October News Part 2

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

Nowhere near as dramatic as last week's transformation, but ceiling work has continued beyond the main fitting of the panels, with untidy areas improved and trim finished etc. 

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

The second quarter of the seat re-upholstery has now commenced with stripping of the old covers being the first act.

London North Eastern Railway 1931 Corridor Third E12493E (REPAIR)

No progress to report.

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

Bodywork on the landward side close to the guards compartment has extended as far as the double set of doors in the kitchen (former luggage) area. Old skin has been chopped out and replaced with new along with a further section of repair skirting. The whole areas from doorway-to-doorway is being prepped also ready for some primer.

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

This week further finishing touches to the exterior have included the refitting of all of the grab handles and cab handrails.

The corridor connection outer "scissors" mechanism has received a cosmetic only coat of black gloss to smarten them up as the corridor has been shown up by the surrounding shiny paintwork!

Interior wise, the cab refresh continues and we have started on freshening up the passenger vestibules, which are noticeably poorer than the saloons in condition, so will receive a repaint to the walls. Before the vehicle leaves the staging area, the inside faces of all four passenger doors have been painted, as it is much easier to do this with the doors open, due to the arrangement of the draught excluders when the doors are shut.

British Railways 1954 13 Ton Pipe Open B740918 (BRONZE)

Paint has been ordered for the top coats for this wagon.

British Railways 1959 21 Ton Lowmac B904149 (BRONZE)

This vehicle is progressing nicely with all of the replacement planking now bolted down into position on the wagon.

Painting has continued with the signwriting now complete down one side and the axlebox ends undercoated in yellow.

A bent coupling at the Holt end has been extracted, straightened out and refitted, all in one day as it proved more straightforward than expected.

Maintenance

The second coat of varnish has now been applied to the replacement tables for BSK(D) M35148.

M4843 Launched into Traffic

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

A big visual difference has been made over the past two weeks, with ceiling panel fitting now well underway and 75% of the main passenger saloon panelled very quickly. Even with the protective film still in situ, the extra lighting in the coach is noticeable with the new panels providing a lot of reflection.

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

The first quarter of seat cushions have now been reupholstered by the department at Weybourne, and the second quarter of seats extracted from storage and moved to Weybourne to be similarly treated.

London North Eastern Railway 1931 Corridor Third E12493E (REPAIR)

No progress to report.

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

Bodywork progresses well with the seaward side of the main passenger saloon now looking the part. Three window sections are now skinned with all framework also replaced where required.

The final two windows are in the process of being cut out and framework repairs are ongoing, with the floor bearers done and higher up examples now ready to be replaced.

The guards compartment has been built up nicely with the replacement ceiling now in place and most of it beaded.

The walls have had final paint preparation and have been primed and undercoated, which has transformed the area into the cream colour that it will b close to when finished.

Further adjustments and restoration has also been done to the relocated ambulance cupboard, which is now physically completed and in place accessed from what will be the kitchen.

British Railways 1959 Tourist Second Open M4843 (BRONZE)

This vehicle has now finally been completed and returned to service just in time for the Autumn Showcase event. Lots of the usual finishing touches were made to the outside including some reassembly and cleaning work, but the largest outstanding task was converting the strip lighting to LED versions which will be much kinder on the batteries. We also replaced the filament lights in the vestibules with LED's so this is now the first fully LED coach on the NNR.

The final task was to lift the coach and change the coil springs in the bolster of the Sheringham end bogie. These had proven too difficult to remove before but we were now armed with a bespoke squeezing device which managed to crack the corrosion and split apart the required plates to allow a spring change to occur with some good spares we had in stock.

We also undertook a steam heat repair whilst the coach was on jacks, so hopefully the cold area of the coach that was reported last winter will be cosy once again during this year's Santa and Norfolk Lights trains!

British Railways 1957 Class 101 Railcar Driving Trailer Composite Lavatory E56062 (SILVER)

Sadly this vehicle was not able to be launched at the Showcase weekend which had been the plan some time ago. However we have still done well externally with the remaining windows now back in place. This allowed all of the signwriting to be done including numbers, chassis lettering and various legends on the doors and corridor end.

After the lettering and numbering was applied, the entire vehicle has been treated to a final sealing coat of varnish, which almost completes the exterior. Just handrails left to refit now!

Before the vehicle re-entered the staging, finishing touches to the bogies and axleboxes were made with the tyres painted white and the axlebox covers yellow.

The vehicle will be available this weekend for viewing during the member's shed tours.

British Railways 1954 13 Ton Pipe Open B740918 (BRONZE)

The seaward side rubbing down is now complete, wood hardener applied where necessary followed by red primer.

Also primed are the metal repair plates, which are to be fitted in various places, along with new timber replacing the rotten planks on both seaward and landward side.

British Railways 1959 21 Ton Lowmac B904149 (BRONZE)

This wagon has now been moved into the shed temporarily whilst there is space vacated by 4843. The Youth Development Club finished off priming the exterior and have also rallied round and applied back undercoat.

