October News Part 3

Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853

More boring filling, sanding and repainting work this week, which is slowly making the body more and more presentable for its final unveiling. Some of the steel paneling which the doors are clad with have had their screws ground down flush as before they were sticking out proud which didn't look particularly neat.

London North Eastern Railway 1937 Restaurant Buffet E9128E

Still awaiting shed space. However the rot to the Sheringham end described last week has now been finished with internal match-board paneling replaced, as the latter had to be removed to instigate the repairs to the exterior.

London North Eastern Railway 1950 Brake Corridor Third E1866E

A new addition to these notes, the M&GN Society's recently obtained Thompson era brake coach, which when restored will become the second member of the proposed LNER Mainline set. This set is intended to become unique in preservation as being the first full rake of LNER designed coaches preserved externally in their 1950's BR condition, unless someone gets the paintbrushes out first and beats us to it!

The coach itself remains in storage at Holt for the time being, however a replica LNER pattern gangway cover has recently been extracted from storage and rubbed down and repainted for use on this coach, as it will be on the end of the set eventually.

Up at Holt, the coach interior has been emptied of its seating and spares which it arrived with, paving the way for interior repairs and restoration work when the coach is tripped down to Weybourne.

British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224

This one has been the main focus in the workshops this week, with a healthy selection of volunteers involved in the various tasks. The underframe repainting continues, and we now have it coated in undercoat along its entire length.

The process of checking and re-greasing all of the pins within the brakegear of the Sheringham end bogie is now almost complete, we are just waiting for some more split pins to arrive which will allow this task to be finished off.

Moving inside, the store cupboard has progressed really well with the remedial touching in now finished, the door frame fitted and the door itself hung in place. This door is one of the first varnished items to be refitted to the coach so is a bit of a milestone for the restoration. The light and ceiling ventilator grill have both been refitted which I believe now only leaves the blanking plate for the window vent to complete.

A start has been made on fitting out the five passenger compartments which was penciled in for this winter. The first angle of attack is to sand down and repair where required the ceilings before repainting. So far, compartment number 5 (closest to Holt) has had the ceiling sanded.

The luggage rack restoration is currently on hold whilst several of the aluminium brackets are removed and sent away for specialist welding to repair the breaks in them. These are a bit of an experiment and we don't yet know if the repairs will be a success but we shall see...

British Railways 1959 Tourist Second Open M4843

The passenger communication apparatus has been refurbished, repainted and refitted to the Holt end on the seaward side this week.

British Railways 1960 Brush Type 2 D5631

The remaining roof sections were painted through primer, undercoat and finally gloss this week.

This signals the end of our involvement with the loco at present, and a day was spent gathering all the parts for the loco which had become distributed around our shed during the time the loco has been with us. It is planned that the loco will return next door for further mechanical and assembly work next week.

London Midland Scottish Railway 1947 22 Ton Plate Open TDB726631

This vehicle is now extremely close to completion. The remaining lettering is now complete along the bodysides which signals the completion of the repaint. Later in the week, the brand new through vacuum pipe was fitted underneath. All that remains now is for the pipe to be painted and for the vacuum bags to be fitted the ends, after which the vehicle will be released for service.

October News Part 2

This week isn't a particularly exciting week unfortunately, as most of the progress would appear to be in the "more of the same" format. However we are still here and have been chipping away at it!

Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853

Three or four bodies have been employed continuing the sanding and filling task on the bodysides. This has mainly concentrated on the seaward side, but the already "completed" landward side has seen a further round of filler too as some of the team were not 100% happy with it.

Also being progressed are the drop-lights, pictured last week, more examples having been dismantled and their frames assessed and the original glass removed.

London North Eastern Railway 1937 Restaurant Buffet E9128E

The Gresley Buffet coach cannot progress much at the moment until shed space is found for it to be repainted. However some additional rot was found in the end, next to the corridor connection, at the Sheringham end. This had to have the original paneling removed, the framework repaired with new and ta replacement board and beading fitted. All of this was achieved over three days this week.

