Lots of Lights Train Preparations

London North Eastern Railway 1950 Brake Corridor Third E1866 (GOLD)

Following completion of the ceiling, it has been decided to build out the bulkhead wall at the Holt end of the coach by around an inch. Some packing pieces, which will be hidden, have been fixed to the old wall and will be suitably clad in due course. A start has been made on the upper panels, which are white to match the ceiling and will be similar to to the already-completed Sheringham end.

Trim an grill fitting has continued over the steam heat pipework, which is making the lower areas of the coach look almost finished!

London North Eastern Railway 1938 Brake Third Open E16631E (GOLD)

Work to reupholster the seating has been the main focus in recent weeks. 75% of the seat backs and bases have now been treated, with one more "shipment" (the remaining 25%) due to be started soon.

London North Eastern Railway 1931 Corridor Third E12493E (REPAIR)

Finishing off this project will now have to wait until next Spring, so the vehicle will disappear from these musings for a while!

London North Eastern Railway 1924 Quad Articulated Set 74 (VARNISH)

The Quads have been back with us for their re-varnishing which occurs every two years. This year they have been tackled in two separate parts as they were needed in service for the October half term. During October the two Holt end coaches were cleaned, rubbed down and varnished, before being returned briefly to service. The Sheringham end pair of coaches, are now being similarly treated in the workshop, and are now rubbed down and ready for varnishing.

British Railways 1961 Brake First Open (Kitchen) M14021 (GOLD)

Bodywork continues to progress well. All of the welding on the seaward side of the passenger saloon has now been completed and the five window frames have been test fitted successfully.

On the landward side, the guards compartment area has also been competed and has also been sanded and prepped ready for a first coat of primer. The two window frames have been permanently fitted into position and will also be included in the primer.

The landward side guards corridor has also been coming together well, with door jambs, trims and planking all being finished off, primed and undercoated. Repairs to the floor where the door interfaces have also been completed in this area.

Slowly but surely, the reading light boxes are being stripped and repainted ready for when the interior is built in the future.

British Railways 1957 Metro Cammell Railcar Driving Trailer Second Lavatory E79263 (SILVER)

With the exterior details now completed, the vehicle has been out-shopped from the shed and is now outside for the remainder of the interior assembly to be completed. The cab refurbishment also continues, with black paint around the desk and surrounding walls being applied, along with further finishing details on some of the controls.

British Railways 1954 13 Ton Pipe Open B740918 (BRONZE)

The past month has seen this wagon progress really well, so well in fact that all the work planned to be done in-house ahs been completed by the wagon team at Holt! Since the last update, the wagon has been fully painted with several coats of bauxite brown and all signwriting has been completed.

Removed fittings have been returned to place and the previous areas of chassis have been touched in with black to get a crisp divide with the brown body colour.

There is now just one final task for the project: replacing the hood (cover) that sits over the top protecting the spares that lie beneath. The company that makes these have visited and measured up for the cover, which will hopefully match the 1950's era of the wagon better than the previous example.

British Railways 1959 21 Ton Lowmac B904149 (BRONZE)

The final painting and signwriting works have now been completed on this wagon, which was completed and returned to traffic in time to run Norfolk Lights Express preparation trains.

Maintenance

Steam heat repairs have also been occupying our time. A section of holed pipe underneath First Open M3116 was the first major item to be attended to when we started steam heat testing.

Non functioning heaters inside TSO's M4843 & M4958 have also been made to work bringing up the heating levels in these carriages inside the passenger saloons.

The Christmas present store coach, BG 81269, required some limited attention this year before it could be loaded up with supplies and used by staff. Some stuck doors were freed up and a step board replaced, with a second in the pipeline. We undertook a brake test to see if the vacuum brakes were still operational after a time out of use, but sadly it failed so it will continue to be worked as an un-braked vehicle.

Lots more Norfolk Lights Express preparations have also been done in the past few weeks. We have fitted all coaches in use in winter with in-built battery chargers so that staff now only have to plug in leads to charge the coach batteries, rather than carrying round the actual chargers themselves.

Brake Corridor Second M35148 has seen six new tables installed, to the four compartments and also in the accessible saloon. These were varnished and prepared with their various legs (the accessible ones are removable to have "clever" legs).

Electric "booster" heating has been fitted to both accessible brake coaches, E21103 & M35148, to take the chill off when the large double doors are left open on these vehicles during boarding/alighting.

Other tasks completed have included fitting curtains to the first class compartments in E21103, extra store cupboard shelf restraints in BCK E21224 and a door catch inside RBR E1969.