Today marks the tenth anniversary of this blog. Exactly a decade ago on the 16th January 2015 we decided to try something slightly different and share the news from within Carriage & Wagon online to all enthusiasts rather than those within the railway's membership and volunteer base. Needless to say it was successful and still keeps the same format ten years on with only a few minor tweaks. Looking back on the first post, we had two out of the four suburban coaches receiving major overhauls as part of the Lottery Funded "Suburban 4" project. Brake Third E43357 was having its guards van paneled out with new wood planking as all the originals had been lost from when the vehicle had been used as a generator car, whilst Third W46139 (at the time planned to be E46139) was having all of its interior veneered wooden paneling varnished ready for refitting in the later stages of the restoration. The humble "ordinary Mark 1" was represented by Tourist Second Open E4641 which was also undergoing a heavy overhaul. Lower half reskinning and welding work was ongoing on the outside with the rebuilding of one of the toilets the focus of attention on the interior.
The Joint Heritage Coach Fund team were in full swing with the restoration of the M&GN (ex Midland Railway) Picnic Saloon No3 which was having toilet water tanks fitted and the inside of its luggage compartment painted.
It's amazing to think that the vintage train only had two passenger carrying vehicles back in 2015 and with no Suburban set we only really had the Quad-Arts to bolster our two Mark 1 service rakes during special events or busier weekends. Wagons had not been forgotten however, and in parallel with the Picnic Saloon restoration, the Bird's Eye AF container was still in the workshop, almost finished and ready for adding onto the conflat wagon and into the demonstration freight set.
I hope readers have enjoyed a brief look at where the railway's C&W department was back in 2015. Things have certainly changed with many vehicles added to the fleet and sadly one or two taken out (for now at least) but overall it is clear that we have made progress over the last decade. From a personal perspective, my 2015 self had been working for the railway for less than 18 months as a 23 year old standard C&W operative and was still finding my feet in the mighty machine that is the NNR. Now, ten years on and taking a more senior role in the department, I am still just as proud sharing our achievements with the rest of the community online. It's scary to think that as the NNR itself celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, that we have been blogging for 20% of that historic journey! I certainly hope the next 10 years is as enjoyable and fruitful, as we get stuck into our next steps on the road forwards!
London North Eastern Railway 1950 Brake Corridor Third E1866 (GOLD)
Returning to 2025, the Joint Heritage Coach Fund's Thompson continues to progress with window fitting remaining the centre of attention. Since the New Year it has been the toilet window and its opposite counterpart (behind the bar) that have been glazed. These windows have a white opaque finish, with the blue being just the protective film. Thompson vehicles had quite characteristic oval white toilet windows so this is being reproduced and will certainly highlight the Thompson design when it is settled in amongst either Gresley or Mark 1 stock in the future. The vehicle is now almost entirely glazed, with just a few small windows in the tops of the double accessibility doors now remaining.
London North Eastern Railway 1938 Brake Third Open E16631E (GOLD)
No progress to report.
London North Eastern Railway 1929 4 Wheel Pigeon Van 6843 (BRONZE)
The pigeon van has progressed really well, with the repaired exterior teak side paneling pictured before Christmas now safely refitted and sealed into the body once again. Amazingly, the beading has all survived and has been very carefully pinned and sealed back onto the coach with even the distinctive yellow lining remaining intact.
The rest of the outside has seen lots of much smaller but equally important micro-repair works to reverse some of the damage over the past eight years since the vehicle was last refreshed. A small corrosion repair to the guards side-ducket has been made and will be repainted in due course.
All of the areas which had chipped away have now been bleached to bring some colour back to the damaged areas and we have started the process of patch varnishing the damaged and rubbed-back areas to bring the layers up to a number similar to the rest of the vehicle. Once these are built up they will be blended again and we plan to cover the whole bodysides in several layers of varnish.
In between the outside progress, the interior is also getting a refresh as this has not been undertaken for around 20 years. Most of this will consist of a simple repaint but a lot of components have had to be temporarily removed from the walls for this to happen so it has still been quite a task. The vehicle is being tackled in two halves with the Sheringham end being the first to be done. The ceiling and walls have both been rubbed down and repainted and now look great again.