British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224

We mentioned last week that we ran out of primer which stopped us from applying it over the whole of the underframe of the vehicle. Well thankfully this week fresh supplies arrived which, over the course of three days, was then able to be applied to the remainder of the chassis as well as the two bufferbeams on the ends.

This means the whole thing is now primed which is the halfway point of the painting. We can now busy ourselves with completing the undercoating before the gloss black comes out!

A number of heater covers and black plates have now joined the underframe for the "primer party"!

The store cupboard is now painted inside with just some touching up to complete before the remaining components can be refitted (such as lights and vent grills etc). We are also working on a blanking plate for the inside of the toilet ventilator, which is now no longer required as we are expecting the cupboard to be slightly less whiffy than it would have been back in the day as a BR throne!

The luggage rack cleaning is now complete. This week has seen the broken retaining eyes for the string netting replaced with new examples, made by hand using fence wire. These will be carefully painted silver to match the aluminium racks themselves.

Moving onto the bogie overhauls. Painting is now complete with the Holt end bogie now in gloss black to match the other one. A start has now been made on removing each pin in the brakegear, of which there are many, checking it, then cleaning it before regreasing it and refitting it with a new split pin for guaranteed retention.

This coach should be registered to travel to Cromer all being well, so items like the bogies are having particularly thorough attention to bring it to the standard required for such operations.

British Railways 1959 Tourist Second Open M4843

The Sheringham end seaward side door has become the first to be completed in terms of operating smoothly with its door jambs in place. Inside the same vestibule, supporting noggins to hold the refitted panelwork around the doors has been produced and is awaiting fitting.

The re-skinning work at the Holt end continues and the bodyside along the seaward side toilet is now fitted into place which completes the main skin on the bodysides themselves. Once some galvanised sheet arrives the work to reskin the roof which was cut away for the repairs can start.

British Railways 1960 Brush Type 2 D5631

The last of the green gloss has now been applied, with the moving frost protection fins the last piece in the puzzle to be painted.

The rubbing down and repairing of the remaining roof sections is now also complete and these are now finished and awaiting painting.

London Midland Scottish Railway 1947 22 Ton Plate Open TDB726631

A start has been made on Friday afternoon lettering the wagon. Keen to see more progress, Monkey was on hand to assist and the number, weight and legend "reach wagon" has been applied to the landward side. More lettering will follow on this side as well as the other side in due course as time allows. The remaining lettering should reveal a local connection as well...

October News Part 1

Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853

Whilst a lot of people have been making use of the continued good weather, a small team continues to progress 853's exterior bodywork with more sanding and filling on the seaward side to ready it for eventual painting.

Some of the drop-light frames are being test fitted into the doors to check they slide up and down properly. We have several of these from dismantled bodies but once the correct selection has been made they will be dismantled as the glass inside them is not safety glass so will replaced at the same time as the glass in the rest of the coach.

The four brass door catches/locks for the passenger doors are complete after a period of many weeks getting each one positioned and adjusted correctly.

London North Eastern Railway 1937 Restaurant Buffet E9128E

The Gresley has progressed rampantly now that it has moved roads giving full acess to the seaward side. Very quickly the Dibond lower panelling was fixed to the lower half of the coach and the beading all cut to size and fitted/sealed into position. The replacement cantrail has also been fitted at the bottom of the roof so the seaward side has almost caught up with the landward.

The varnished end doors have been refitted to the corridor ends which is just as well as with poor weather no doubt approaching having doors missing is not a good idea!

British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224

The long task of underframe repainting continues. We ran out of primer before we could finish the Sheringham end which hasn;'t helped, but it didn't stop us as we simply proceeded to get the Holt end half (already primed) up to the next stage which was black undercoat. Now that primer is in stock again the rest will follow.

The bogie repaints are also progressing at the same time, with the Sheringham end bogie now finished and sporting gloss black. The Holt end is one coat behind but has been undercoated and is now in the process of being glossed.

The footboards pictured last time are also now finished in gloss black.

Luggage rack restoration also continues and I think the last one is now in the process of being polished up.

