August News Part 2

No update last week as a long overdue visit to Crich Tramway Museum was being undertaken! They are remarkably similar to us in their endeavors, and they are one of the few groups out there who have shared the experience of taking abandoned bodies out of fields and putting them back on rails!

Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853

Our own Bungalow revival continues to progress steadily, with more work tidying up and improving the doors. Some smoothing and filling work has been undertaken this week to several doors, with the set of double (luggage) doors now in a coat of red primer.

Inside the compartments, the ash poles for the luggage racks are now fitted and have been stained in "Jacobean Teak" (our own mix of several wood dyes). These are now being varnished and have received two coats already.

London North Eastern Railway 1937 Restaurant Buffet E9128E

The notorious "Gresley Buffet" has arrived outside of the shed for remedial works to begin. Possibly the most emotive coach on the entire railway, it has a lot of history with the line since first being restored in the 1980's, possibly because it was the venue for many a volunteer get together and therefore happy memories! Removed from service a little while ago, resources were unavailable to undertake the exterior panel replacement that it badly requires. The decision to pull it from service and not to re-restore it immediately was criticized in some quarters, but the great news is that the Joint Heritage Coach Fund have agreed to undertake the works instead which will have the result of this coach returning to traffic much sooner than originally feared.

They have not wasted any time either, within a few days of being positioned in the yard, the split/rotten beading and paneling was fully removed from the landward side, and is progressing well also on the other side. The panel problems are only present below window height, so all work is focusing on these lower paneled areas.

The revealed framework below, for several years now an unknown quantity, was thankfully in generally sound condition. Rot is present in several places but is sufficiently limited to be able to be dealt with via splicing and patch replacement of required areas. The largest area so far has been a single upright which had rotted away at the bottom and up part of its length. A replacement piece has already been cut to shape and spliced in. The framework has been coated in some resin to give it a top-up form of protection before the new panels cover it all up again.

The framework is currently in the process of having 5mm packing spacers nailed to it as the replacement panels (the details of which will be revealed in due course!) are much thinner than the existing panels which are being removed. These spacers are needed so that the replacement panels are flush with the surrounding body, and so that the replacement beading sits over the whole arrangement nicely and keep as much water out as possible!

Now to engage in some platform end rumor as this question will inevitably get asked! A collaboration of the team undertaking the work plus owners the M&GN Society have advised that during these refurbishment works to return the vehicle to service, it will be retaining it's 1950's Carmine & Cream exterior livery. I await the cries of disgust and support with equal anticipation!

British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224

This vehicle has now returned from Bridge Road sheds and has been the main focus inside the works this week, as a renewed drive to progress the major overhaul has been instigated. Inside the vehicle, the bulkhead wall inside the luggage compartment has been flatted smooth with a sander and some old cracks and holes filled and sanded to get a good base for repainting.

One of the main components for the adjacent guard's compartment, the desk, has now reached the end of its refurbishment and has been reassembled and all its catches and finishing touches fitted. It looks great!

Toilet preparations continue, the toilet seat is now fully varnished and has been stored ready for refitting once we have a toilet to attach it to!

Also from the toilet, but below it this time, are two water drain valves which empty the whole system of water when they are operated by crew members, this is particularly useful for draining down during winter when the frosts would damage the pipes etc. These valves have been removed from the coach, stripped and cleaned before being reassembled. They now await refitting as always!

The outside of the coach is currently unable to be progressed, so for the first time in NNR ownership the coach has been raised off its bogies on the jacks so that underframe work can commence.

A good start has been made this week of the horrendous job of scraping down the rust underframe members below floor level, it really is a dirty and thankless task. Those who have volunteered to contribute to this task have the greatest of respect! Amazingly, six separate people (victims) have all put in a day this week on this particular task. The brushed up metal will receive paint in due course.

Also underneath, the electric heating system has now been fully removed. The asbestos stripping contractors destroyed any hope of the electric heat system being retained for the future when they unsympathetically ripped out much of the system so as not to risk contamination. This has left us with a chopped up half of a system that is now useless, so we have removed the remaining parts of the wiring, inter connecting jumper cables and electrical conduit/trunking which was attached to much of the underframe. We now have more room under there to both clean up the frames and also to work on other systems in the future, including the brake pipes and also the fitment of a new steam heat pipe so that this coach is able to be heated by our engines! Much of the electric heat system was bolted in positions where the original steam heat system was located, so even of the electric system was in a condition where it could have been kept, fitting the steam heaters back into place would have been challenging.