This has included the folding pigeon racks which have been creamed and now just need the ironwork picking out in black.
British Railways 1961 Brake First Open (Kitchen) M14021 (GOLD)
Progress on the construction of a "First Open" type toilet compartment continues. We have been carefully laying out all of our wall and door sections to make sure we have the components to modify and create the new wall arrangement that we need. Many of these parts have also been stripped of their old varnish and some veneer gluing and repairs have been undertaken to vulnerable areas. There isn't a dramatic amount to show at this stage, but it is all in the preparation and the care and attention this winter will produce a super vestibule in due course!
British Railways 1953 Tourist Second Open E3868 (SILVER)
We have continued to have a strong focus on this overhaul and the second of the two quarters of bodyside has now been rubbed back and prepared for repainting. This section was very good with minimal welding repairs required meaning it has been completed in a good timescale.
The Holt corridor end has also seen the same attention, but despite being a much smaller area there has been more cutting out of metal than on the sides, as the ends tend to be vulnerable. These repairs are nevertheless now predominantly complete with just the areas around the lighting jumper cables still to finish off. These are slightly behind the rest of the end as extra time is being allowed to reinstate the wiring in the immediate area.
The body mounted lamp irons have also been removed from the ends as we plan to replace them with corridor connection mounted examples which are correct for the vehicle. The project to repair the battery boxes also continues with the removed boxes being cleaned up and needle gunned ready for new backs to be fitted to them. On balance we decided to switch our plan to swap the battery boxes with another vehicle in favour of repairing the originals instead.
Moving onto the interior, all of the damaged window glass securing studs and holes have now all been cleaned up, repaired and re-tapped where required, so that we get a smooth glass refitting session when the time comes. A start has been made on repairing and preparing the removed window surround woodwork as much of this will need stripping and revarnishing before it is refitted.
The ceiling panels in the Holt end of the coach (including two out of the three vestibules) have now been repainted gloss white and they certainly look much better than before.
British Railways 1957 Metro Cammell Railcar Driving Trailer Second Lavatory E79263 (SILVER)
Work to seal the leaking new window rubbers in continuing where possible with resealing days being followed by rainy days to check the effectiveness of repair! With all of the side panels now back in place, we have started refitting the aluminum interior window surround trims and rubbers. The team have established a refit technique that will speed up future days undertaking this task.
British Railways 1951 16 Ton Ballast Plough Brakevan DB993707 (BRONZE)
There has been a major effort on painting this vehicle inside and out, with very little else going on! The exterior has seen two coats of Gulf Red paint applied all the way round, followed by a refit of the handrails. These handrails and other parts such as the vacuum pipes on the ends have also been painted white.
Some finishing touches are now being applied to the sides including overhead warning flashes and the black boxes which will contain the engineers' department data and maintenance dates, which were a feature of these vehicles in the second half of their lives. Other items such as lamp irons and wagon label clips have been refitted showing that the end is near!
On the inside of the verandas, all of the winding gear has been repainted along with the inside walls and the cabin ends and doors.
Inside the cabin, the tops of the tool lockers, which were looking shabby, have had a coat of cream to freshen them up, and a replacement vacuum gauge has been fitted.
The vacuum gauge was purchased on Ebay and is a bit of an oddity as it is a duplex gauge that has had one side obliterated and knocked out of use. It has LMS origins, which this vehicle also has, so it was felt an interesting addition to replace the vans previous standard BR example which read slightly low in any case. The rather crude modification made it unattractive to collectors so came up at a good price, however this very feature also makes it unusual and matches the brakevan's humble engineers department pedigree, so it is felt to be a good fit for the vehicle.
British Railways 1954 13 Ton Pipe Open B740918 (BRONZE)
The two lamp irons removed from 3868 are being prepared for reuse on this wagon.
Maintenance
Winter C examinations have now started with CCT 94464 the first of the fleet to be undertaken this year at Sheringham. This was after it had been split off from the Norfolk Lights Express train and all the external rope lighting and internal cabling and generators were removed. The removal of lighting was also undertaken at the same time to the rest of the set which is now having a well-earned rest from service.