of a full row of framework sections in good condition. In less than one week, these have been needle gunned and repainted ready for re-use and and this section is now ready for its new "skirt" to be welded back into place. This discovery is quite unusual these days and a real bonus to this coach's prospects.
Less lucky are the doorway pillars flanking the section of passenger saloon now being worked on, which in contrast are very corroded. A start has been made on stripping them back to cut them out and replace them. It is likely that we will replace the lower 2/3rds of them, as they are OK at the top.
Meanwhile the door rebuilds continue, with some of them now starting to be built back up, after the last of the sanding was completed. Three of the six now have their droplight window panes refitted inside cleaned up runners, along with the lazy tongue springing mechanisms that operate them.
Whilst doing roof repairs to the Sheringham end, two rain gutters were removed from the roof so that they could be cleaned in more comfort on a bench, prior to the main roof scrape job which will be done at some point in the future. These cleaned, they have now been primed and await refitting to the roof, probably once it is berthed in the staging area where the safety wire is located.
British Railways 1962 First Open M3116 (REPAIR)
With a decision made on the problem wheelsets, wheelset number two is now almost completed in the wheel lathe. This will be followed by a further turn on wheelset number one and we should at last have a pair to put back into the patiently waiting bogie. Said bogie is now completed as far as the brake gear clean up is concerned, all of the links and pins now operate more freely than ever before! The only outstanding job on this bogie is the refitting of a replacement side damper and it is then ready to receive the two wheelsets already mentioned.
Following a period of re-certification, we are now able to use out jacks again, after a short period out of use. This has allowed the coach to be dropped back to a more normal height whilst it awaits its bogie work to be progressed.
With the wheel turning playing catch up, the team working on the bogie pin removal, cleaning and greasing have turned to the second bogie. This has been heavily supported by volunteers and consequently has progressed faster than normal. More than half of the second bogie has now been treated, with much of it stripped and back together this week.
Maintenance
Maintenance work has been rather decimated by the stoppage of all services. All staff have been recalled to the workshops and rolling stock intended for the steam gala returned to storage inside the sheds at Holt. Two carriage sets are prepped and ready and now stand in eerie silence at Sheringham awaiting the visitors return...
Workshop
Sack barrows have been breeding like rabbits, with a fresh batch intended for Weybourne (even more!") and now Sheringham. The Sheringham ones make sense as examples for Holt and Weybourne have been flowing these past six months so it would be unfair to leave them out. The sign-writing on them seems to be getting even better with the grey Sheringham examples approaching completion and looking very smart.
All of these trolleys have had differing degrees of restoration, some just being sanded down and repainted, whilst other more rotten examples are "new builds" from a woodwork point of view, with the metal wheels, straps and fittings etc being transferred from the dead ones to the new ones. Not quite trigger's brooms, but on their way!