Lastly, a start has been made on stripping down and repainting the battery box covers. These are in good condition under all the grime, so should scrub up well!

British Railways 1959 Tourist Second Open M4843

The centre vestibule has received a further coat of varnish as the previous coat was found to be a tad patchy once it had dried. 

British Railways 1957 Tourist Second Open E4521

This coach has now arrived inside the shed having spend many years inside Bridge Road sheds in storage. It is currently being assessed to determine a scope of works.

New Arrivals

We are welcoming two new arrivals of Carriage & Wagon relevance to the railway. Both have been known about for some time but to preserve confidentiality we have had to wait until they actually roll off the lorries before including them in these notes. The first is a 12 ton BR box van, number B784254, the fourth now on the railway and recently transferred from our neighbors at the Mid Norfolk Railway. It is privately owned and restoration work to improve its condition is expected immediately, so depending on the owner's views it may well be featured on this blog as wagon restoration, whilst not completely unheard of, will be something unusual for the department!

The second arrival is a LNER designed Thompson era Corridor Brake Third (BTK), number 1866, recently purchased by the M&GN society from the Llangollen Railway. It will replace the Thompson BG (which has no passenger accommodation at all) in the Society's long term "LNER Mainline Set" but will be operating much sooner than the BG would have, as the BTK has already received a substantial amount of restoration work. We look forward to getting stuck in to finish it off, however it will be heading to Bridge Road sheds for a little while whilst the current projects are completed first.

August News Part 1

Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853

A lot more work is going into the door locks and catches with several continuing to be the focus of attention this week. Some of the passenger doors have received their locks which includes the internal tongue for opening the door from the inside. These were too easily operated at first so they have had their springs changed internally to stiffen them up so they cannot be operated by accident whilst the train is in motion!

Sticking with the safety theme, inside the guards van some cupboards have been moved from one side to another as it has now been realised that at least one of them was sticking out and causing a risk of head injury. By having the higher cupboard above another cupboard that takes up floor space it should prevent the former from hitting people in the skull...

Inside the compartments, some very expensive ash luggage rack poles are now being test fitted and have been put in position on the two outer walls. They should varnish up very nicely.

Lastly, the first of the four buffer shanks are now in the lathe next door and are being machined down (so they fit the revised arrangement on the coach). This is being done under contract so has had to wait for an available space in the work schedule to progress. Hopefully the other three can follow the first one in time.

British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224

The metal covers which fit along the side corridor protecting passengers' ankles from the electric heaters that were fitted in there, briefly mentioned last week, have now all been stripped of old paint and are currently in a polished metal state ready for repainting. Working with a heat gun has been very arduous in the current weather conditions! With the outer covers done, the inner covers which go behind the heaters and stop the vehicle's internal insulation being singed were brushed down and painted in rust-kill primer. These have not had the same attention as the visible covers as not being seen there simply was no need, consequently all of them were easily cleaned and painted in one day. They will have further coats of paint applied in due course.

The alloy window frames for the landward side of the vehicle (currently stacked up in component form at the side of the workshop until 21224 itself returns from storage) are also in the process of being polished up to remove all traces of old paint, so we get no reactions to any etch primers we apply in due course. Over half of the stack have been completed so far.

British Railways 1959 Tourist Second Open M4843

A batch of curved hardwood door posts have now arrived for the vehicle which will allow the doors to be refitted properly to the Sheringham end vestibule once labour becomes available to do so. A bit of time did allow a brief test to be made with one of them and a bit of adjustment to the rebate has been required using a router.

The middle vestibule, which still has its doors(!), has joined the ranks of areas which have received re-varnishing to improve its appearance.

As part of the project for "getting everything ready" to refit the corridor connections when the time is right, a set of lighting jumper bases have been machined from hardwood. These are fixed to the outer steel skin and are what the jumper cables themselves and associated covers all screw onto. Their exposed position leads them to rot badly in service so renewal can be common during major overhauls. A set of eight have been made, enough for 4843 and 21224.

British Railways 1957 Tourist Second Open E4521

The new kid on the block when it comes to these jottings... E4521 is a "standard" open second identical to many of our Mark 1's we operate. Having been used on the NNR since the 1980's it was withdrawn from service over ten years ago and has been a resident inside Bridge Road carriage sheds. It has long been the railway's ambition to extract it and get it back into service. Due to the Suburban 4 project this has not been possible these last few years but the time is soon coming where we may be able to just squeeze it through the programme. It has been assessed and is quite poor in some areas but remarkably good in other areas. It has therefore been decided to place it on the "Silver" overhaul programme, which is unusual for a vehicle being extracted from storage - they are normally so dilapidated they require a "Gold"!

