London North Eastern Railway 1950 Brake Corridor Third E1866E (GOLD)
The scaffolding has now been removed from around the completed roof, returning light and and the feeling of space to this quarter of the shed. This has in turn allowed access to the doors to be resumed, so door skinning and adjustment works can continue in earnest.
Whilst waiting for the scaffolding to be dropped, interior works have continued, with fixtures and fittings being steadily added to the toilet compartment and opposite the bar. Notably, horizontal handrails across the four oval windows are being refitted. Some more water testing has also been conducted on the water system.
London North Eastern Railway 1938 Brake Third Open E16631E (GOLD)
A site visit was made this month giving a clearer look at some of the achievements made in the last 12 months. The exterior is now very advanced with ends paneled in black and only finishing touches now required to the gangways, doors and beading along the main bodysides. The roof especially looks great with its new canvas fully painted up - the first full new Gresley mainline coach canvas for the NNR in circa 40 years!
Inside the vehicle is really looking a treat, with the vinyl cladding resplendent in the main passenger saloon.
Finally, the guards compartment was also found to be looking very smart, with all of the main features installed and painted with only limited odds and sods such as cupboard doors and wiring controls still remaining to fit in this area.
The main areas to focus on to complete the contract works to the coach will be the completion of gangways, beading and door fit to the exterior, building up of the passenger vestibule and interior doors at (what will become) the Sheringham end, beading out of the passenger saloon and final fittings in the guards compartment.
London North Eastern Railway 1945 Gangwayed Brake E70621E (SILVER)
With door cappings now fitted to all the doorways, the main painting has started on the carriage, with primer and undercoat applied all round the vehicle. These two coats have been applied in a horizontal wood grain pattern to try and simulate the original deal boarding that originally featured on the bodysides, and help disguise the very smooth aluminium composite panels.
On the interior, work has continued on the guards booth, with the emergency brake setter now reinstated after the original had been lost. A new equipment cupboard flap door is in the process of being made from new, complete with inlaid mesh front, whilst the main walls of the booth are being built up with paint to match the two completed goods saloons. The inside faces of all the doors have been completed and are now in cream gloss to match the remainder of the interior.
London North Eastern Railway 1936 Tourist Third Open 13251
This vehicle has now been tripped up to Bridge Road Carriage Sheds for undercover storage, essential as it has a very compromised (leaking) roof. It should now stay in there for some years before its own turn for restoration comes - as it is coach number five in our six coach Gresley/Thompson restoration plan.
Its place in the yard has been replaced by Mark 1 Gangwayed Brake M81114.
British Railways 1961 Brake First Open (Kitchen) M14021 (GOLD)
Work to needle gun and repaint the underframe has stormed ahead, with this mammoth task completed, the underside is now resplendent in two coats of gloss black. The second vacuum cylinder has been overhauled, repainted, tested successfully and fully installed back on the vehicle. The recently fitted main steam pipes have also been painted and a few extra brackets fitted to secure them. The battery boxes, repaired a year or two ago, have had their inaccessible rear sides cleaned back and repainted to match the rest of the surrounding equipment. All of the body mounted brake gear has been stripped off, freed off, checked for wear and repainted/refitted.
As if this were not enough, works on the two bufferbeams has also continued with more vacuum and steam flexible pipework fitted, painting of headstocks black and various steps, brackets etc. checked, restored, fitted and painted as required. The two ends are now "populated" with just buckeye and drawgear exams and cleaning now remaining.
With the underframe now virtually finished, The focus has switched onto the two bogies. These have been found to be in excellent albeit inactive condition, following jet-washing and dismantling of the brakegear into all its constituent parts. A decent strip, clean, repaint and reassembly is all that is required, with just a few odd nuts and all split pins being renewed. Following around a week of intensive action, the two bogies are around a third complete already, with the workshop a hive of activity with stripping and repainting of a myriad of individual parts all progressing in parallel.
Interior components progress steadily, with the first two under-seat heaters cleaned down and repainted in heat resistant silver and more on the way. These heaters are also being stripped down and overhauled internally.
The longer side pipes that fit inside the main passenger saloon are also being brushed down and repainted silver, creating a bank of parts ready for the "above deck" installation of the steam heat system which can commence after the flooring is fitted to the coach.
On another work bench are the above-table lights, consisting of metal boxes with varnished top lids. All have been stripped, cleaned and repaired where required and are currently being built up with new paints and varnish as appropriate.
British Railways 1953 Tourist Second Open E3868 (BRONZE)
The interior overhaul has now been completed with the final tables fitted and repainted in the Holt end saloon. The last task was freshening up the floor with a coat of paint.
Externally, the remaining lining and all lettering has now been completed, so only a final varnish layer is now required, which will be completed shortly after the coach is moved back into the staging area.
The repainted coach board brackets and door grab handles have also been refitted to the coach. The windows have been cleaned, with all stray paint from the repainting chipped off the glass.
All being well this vehicle will be returned to traffic in October.