Inside the vehicle repainting work has recommenced on the store cupboard which is getting close to completion. A trial fit of the doorway, which was removed for varnishing, has also been undertaken.

British Railways 1959 Tourist Second Open M4843

Two of the four door jambs required in the Sheringham end doorways are now fitted, with work on the remaining two ongoing.

Meanwhile the end skin on the Holt end, seaward side, is now attached so the vehicle is looking much more complete now when viewed end-on.

British Railways 1960 Brush Type 2 D5631

The loco made it into gloss green for Member's Day which was the target for us. Since then, the bodyside hinged louvres for the engine room have been returned and fitted into position, which is fast filling all of the "holes" in the bodyside. The main set of moving frost protection fins is now the final component still to be painted green.

The remaining roofs which have not yet been restored are now being rubbed down and prepared for painting soon. It was originally intended to have these painted earlier but there simply wasn't enough time, however we are fast changing that!

London Midland Scottish Railway 1947 22 Ton Plate Open 726631

This wagon is now on the home straight for its restoration to working order. Work has been focused entirely on the painting. The underframe is now completed into gloss black and the body has received two coats of 1960's engineers "Gulf Red" which makes the wagon look very different to how it was. The floor, pictured last time, has had a second coat of grey floor paint which will hopefully protect it a bit given its open to the elements. The vehicle's position precludes getting a decent picture, which doesn't really do the work justice, but hopefully its transformation can be viewed properly at some point! All that remains now is the fitting of a through vacuum pipe (required for running in the demonstration freight set) and application of lettering.

Maintenance

A week before the Home Fleet Gala one of Mark 1 BSK W35148's brake cylinders stopped operating smoothly, making banging noises as it applied. The coach was removed from the train and sent to Weybourne for repairs. Unfortunately after an afternoon's investigation and adjustments which were unsuccessful, the following day the cylinder had to be removed from the vehicle and partially rebuilt to replace several worn consumable parts inside. Luckily it dismantled, reassembled and tested in a relatively straightforward manner so was able to be returned to the vehicle that afternoon ready for the coach in turn to be returned to Sheringham just in time for the gala. One of the reasons E21224 is receiving such a thorough overhaul is to give us a solid spare brake coach into the future to allow us to deal more easily with failures of "key" brake coaches such as W35148 which are required nearly every day we operate.

September News Part 5

Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853

Yet more body filling and sanding has been the main exterior focus this week. Despite this being one of those jobs where one doesn't feel like progress is being made, this week has seen the bulk of the preparation declared complete on the landward side.

Whilst it will receive a final fettle after the undercoat has been applied, for now the whole side (considerably flatter than before) has had a full coat of primer and attention will now turn to giving the two ends of the vehicle the same treatment.

On the interior, some painting of the insides of the doors has been done to get them started, and the remaining lock plates for the three passenger doors (one has already been completed as a trial) continue to be produced and/or adjusted as part of their fitting.

London North Eastern Railway 1937 Restaurant Buffet E9128E

The landward side is now very well advanced, with all the new beading now fitted and sealed into place. This side is now completed as far as practicable before painting happens.

Due to access issues, the replacement "Di-bond" lower panels cannot be fitted to seaward side until the coach is swapped onto the adjacent road, so this side remains the same until shunting can be arranged.

The two corridor end doors pictured last week have progressed with their repairs completed. Varnish is now beginning to be applied, a photo will follow once I have caught up with them!

British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224

This week has seen good progress on several fronts. The "rust-kill" priming, pictured last week, has now been completed so the whole of the underframe is rust free for the first time in many years! This has given us the stable base we need to apply the remaining normal coats of paint. The first is the primer which is now being applied at the Holt end of the vehicle heading towards the Sheringham end.

The Sheringham end bogie is now complete sporting a coat of black undercoat.

Meanwhile, off-coach components continue to be restored. A set of footboards for the seaward side of the coach have been stripped, primed and undercoated this week.

The luggage racking continues to be stripped of its netting to allow the aluminium to be cleaned and polished up to its former glory. These are steadily going through one-by-one and will be well worth it once completed.