E4521 remains inside Bridge Road for the moment but will be one of the coaches replacing E3868 & M26012 in the works (see below) once it has been tripped from Holt. In preparation for its move, this week we emptied all of the stores which have been put inside the coach over the last few years, and then filled it with enough seating to reupholster in due course, as the original seating had been removed and fitted to various other coaches, particularly TSO E4641 which we completed back in 2016.

E4521 is now ready for its overhaul to begin.

British Railways 1953 Tourist Second Open E3868 & 1962 Corridor Second M26012

In an extremely rare occurrence, this week we completed two projects at once which has returned the two service rakes of coaches at Sheringham back to full strength. TSO E3868 was completed after its ends were repainted black. Whilst we were there with the paintbrush the two end doors also received a coat of cream.

M26012 meanwhile received a coat of paint on its sole-bar and exposed underframe components just to boost its appearance. The white stars (which denote where the vacuum brake cylinder pull chords are located) were also applied and the emergency lighting point sockets also lettered.

Both are now back at Sheringham and have boosted the proportion of shiny coaches we have in service considerably.

British Railways 1960 Brush Type 2 D5631

The department currently has 50% of its paid workforce dedicated to getting the Class 31 diesel back together again. Bodywork and welding is ongoing next door in the loco shed, but five doors have made it into our shed with the intention of making two good ones out of the selection. They are being stripped down, repaired and rebuilt.

July News Part 3

There has been a two week gap in reporting this time rather than the usual one, due to holidays on the Isle of Wight. Although little in the way of railways were pursued, even a coastal walk threw up some ex-Metropolitan Railway coach bodies in use as beach huts, which just goes to show that once you've got the scent there's no denying the chase!

Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853

Significant progress has been made on a whole manner of projects since the last update. The doors continue to be progressed with more repairs and tweaking making each one a better fit as each day passes. Some are now getting locks and handles are in the process of being fitted. The double sets of luggage doors in particular are receiving their locking bars which slot into the top and floor. These are having to be be partially manufactured and partly modified from BR Mark 1 components. Also on the doors, the internal timber sliding ventilators have also been fitted to several of the doors.

Inside the vehicle, the passenger communication chords are virtually finished, withe all the remaining tubing being painted and fitted and the chains themselves now also in position.

Inside the guard's van, a supporters seat, half width but in the same style as the compartment seats, has been built and fitted into the corner of the area that will be accommodating wheelchairs.

Inside the compartments, the picture frames are making progress with several internal frames being machined and assembled ready to clamp the glass in position when the time for fitting comes.

Various castings that make up the luggage racking are now also screwed into place on the walls.

Up in the ceiling, false ventilators and centrally mounted lighting "pods" are also fitted into position.

So quite a good period for "stuff" emerging and being fitted, bringing the coach ever closer to the completed stage.

British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224

The sliding cage door pictured last week is now cleaned and painted in primer where it has now been stored ready for refitting.

More components are being stripped ready for repainting. This week's target has been some metal covers which fit along the side corridor protecting passenger's ankles from the electric heaters that were fitted in there. The toilet seat is also now progressing nicely. It has been stripped and sanded to within an inch of its life to restore the grain after a hard life of ammonia! The bracket on which the seat bolted to had been replaced with a poor softwood so has been remade in a similar timber that will varnish up nicely. The hinge mechanism has been freed off and sprayed silver as the metal was too poor to leave in a polished finish - caused again due to poor aim in the past! All of the wooden components are now being built up with varnish coats which is ongoing.

British Railways 1959 Tourist Second Open M4843

Focus has continued to be at the Sheringham end, as the Holt end metal repairs have been suspended whilst we help out the Locomotive Department with welding work on the Class 31 diesel loco. However we have painted the window aperture around the landward side toilet which will allow the window to be refitted fairly soon.

At the Sheringham end, the area of steel skin around the corridor connection has also been protected in gloss to allow us to refit the wooden surrounds for the connection itself. Also in readiness for the end refit, the cleaning/repainting of all of the end furniture such as the lighting jumper cables and handrails has also been completed.

Moving inside the end vestibule, the refit has progressed very well with the new flooring now screwed down and refitted. As part of this process the sliding door for the corridor connection was trial fitted to make sure it still fitted! With the floor in place, this has finally allowed interior paneling to be refitted, with the two large wall panels now back in place.

The ceilings and vestibule lighting, complete with associated trim, has also been refitted, so this area is now looking far more normal again!