British Railways 1961 Restaurant Kitchen Buffet M1569 (BRONZE)
This is the latest addition to the NNR family. M1569 is a rare Restaurant Kitchen Buffet (RKB). Whilst a reasonably respectable 70 were built by Cravens Limited for the Midland, Eastern and Southern regions (M1569 being the final example to come off the production line), the presence of asbestos insulation made them unpopular candidates for preservation, so only five survive today. Of the other four, one is a gutted shell that remains in ex-engineers condition, two are fully restored and run regularly at the Great Central Railway and one remains in mainline use as part of the prestigious "Northern Belle" railtour set. The RKB design is unusual in that there are no passenger seats fitted anywhere in the coach, the entire length being given over to extensive panties, stores, a kitchen and a buffet/bar.
Returning to M1569, it only enjoyed a 20 year life in revenue earning BR service, spending all of that time on the Midland Region with the exception of its final few months in traffic, briefly transferred to the Eastern before withdrawal. First built in BR Maroon livery, it was quickly repainted into Blue & Grey which it wore for most of its working life. Condemned in 1981, it was initially preserved at Carnforth Steamtown before being sold to the Swindon & Cricklade Railway where it became the kitchen car for their "Moonraker" dining train. Later falling out of use, it was purchased last year by the NNR and moved to RAMPART Engineering for contract exterior works before finally arriving at Sheringham last week.
M1569 has been modified from its original condition by the Swindon & Cricklade, who removed the bar, buffet and pantry from one end of the coach and created an open passenger lounge with side-seating, giving it a not too dissimilar configuration to the more common Restaurant Buffet (of which we have an example in our dining train, E1969).
The plan for the coach is to locate it behind the main platform at Holt station where it will replace the current cabin in providing catering for the station. It will be accessible from both the platform and the access/entrance road. The vehicle will be static and it is not intended to restore it to run in trains. Site services, access platforms etc. will be prepared at Holt following which the vehicle can be sited and fully open for next season. It has been externally finished in LNER "Tourist" Apple Green & Cream livery which is a nod to the static coaches used by the LNER at country stations for camping and other uses. The cream band has been omitted from the side which will be parked up against other rolling stock out of sight.
British Railways 1957 Corridor Second W25189 (REPAIR)
At Sheringham, this coach is having an emergency paint repair to the cream section of the landward side, which has cosmetically suffered somewhat, prior to the Norfolk Lights Express season. This will be its final regular use before being withdrawn for planned repairs and a full repaint in 2027. So far, half of the affected area has been stripped back, patch primed and undercoated. Once the remaining half has reached the same point, it will receive a single gloss coat to freshen it up. In the meantime it is still on limited duties for the 1940's weekend and diesel Saturdays, in its interesting part completed state!
British Railways 1956 Gangwayed Brake (Kitchen) M81033 (REPAIR)
In a very similar fashion to W25189, Kitchen car M81033 is having an outdoors spruce up, this time all the way round the vehicle, in order to nurse it through to when it is replaced by M14021. W25189 is currently ahead of M81033, but some limited body repairs have been started and it is expected to progress once W25189 is complete. Hopefully Autumn will provide a few dry days to allow this to happen relatively smoothly.
British Railways 1958 Gangwayed Brake M81114
This green storage vehicle has been lurking round the back at Sheringham for over ten years and has been in use by the Signalling department as part of the extensive Sheringham resignalling project. With this major scheme now over the hill, the coach has been released and sold to another heritage railway. It has been moved to Weybourne to be emptied of detritus prior to departure, and to have a wheelswap, as agreed as part of the sale.
M81114's original wheelsets will be transferred under E3868 which currently suffers from flats. E3868's own wheels can then be turned and the plan is to have a rotating set of four axles that can support "pit stop" style rapid responses to coaches with wheel flats. Returning to M81114, strangely this is the first time that the coach has left Sheringham as unlike every other vehicle on the railway, it has never had any requirement to traverse the line until now! (Even the "very static" sleeping car has been to Weybourne once many moons ago!)
British Railways (SR Design) 1948 25 Ton Brakevan 55167 (BRONZE)
The latest project for the sub-team up at Holt finally sees them return to their usual wagon work following an extended period refreshing vintage train coaches. Somewhat unfortunately, some of the woodwork and paintwork on one of the more recent overhauls, the Southern design brake van, had degraded much faster than expected, so rather than lose the vehicle to further deterioration, it has come back in for minor repairs and repainting to stabilise it.
The seaward side planking and the two veranda end boards had both suffered in particular. The end boards have been replaced, this time with solid timber as the old plywood had taken on too much water, and are now refitted and being painted up.
Unstable paint has been chipped off the seaward side and is also in the process of being built back up with paint before the weather turns damp.
Finally, the veranda ends are also receiving a rub down and repaint so everything matches again once completed.
Maintenance
Mid season examinations continue along with the rolling repair of broken items. A new fridge has also been installed in kitchen car RBR E1969.
