Midland Railway (later M&GN) 1886 6 Wheel Picnic Saloon 3
The vehicle, which is all but finished, has had the interior sealed off to stop anyone getting in and spoiling the final finish, and the exterior is also ready for service. This week, one job has been adjusting the springing as the weight distribution of the body was not equal on all of the six wheels. This has proved a pretty troublesome task, and two days of adjustments have been made but the team are still not fully satisfied with the results. The vehicle is due to be pulled out of the shed and moved next door to the locomotive department for more adjustments, as they are better equipped than we are for such work due to the requirements to weigh steam engines etc and set their springs.
Great Northern Railway (later M&GN) 1887 6 Wheel Third 129
The shanks of the buffers have had some of the pitting filled which was later sanded and painted in primer.
Close by, the corners of the original chassis have been further slashed by the resident metalwork creature ready to be welded to the new steel outer C sections which are to be fitted soon. From underneath the chassis, some time has been spent on assembling the vacuum pipe, which is quite a simple affair but has a few curves, joints and brackets to contend with. Finally, the "W irons" have progressed as the keep plates have been fitted to the bottoms with new bolts.
British Railways 1957 Mark 1 Tourist Second Open E4641
Work has concentrated solely on the exterior doors this week as most priorities have been elsewhere. We are at the stage now where five (out of a total of six) doors have been fully stripped back of old paint back to aluminium. Four of these have also been painted in primer and they already look very good. Once primed they have been set aside as we don't want to apply any more coats of paint until the doors have been fitted to the coach and adjusted.
British Railways 1955 Mark 1 Suburban Composite Lavatory E43041
With the asbestos men gone, work has resumed (well, it never really got started before) on the bodywork concentrating on the Sheringham (3rd class) end. The floor of the extreme end compartment has been pulled out so that all the bodyside pillars and floor supports can be renewed. They all need to be done in this area as there isn't a single one intact! Repairs to the end of the coach just below the roofline have been completed with the remaining replacement panel work being fitted and welded up. At the bottom of the same end of the coach, all the panelwork has been cut away and the rotted end crash pillars also removed for replacement next week. Needle gunning of remaining steelwork and general cleaning up of the area is currently in progress before the new material starts to go into the frame.
Whilst all this has been going on, metal work on the doors for the vehicle (reskinning etc) has continued.
The first of the interior components has also been restored: the light shades out of the compartments have been cleaned back to original condition by volunteer David and look resplendent.
British Railways 1954 Mark 1 Suburban Third W46139
The metal heat deflectors described last week have been fitted to the vehicle and the heaters were fitted immediately on top of them. Dan is now in the process of connecting up the heater controls to the heaters so that passengers will be able to control the heating in their own compartment. Most have gone in OK but some of the control tubes have snapped so have been requiring repairs.
The new door cards and garnish rails are now being fitted rapidly to the vehicle - about two thirds are in situ along the landward side with as many as three people at once working on this task. They are to be varnished after they have been adjusted and fitted as each requires a lot of work before each individual door accepts them.
British Railways 1955 Mark 1 Suburban Third Lavatory Open E48001
No update this week.
Stations
Another related development is the restoration and repainting of one of Sheringham station's vintage bicycles, and very nice it looks too!