British Railways 1962 Corridor Second M26012

This coach is extremely close to exiting the works for the bulk of the summer season. The application of lining around the waist line is now complete so the vehicle now has a full compliment of lines to break up the otherwise plain maroon look.

Some finishing touches are now being applied such as white tips on the irons that carry the tail lamps, and additional "top up" coats of paint on the foot boards to reduce wear.

Only a few grab handles now remain to be refitted and this coach should be leaving us bound for a re-entry into service.

British Railways 1953 Tourist Second Open E3868

Following behind M26012 very closely, E3868 is likely to be exiting the works at the same time. The re-varnishing work to the bodysides is now completed and it looks much less faded than it did when it came in. It has retained a smooth finish so we await "judgement" once we see the coach outside in the full sunlight. We will also see how well it fares in service, but initial indications are that the re-varnishing has been a success.

A "do not lean out of the window" sticker has been reapplied to one of the doors after it was noticed that it was missing for some reason.

Some small areas of corrosion around the corridor ends have all been dealt with and repainted into undercoat. The only task now outstanding on E3868 is application of a coat of gloss black on the two ends.

July News Part 2

Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853

This week has been less "visual" with all work concentrating on minor alterations to the doors which are all in the process of being fully fitted to the vehicle. Most of these are now in position but have been receiving much tweaking to stop them bouncing and rubbing as they try to close cleanly. Some on the landward side have had their "check straps" fitted which prevents them opening too far and swinging round and hitting the bodyside. These straps are being produced in house with recycled materials, which has the added bonus of saving costs as well. On a slight tangent, some may be surprised to hear that the cost of restoring 853 will be significantly cheaper than the cost of a 1950's Mark 1 overhaul!

British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224

Also currently exiled inside Bridge Road sheds, some spare labour was available this week to continue with some of the interior components ready for refitting in due course. The latest victim has been a sliding cage door for the luggage area which is being rubbed down of all old paint to make it smooth and nice again for new paint. The square steel mesh is particularly difficult to clean and various repaints over the years has resulted in a paint build up on the mesh.

British Railways 1959 Tourist Second Open M4843

At the Sheringham corridor end, initial bodywork preparation is finished and the areas which are to be covered up by components are being painted to protect them before the items are refitted. Some of the corridor bellow timbers have also been trail fitted into position, these are the originals which were deemed good enough to retain once they had received repairs to splits etc.

In preparation towards refitting the corridor, the faceplate itself has been moved from the yard indoors for cleaning up and repair. The two rubber sprung brackets at the stop required the backing plates (which hold the rubber inside the bracket) to be replaced as they had rotted badly where they had been up against the coach and received bad water ingress. The rubbers themselves however have remained serviceable.

Inside the vestibule at the same end, the replacement floor supports have now been fitted into position and work has moved on to measuring and then cutting the new plywood floor. It will be nice to be able to stand inside the vestibule once again!

Meanwhile at the Holt end, more cutting out and cleaning of metal in common with previous weeks. The focus has been on the seaward side toilet, the floor of which has required levering upwards to assess corrosion beneath and get to the welding repairs that will be required. Unlike the other side however, repairs should be limited to the lower sections rather than all the way up! It's all looking a bit messy in there at the minute, and like the Sheringham end, full replacement of the flooring instead of keyhole surgery is looking more likely.

British Railways 1962 Corridor Second M26012

This week, the repainting work has been concluded, with the second coat of maroon being finished and the two ends receiving coats of black undercoat and then gloss.

Some finishing touches have been completed as the coach is due to leave the staging area soon to make way for E3868. These have included varnishing the top line (which was kept during the repaint to save time) to bring back some of its colour, scraping stray paint off the bodyside windows and cleaning the bodyside windows. A start is now being made to apply the lower lining.

British Railways 1953 Tourist Second Open E3868

It has long been the policy not to use varnish on the steel bodied Mark 1's during the repainting process. During 2018 it has been decided to experiment with reintroducing varnish to some vehicles. Three experiments are to be taken: firstly, the next Silver/Gold overhaul to be completed will receive a coat of varnish over its newly applied paint before it enters service. Secondly a coach that wasn't varnished originally but which has been in service for five years will have a coat of varnish applied. And finally a coach that is due for a repaint but which we do not have capacity to undertake yet will have a coat of varnish applied. All three will be assessed to see how they fare in our particular local conditions.