The "bodysides" have also progressed into gloss Bauxite brown.

The replacement planks have all been profiled underneath so that they sit nicely into all the rebates and over rivets etc. These have been rot treated on the undersides and on all edges that will be hidden once fitted. The bolts for these have now arrived so all being well it will not be long before they are fitted.

Maintenance

The new tables for BSK 35148 have now arrived from the contractor. These look very nice and are of an identical design to those that visitors may have spotted inside BCK 21224. They require varnishing and the first coat was applied this week.

M4843 Almost There

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

Further fitting of the interior insulation has been undertaken, ready for areas to be panelled off.

Meanwhile, components have been progressing on the bench, including a correct pattern LNER letter rack for the guards compartment and several steam heater covers intended to go down the side of the vehicle.

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

No progress to report.

London North Eastern Railway 1931 Corridor Third E12493E (REPAIR)

No progress to report. All that remains outstanding from the previous repaint work is some finishing off round the black painted corridor ends.

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

The floor repairs and bodywork continue to progress along the seaward side. We are now almost at the half way point for this side of the main passenger saloon. The most recent work includes re-skinning under the windows towards the Holt end, and adding a lower repair section to the bottom of the bodyside.

Guards van reconstruction also continues. The planking is now fully fitted to the seaward side wall, which allowed the door jambs to be installed along with hinges and, excitingly, the door itself. This is actually the first door to be successfully permanently fitted to the vehicle, only seven more to go!

Much sanding and filling of the wall panelling has also been undertaken to create a really nice and clean environment, rather than just painting over the old surface. This sanding has been on the three non-planked walls that form the compartment.

Work is now focussing on replacing the ceiling in the compartment. We deliberated whether to change it or not, but decided to as we will not be in this position again for another 30 years at least! A new ceiling gives the opportunity to remove the old slots for the periscope mirrors, which have been patched over for most of the coach's history. The new panels have been cut to size and successfully dry fitted, they are now removed again for painting.

Volunteers have been doing well stripping down table light bulb surrounds ready for repainting. These are from open style stock so are one of the components not original to 14021 but essential to creating the new open saloon in an authentic format.

British Railways 1959 Tourist Second Open M4843 (BRONZE)

This vehicle, the next to be out-shopped, is now very much on the home straight. The exterior works to the body are now all but completed, with replacement lining applied to the upper half of the coach which was then masked up and repainted in a fresh coat of maroon. The vehicle has since been rubbed down again and completely varnished all the way round. This completes the exterior other than a few very minor touching in and window cleaning tasks.

Internally, the vehicle is now also finished, the final task being adjusting and finishing the replacement door draught excluders.

Only the replacement of the broken bogie coil springs now remains. We had hoped to complete this vehicle in time for this weekend's 1940's event, but we will sadly be around a week short!

British Railways 1957 Class 101 Railcar Driving Trailer Composite Lavatory E56062 (SILVER)

The main area of progress has been the window fitting, which is always a challenge with this design of vehicle. The teams involved have done very well, with the seaward (driver's) side now all fitted back into place, and half of the other side also completed. It will not be too long before the vehicle is ready for exterior varnishing.

New tooling has now been produced for some perished internal rubbers (yet another rubber section!) which would have prevented us refitting the interior after the windows were fitted. This is now in production and should arrive next month after which we can start reassembling.

A few minor cosmetic finishing jobs are being done on the bufferbeams and chassis, before the vehicle is moved back into the staging again. This has included lamp brackets (black) and axlebox covers (yellow).

British Railways 1954 13 Ton Pipe Open B740918 (BRONZE)

No progress to report.

British Railways 1959 21 Ton Lowmac B904149 (BRONZE)

The Youth Development Club have been busy priming the chassis of the wagon, the first coat of which is now 75% completed.

The "bodysides" (what little of them there is on a Lowmac) have also been undercoated in brown, ready for the vehicle's new Bauxite livery.

Finally, the replacement wooden planks have been cut down to length and test fitted before coming back out to be treated.

Fruit D Completed

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

Vacuum leak testing has continued, with the coach split into two halves to hunt down the annoying leaks in the main steel vacuum pipe that runs from end-to-end. The first half has now been sealed sufficiently, whilst the second half has a series of leaking joints had had been disturbed as part of restoration efforts to date. This will now form the focus going forward on this job.

Interior woodwork components continue to be progressed with some nice varnished examples starting to emerge.

The ceiling panel former mentioned last time has been tested with some scrap Di-bond paneling and found to be successful. The centre lighting console running the length of the passenger saloon has been clad and the remainder of the roof space insulated ready to receive the ceiling itself.

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

Contract restoration in Derbyshire continues now that the vehicle is safely delivered into its new workshop facility where works will be completed. The move went well and it is now in an off-site facility not connected to a heritage railway.

Now that the disruption associated with the move of a business is settling down, works to 16631 have restarted. The non-brake corridor end has been a focus of attention with paneling now fitted, prepped and painted.

The replacement gangway connection which was sent westwards is being cleaned and prepared for fitting to the end.

Close to the same end, a further door has been hung successfully.