British Railways 1959 Tourist Second Open M4843

Not so much to picture this week, but both the welding at the Holt end, and the fitting out of the doorways at the Sheringham end vestibule, are both progressing. Inside the vehicle, most of the heater covers under the passenger seats have been repainted, receiving a fresh coat of black gloss as they had not been so treated for many years.

British Railways 1960 Brush Type 2 D5631

This interloper continues to dominate the staged area, as we try to get it as cosmetically advanced as possible before M&GN Members Day in a week's time. The most obvious change has been the paintwork.

By the middle of this week the entire loco made it into undercoat, as previously various parts that were being worked on were lagging behind in terms of how many coats of paint they had had.

This has allowed the application of the first coat of gloss to start. So far, the Holt end cab and 2/3rds of the landward side have been treated, so we are beginning to start to see the final colour/configuration...

Whilst all this is going on there has been lots of paint preparation work to the grills that will be attached soon, as well as fitting of lots of smaller components.

British Railways 1962 12 Ton Box Van B784254

Due to the onset of winter, work will be temporarily stopped on this vehicle for a while, but we hope to feature it's progress once again in these notes at some point.

London Midland Scottish Railway 1947 22 Ton Plate Open 726631

In contrast to last week, we have had a much better run of weather this week which has allowed rapid progress to be made on the repainting of the wagon. The entire outside (body and chassis) has been fully painted into primer so it has taken on a rather pink appearance!

Inside the body, the rusty floor has been rust-killed and grey floor paint has been applied in an attempt to slow down some of the surface corrosion that was evident on the floor which of course has a lot of rain sitting on it throughout the year. The floor looks about 1000 times better than it did!

Next Week & Members Day

Due to a trip away to Essex to play with someone else's Diesel Multiple Units, there will be no Blog next week, during that weekend which coincides with M&GN Members Day on Saturday 6th. A reminder that this day is in fact is open to all, not just members, and that tours will be running at Weybourne sheds throughout the day. This is therefore one of the best opportunities of the year to see the subjects featured in this Blog for yourself, so some on down and have a look round! Additionally, the railway is open at normal fares, which is a great deal considering there are five steam locomotives and a diesel all running!

September News Part 4

Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853

More body filler on the sides and sanding down this week, followed by some further painting.

A start has been made on sizing up and getting ready the window frames for the brake end of the coach. Two of these originally opened on hinges, but were screwed shut at some point in their lives so will remain so in preservation service.

London North Eastern Railway 1937 Restaurant Buffet E9128E

Dramatic progress this week after the Di-bond panels were fitted to the landward side of the coach. The first panel closest the Holt end has also had the top and bottom strip of beading added.

Further up the vehicle, preparation work to the flaking paintwork has commenced.

The two corridor end doors have now been removed for repairs and re-varnishing. Split woodwork has been chiseled out and replacement sections let in. Other splits have been glued up to seal them and much of the beading has been resealed into place to add extra water resistance.

British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224

More painting of the underframe, with the first coat of rust-kill primer almost fully applied.

The bogies have started to be painted in black undercoat,. no rust-kill required on these as they were in much better condition than the underframe.

British Railways 1959 Tourist Second Open M4843

The new pressed steel end from South Devon Railway arrived this week and has been clamped in place on the landward corner. It is now in the process of being welded into position and first impressions are that it fits really well!

British Railways 1957 Tourist Second Open E4521

We have been advised that due to the presence of too much rolling stock in and around the sheds/yard at Weybourne, that E4521 could no longer be accommodated. It has therefore been returned to storage at Holt for the time being. We may welcome it back later in the year once more space becomes available.

British Railways 1960 Brush Type 2 D5631

This week the remainder of the Class 31 was signed off for painting after bodywork reconstruction reached an advanced stage. This allowed the Sheringham end cab and seaward side to follow the rest of the loco into primer. Meanwhile the Holt end cab and seaward side body has advanced into undercoat.

There is still a lot of work to do to the rest of the loco and the grills and louvers are now being tackled so in due course they can be painted and attached to the loco later.

