May News Part 2

Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853

The spread of white has continued with the two passenger compartments now having a distinct hint of "asylum", which is fitting as the coach is indeed a place of healing and rehabilitation for the afflicted amongst us who choose to involve ourselves with such a project! The ceilings are being coated in a matt/eggshell which is ongoing.

Inside the same compartments, some painting below the seats has been undertaken to tidy these areas should anyone be on their hands and knees and look under the seats. The guards van centre "lamp box", described last week, has also been progressed (I really must get a picture of it...). Woodwork repairs have also continued, with a new edge to the rotten seaward side guards "ducket" window now installed.

Great Eastern Railway 1884 Wisbech & Upwell Tramcar 7

This coach has been noted in service as being required to pull a small locomotive on the rear of the train, which is more demanding on the coach than the operations it was originally designed for on the Wisbech & Upwell tramway. The coach has therefore been brought outside the workshops for strengthening around the ends of the chassis. The inclusion of this coach is one of the reasons why the vintage train has guidelines and limits on the manner in which it is operated (i.e. top speed).

British Railways 1962 Mark 1 First Open M3116

This coach has now returned to traffic. Its last week with us saw some patchwork of the carpet to cover a few spots  which were bare yet still visible from the aisle.

The windows and tables have also been cleaned and the whole coach thoroughly vacuumed. The refreshed interior is certainly an improvement to before.

British Railways 1957 Mark 1 Tourist Second Open E4641

Paneling out of the interior walls has now been completed with all the veneered woodwork and window surrounds now in place. The seat framing continues to progress as they will be installed soon and some finished parts are now in primer.

Work has now focused on finishing off and installing the fittings which go onto the walls. This includes the brackets for the tables, three of which have been fitted out of a total of 16.

There are also a set of 16 metal boxes which contain light bulbs which are supposed to illuminate the tables, although they are pretty rubbish to be perfectly honest! However for the purposes of history they are being restored and refitted. So far they have been shotblasted and painted in brown on the outside, the insides due to be tackled next week.

British Railways 1955 Mark 1 Suburban Composite Lavatory E43041

A good week for welding progress this week. The re-paneling of the steelwork has marched onwards on both sides. The landward side has reached the toilet window which is more than half way down.

Meanwhile, the seaward side has reached the last compartment so is on the brink of completion.

British Railways 1955 Mark 1 Suburban Third Lavatory Open E48001

In a similar manner to E4641, the interior of E48001 has reached a milestone with the completion of the woodwork fitting out from around all the windows and doors, of which there are a great many! We have to decide now what to do next with the interior!

The Holt end bogie has been the sole source of attention for "team underneath" now that the Sheringham bogie is ready to roll. The bogie frame itself has been stripped of detritus and coated in rust-kill primer.

The four axleboxes have also had the same treatment. Project manager Dan was almost disciplined over a paint shortage, but an extra tub was found allowing him a stay of execution!

Maintenance

The lower-half of the dining train (the red section of the Crimson & Cream livery) has received a boost in the form of a re-varnish on the landward side just to get it through this season before the exterior refreshing programme commences on this set. The "Play Coach" at Sheringham (a Gresley Corridor Third) has also had some roof leaks cured after dripping ceilings were reported during the monsoon season, sorry, the British early summer!

Newsflash: Monkey now has his own Monkey-sized lathe to operate!