April News Part 1

Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853

With the Easter Holidays requiring the input of the volunteers (Grandchildren don’t look after themselves you know!) work on 853 has been slower this week. Some progress was made on the ongoing task of splicing wood into the repaired sections of the body’s framework.

British Railways 1962 Mark 1 First Open M3116

The new carpet has arrived and appears to be an attractive blue pattern.

British Railways 1957 Mark 1 Tourist Second Open E4641

More interior work has continued with progress throughout the coach. A complicated looking arrangement of wires, fuses and electrickery has been hidden inside the cupboard at the Holt vestibule end, to control the immersion heater to supply hot water to the toilet. This has been ongoing for a few weeks but the final cable was fitted this week. Inside the centre vestibule, new panelling has been fitted around the exterior doors as well as strips along the bottom of the bulkhead walls. In both cases, the original examples were too split and/or water damaged to re-use.

The two lights have also been restored an installed in this area. Inside the passenger saloons themselves, the ceiling has now been fully painted in white undercoat and now awaits gloss.

Two days have also been spent adjusting many of the sliding windows fitted last week as many of them were poor fitting or stiff to operate. The bulkhead walls have also been finished, having had four coats of varnish and they positively shine. The same member of staff has now moved onto a large stack of window surround woodwork to give them the varnish treatment, so far two coats have been applied. This work will all contribute to an interior fit-out session at some stage which should transform the appearance of the interior.

British Railways 1955 Mark 1 Suburban Composite Lavatory E43041

Easter Weekend resulted in a surge of progress on the window woodwork varnish stripping. The bulk of the window surrounds from all eight compartments have now been stripped of old varnish and they will soon be ready for sanding prior to varnishing. The corresponding window surrounds from the adjacent side corridor which is present in this coach (unique to this type of suburban) have now also been started. Progress on the exterior steel repanelling has also progressed. The first compartment has now been finished (fully welded and cleaned up) with the pressed window sections now being returned to the second compartment.

British Railways 1955 Mark 1 Suburban Third Lavatory Open E48001

The focus continues on the Sheringham end bogie. The last crevasses of the bogie frame itself have now been cleaned, rust-proofed and the whole bogie coated in pink primer.

The two wheelsets are slightly further ahead having had the same treatment but also a coat of black undercoat.

Finally, the axleboxes have been cleaned of their old oil and rust-proofed also.

Midland & Great Northern Railway 1881 4 Wheel Tool Van 12

The removal of flaked paint and the application of filler is now complete. The affected areas have been sanded smooth and patch primed. The seaward side is much worse than the landward and the former will almost be a full repaint!

To bring back some of the gloss shine, the existing paintwork on the verandah end has been re-varnished and looks as good as new. A start has also been made on welding material into the “W” irons as these had worn badly. Two so far have been repaired.

Of the removed wheelsets, one of them has had its tyres turned on the wheel lathe and is now without the flat spots that caused this vehicle to be withdrawn from service in the first place.