British Railways 1962 12 Ton Box Van B784254

The vacuum cylinder has been reassembled this week with its new seals and has passed its NNR test for cylinders which is good. It now awaits further testing to check if it passes all of the tests that BR had for such cylinders.

Elsewhere on the vehicle, all of the rusty bolts have been knocked out of the roof hoops, bringing the vehicle one step closer to getting its new roof.

London Midland Scottish Railway 1947 22 Ton Plate Open 726631

The plate wagon has returned from Sheringham where it was in use as a bandstand for the 1940's weekend. Its return coincided with a downturn in weather conditions so we are waiting for drier weather before continuing with the repainting work!

September News Part 3

Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853

Progress this week has mainly been confined to the application of more body filler to the sides and consequent sanding down.

London North Eastern Railway 1937 Restaurant Buffet E9128E

Due to logistical issues the Di-bond panels were unable to be delivered this week and have been delayed into next week, which means there hasn't been any leaps forward with repaneling the vehicle. However in preparation for their arrival, the half-round beading strips delivered last week have all been coated in resin to prepare them for fitting once the main panels are in place.

The underframe, which was gloss painted last week, has had several of the detail pieces painted in white/red etc. Items have included the emergency couplings, battery charging sockets and the clips for the underslung equipment boxes.

On the landward side, the replacement teak cant rails have now been fitted, so hopefully any water ingress from the roof will be prevented.

Finally, the bottom framework repairs are now also completed. There was a large section replaced on the landward side, and the smaller section on the landward/Holt end corner has also been completed and boxed back in where end framework had to be removed.

British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224

This week saw progression of the two current main tasks; repainting the guards area and the underframe restoration. The latter is currently being hoovered of all final dust and a start has now been made applying the first coat of paint to the main frames. This is a reactive paint designed to apply onto rusty surfaces.

A plan has now been made of the new steam heating pipework, and several components that will be used for the refit have been gathered ready. This pipework is due to be fitted once the Class 31 project is complete.

The bogies, which have hitherto been untouched, received a steam clean this week has has revealed they are in excellent condition. Once dried out, the frames will require little more than repainting which will save a lot of stripping work.

The battery box covers mentioned last week are now safely stored ready to refit.

British Railways 1959 Tourist Second Open M4843

The framework repairs to the corridor end are now completed and we are now awaiting delivery of one of the South Devon Railway's new pressed Mark 1 ends which promises to be an exciting and time saving development for us. Whilst we have the skills to fabricate Mark 1 ends individually, they cost us hugely in term of labour cost, so we are hoping for a positive result using the ready-made South Devon examples as we may well be using them regularly into the future as we have a succession of Mark 1's awaiting end repairs.

In the meantime, the toilet area on the seaward side has been stripped of all its panelwork to allow repairs and removal of the framework below. It is therefore looking quite skeletal at the moment!

British Railways 1957 Tourist Second Open E4521

No progress to report.

British Railways 1960 Brush Type 2 D5631

Bodywork is now nearing completion with the Holt end cab and landward side reassembly completed early this week. This in turn has allowed the same area to be painted in primer, meaning 50% of the loco is now primed in "Kermit" green...

British Railways 1962 12 Ton Box Van B784254

This week it has all been about the vacuum cylinder which was defective. It has been removed and stripped down into its component parts. The exterior bowl has been needle gunned and repainted gloss black, making it the nicest vacuum cylinder on the railway by far! Other components such as the main piston have been thoroughly cleaned but the cylinder cannot currently be reassembled as the replacement rubber rings and seals are still on order.

London Midland Scottish Railway 1947 22 Ton Plate Open 726631

As explained last week, this vehicle is currently away at Sheringham where it is in use as a dance/band stand for the 1940's weekend, a function it performs twice a year. This will be the last event (for a while) that it appears at in a shabby condition!

Workshop

We are still handling a lot of station refurbishment work, particularly at Weybourne. A second platform bench is currently in for repairs and repainting, which has best been done in a dismantled state.

All of the bicycles that have been cosmetically restored are now also back "in saddle" on the platform once again, just in time for the 1940's weekend.