February News Part 4

Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853

The short-back-and-sides on the Holt/seaward corner of the coach mentioned last week was further progressed this week, and it will not be long before the new splices are being let in to repair this corner. A further section has also been cut away, this time on the landward bodyside, ready for repairs. New splices have already been made at the bottom of the carriage at the brake end, and refurbished steel GER corner strengthening brackets refitted. 

Internally, the ceiling throughout much of the vehicle has now been deep sanded now that the paint stripping is complete, and a first coat of wood primer has been applied to part of the Sheringham end.

Sanding....

....and painting

Great Northern Railway (later M&GN) 1887 6 Wheel Third 129

The stands which will hold the chassis whilst work is being undertaken on them have now been finished and painted.

The Axeman continues construction of the stands

They are now awaiting inspection by a member of our neighbours the NNR Engineering team, who will make calculations to determine a safe weight capacity for the stands and then (all being well) pass them for use by our department.

Finished example

British Railways 1962 Mark 1 First Open M3116

Contract seat re-upholstery is still in progress.

British Railways 1957 Mark 1 Tourist Second Open E4641

The coach has now returned to the staging area now that W46139’s repaint has been completed.

E4641 being shunted

Work to re-glaze E4641 has continued with 15 of the 16 main window panes now fitted. This has been quite a challenge as the wooden “gripper” bars which hold them in position have not always wanted to fit properly.

Cleaning glass for refitting

The Holt corridor end has also progressed with the rotten panelwork now cut out and removed to reveal the framework below. The framework itself is pleasingly in reasonable condition, so has been cleaned up thoroughly and protected in anti-rust primer.

A small job that was also started to save time later on was the polishing of the external brass grab handles for the doors.

Moving onto the interior, the table brackets mentioned last week have had a second coat of silver paint bringing them to a completed state. The Holt end vestibule has seen a repair made to the floor in one of the doorways and the sliding door (into the passenger saloon) has now been hung in position. In the Sheringham end vestibule, varnishing of the wall panels and doorway surrounds has been progressing with several coats applied. A start has also been made on the final sanding of the first of the bulkheads inside the passenger saloons, bringing them up to a standard where re-varnishing can commence.

British Railways 1955 Mark 1 Suburban Composite Lavatory E43041

Still awaiting the delivery of some pressed window side sections to allow re-panelling to commence.

British Railways 1956 Mark 1 Suburban Brake Second E43357

Regular readers might remember this carriage, the brake in the “Suburban 4” set which we completed last May. One or two minor tasks have been undertaken on the vehicle at Holt so it can operate with W46139 as a 2-coach set during the Steam Gala next weekend. Two missing steam heat hoses have been refitted so that passengers will be warm, and one of the pictures has been removed from each of the six compartments and replaced with a period 1960’s “No Litter” poster to add variety.

The six prints that have been removed have been immediately reused in W46139. A broken picture frame glass was also replaced, so the interior of E43357 is now spot on for the gala.

British Railways 1954 Mark 1 Suburban Third W46139

The repainting work is now substantially complete with both coats of Crimson gloss completed all round the vehicle. This has allowed some of the final jobs to be completed, most notably the fitting of the pictures to the coach interior. They look very nice on the veneered panelling. A myriad of “finishing jobs” too numerous and boring to list individually have now been completed to ensure the final details of the carriage are spot on for its launch into service (hopefully) next week.

The numbers are currently in the process of being sign written and there is only about one day’s work remaining on the vehicle before we open the shed doors and release it into the wild! Monkey commented during afternoon tea break now nice two running Crimson suburbans will look when paired with a 1950's BR Black locomotive...

The British Railways 1955 Mark 1 Suburban Third Lavatory Open E48001

Awaiting the departure of W46139 before it can be moved into the workshop.

Maintenance

The failed vacuum cylinders on E4843 and W35148, mentioned last update have now been either replaced or rebuilt, tested in the workshop and refitted to both coaches.

W35148 sans cylinder

This was done in good time with the assistance of the operating department who brought the coaches from Sheringham to Weybourne to be repaired. This has now been done successfully and the coaches can perform and next week’s steam event.