The third option has already been applied to BSK W35148 at the start of the season but unfortunately the general consensus is that it hasn't worked too well. Now we are pursuing the middle option i.e. varnishing a coach half way (5 years) through its life. The selected vehicle is E3868 which was outshopped in 2013 following a Silver overhaul. The vehicle is having very little other work whilst it is in with us so it should be a fairly quick project. So far, the exterior has been washed thoroughly which has included a good steam clean of the bogies and underframe. The vehicle was then moved inside the shed and has been rubbed down gently ready for varnishing next week. A few patches of rust are coming through on the vehicles ends, so these have been picked out, treated and re-filled as a stop gap measure. The black ends will receive a single coat of black paint as opposed to varnish in order to cover/seal these repairs.

What this work will hopefully achieve is the ability to field a main service set of Mark 1's that have all been painted or varnished in the 2016-18 period, which could potentially include the following vehicles:

E3868 (varnish 2018) + M4236 (paint 2017) + E4641 (paint 2016) +  M26012 (paint 2018) + W35148 (varnish 2018) + E94464 (paint 2018)

This will be a major milestone in the railway's aim to catch up on deferred cosmetic attention of our main Mark 1 fleet, gaining ground which was lost whilst resource was directed for several years towards the suburban set.

British Railways 1960 Brush Type 2 D5631

Members of paid staff are currently transferring next door into the locomotive sheds on a part-time basis as they require assistance in their project to overhaul the Class 31 diesel. The project won't be featuring too heavily in these notes but it's worth celebrating the fact that our welders and body prep staff are in demand! This week it's been roof support hoops and rotten air intake filters brought across to C&W for replacement and repair respectively.

July News Part 1

Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853

Door hanging continues and there are now six at the "hung" stage awaiting the next stage which will be fitting of the catch/locking mechanisms. The four remaining to do are the pair of luggage doors and two compartment doors on the seaward side.

Meanwhile, progress also continues to be made on the passenger communication gear. On the exterior, the feed pipe which links the apparatus valve to the main train vacuum pipe is now complete and in position.

Internally, more pipes (that accommodate the chain) have been produced and in some cases fitted. Work on the adjusting thread and end stop (which is located at the opposite end of the coach where the chain ends) has started.

British Railways 1959 Tourist Second Open M4843

The landward side solebar, pictured last week, has now been painted into gloss black which finishes this particular task.

More coats of paint are being applied to the ironwork which will adorn the two coach ends once all other repairs are completed.

The Holt end metalwork repairs have been noisily progressing with lots of chiseling and needle gunning of old metal to clean it up or remove it for replacement. Some new sections of major "crash pillar" are being prepared for welding into position on the seaward side shortly.

The removed toilet window from the same end is having coats of paint built up on the rear so that it can be refitted in due course.

Meanwhile at the Sheringham end, paint preparation work has started on the end here all the new metal joins the old.

The new floor in this end is also beginning to take shape, with several reproduced framework bearers now completed and painted ready to install on top of the chassis.

British Railways 1962 Corridor Second M26012

The full extent of the vehicle has been coated in a first coat of gloss this week, closely followed by a rub down and a second coat, the latter being 3/4 complete.

On the interior, all of the four-a-side bench seating has been swapped 180 degrees around. This is due to the nature of the vehicle and its wear patterns. The side corridor faces the sea on this coach meaning the compartments/seats face the sun. The seat position nearest the window naturally gets more sun damage than the other three seats on the same "bench". Additionally, when only one or two people travel in a compartment they naturally sit by the window, so the seats nearest the window also get more bottoms than the others! The combination of these two factors, let's call it the "sunny bottom syndrome", has led the seats to be on the verge of wearing out on just 1/4 of their length, the remaining 3/4 still being very presentable. The cure for sunny bottom syndrome has this week been to swap the two seat backs and bases in every compartment round with each other, putting the two worn seating positions closest to the corridor and away from the window, and the two least worn seating positions are now "taking the hit" next to the window, ready to receive maximum summer sun and passenger traffic. It was very hard work but hopefully this move will keep the overall look of the seating in this coach better for longer which prolongs the date which we will have to reupholster.

Upholstery

There hasn't been any updates from upholstery for several weeks, however they have remained very busy. The latest project has been the stripping down of first class compartment seat backs and bases and making patterns for new material. The first, pilot, seat back has been completed and it's magnificent in its first class "chestnut leaf" moquette.

A second back is now following and has been stripped of its old material. These seats are from Brake Corridor Composite GE21103 which is one of the operational brakes, but I'm not sure if they are going back in that coach or are being fitted to similar 21224 which is currently in the restoration programme.