April News Part 5

Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853

A fairly routine week with tasks from previous updates being built upon. The newly assembled walls of the guard's brakevan have received more filler and white paint.

Meanwhile, Monkey has been busy welding up some of the original end steps from the carriage, which had been folded back on themselves once the coach became part of a bungalow. These are being modified and essentially bent back to their original shape prior to refitting.

British Railways 1962 Mark 1 First Open M3116

Now that the seats are back their legs have been rubbed down and re-varnished three times.

British Railways 1957 Mark 1 Tourist Second Open E4641

The final sections of the interior have received their varnish which concludes this mammoth task.

The (much more fun) refitting process has now started with wall panels from the ceiling downwards starting to appear.

The ceiling repaint has been completed which allowed the large lighting shades and ventilator grills to be reattached to the ceiling, which really sets it off nicely.

British Railways 1955 Mark 1 Suburban Composite Lavatory E43041

Good welding progress this week. On the seaward side, the compartment sides are now finished up to the forth compartment.

Meanwhile, the corridor (landward) side windows and doorways are progressing once more, with three windows worth having the panels attached.

British Railways 1955 Mark 1 Suburban Third Lavatory Open E48001

Progress on the interior reassembly has continued with all 16 doors now assembled. Some more window surrounds were also fitted inside the Sheringham end saloon. The toilet seats have also been restored ready for refitting to the two thrones!

Underneath the carriage, the painting of the underframe has reached completion with the black gloss coat being applied this week.

A start has now been made on reconnecting the steam heaters to the steam pipe below the coach, although some pipes are going to have to be made up before this can be completed. On the bogies, the Holt end bogie has now been lifted onto stands and the wheelsets removed. The focus this week has been chipping all of the years of detritus off the bogie frames. Exciting stuff!

Maintenance

The battle to keep the serviceable coaches serviceable rages on. A window in the guards brake van on BSK W35148 stopped opening/closing and was fixed immediately as it would have had an adverse effect on this weekend's Thomas event had the door remained out of service.