Finally, side panels have also been rubbed down for further painting.

London North Eastern Railway 1931 Corridor Third E12493E (REPAIR)

This vehicle has seen good progress made with the exterior restoration now almost complete, aided by consistent good weather at last! The remainder of the woodwork repairs were all completed, with the same areas patch primed and later patch undercoated ready for the big day utilising corporate volunteers.

A group of nine enthusiastic employees from Aviva made very short work of applying the gloss maroon to the side of the vehicle, in fact it was finished in just one hour! We hope they had a satisfying time and it certainly made a difference to the coach's appearance. The long footboard was also coated black later in the day.

The vehicle is now complete other than a second coat of maroon on the bodyside and also black painting of the ends.

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

Whilst progress continues to be made at a strong pace, much of it is similar to that already pictured in earlier updates. Continued floor repairs continue to be made at the Holt end with more rotten floor supports made good. We area also making progress on mapping out the new toilet onto the existing floor so we can modify the floor supports to take the relocated walls. Bodywork at this end is also doing well with some skin work along the seaward side renewed.

In the guards compartment, more wall planking continues to be restored and in some cases, actually refitted to the walls. The biggest change however has been the dividing wall between the guards compartment and former luggage, now kitchen, area. This bulkhead has had its two windows plugged to create a solid wall, so that things won't get awkward is there are any scandalous feuds between dining train guards and kitchen staff! A section in the corner of the same wall has also been cut away to take the relocated emergency equipment cupboard, which itself has been on the bench last week undergoing stripping and restoration. The movement of the cupboard is part of the scheme to widen the adjacent corridor to make the waiter's path easier. We are trying to make a clever design which will allow the cupboard to form, a handy shelf inside the guards compartment but have a flush fitting door that will open outwards into the kitchen, on the extremely rare occasions that the emergency equipment may be needed.

The side wall between the guard and corridor is now whole again, with a revised section being built and a BR style window added to keep enough light inside the reduced size guards compartment.

British Railways 1959 Tourist Second Open M4843 (BRONZE)

Lower lining has been reapplied along the landward side where it had been damaged by repairs, and other signwriting to the lower half completed meaning the coach was ready to move back into the staging for cosmetic works to continue on the upper half of the coach.

Cleaning and painting of the replacement springs for the centre bolster of the Sheringham end bogie has continued.

Repairs to the inside of the vehicle are now fully completed, the last task being the completion of fitting replacement draught excluders to the six passenger doorways.

British Railways 1957 Class 101 Railcar Driving Trailer Composite Lavatory E56062 (SILVER)

Two milestones have been reached, both with a painting theme. Firstly, the maroon glossing of the cab interior has been completed, allowing the painting of the cab desk and window surrounds to now start.

Secondly, all of the lining has been applied, consisting of three bodyside lines that wrap round the cab front and corridor ends. This means that signwriting of lettering and solebar details can commence.

We have now started the task of refitting the windows, which in some cases is proving a challenge!

Latterly this vehicle had been running without batteries. We have now fitted a set and following replacement of a blown fuse now have a charging system working once again and all the lights on the vehicle have been proven to still work.

British Railways 1954 13 Ton Pipe Open B740918 (BRONZE)

This vehicle has now officially transferred from HQ at Weybourne to the out-stationed team up at Holt who will be bringing this project over the line. It was positioned under the awning at Holt next to the museum for work to start.

British Railways 1959 21 Ton Lowmac B904149 (BRONZE)

With B740918 transferred to Holt, this has freed up capacity at Weybourne to start the Lowmac flat wagon, which is Weybourne's wagon project for 2024. We are going to be needing some help on this one from the Youth Development Club (YDC), who wasted no time in getting stuck in the same week the vehicle arrived from Holt. The YDC have degreased and jet washed the landward side and both ends ready for repainting to start, much needed as the wagon's last repaint was as far back as 1996, when many of the YDC adult helpers were themselves children or teenagers!

Other volunteers have now removed all of the rotten timbers which conspired to withdraw the wagon from service late last year. Removal of wasted bolts has also occurred and sections of corroded metal normally hidden by the planks has been needle gunned back stable and recoated in paint to protect the areas going forward.

The new timber for the deck has now arrived so hopefully it will not be long before they are cut to size for fitting.

British Railways (GWR Design) 1958 "Fruit D" W92097W (SILVER)

The vehicle is now completed! (cue applause!) The Holt team have done a great job repairing and repainting this vehicle which will made its debut at the "Festival of Rails" event in the demonstration goods set.

Workshop

We recently took delivery of a lot of workshop equipment, as part of a rail industry supplier warehouse surplus sale. We are very pleased with our equipment, many of which were "bid on blind" as they had brief or incomplete descriptions with no pictures in the list! The stuff, new old stock obtained at a reduced price compared to brand new, will keep certain parts of our workshop well stocked for many years saving much funds which can be ploughed back into the coaches themselves. All these crates have needed splitting down and the myriad of components pigeon holing into respective places around the workshop, which has taken some days but we are getting there!