August News Part 1

The countdown to Cromer continues to tick, with the preparations reaching a temperature akin to the inside of a baked potato. Pleasingly we are still on track and all being well the next update we will be reporting on the debut operations of our "Mainline Dining Set"...

Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853

Work has focused mainly this week on the cupboards and shelving for the guards van. Two shelves and a cupboard have been completed, resplendent in cream, and fitted to the walls of the vehicle. The brake van is now "Monkey Compliant", as all vintage trains have to have provision for carrying Monkeys after the year 2020.

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

Both welding and drilling of the chassis continues at a steady rate, the Axeman working his way around all four corners of the vehicle doing a magnificent job.

As fast as he is adding metal to the vehicle, others are removing it in the form of the many holes that are being drilled, of a not insignificant size either.

British Railways 1957 Mark 1 Tourist Second Open E4641

The Holt end corridor connection, pictured last week, has progressed further with the faceplate now sporting a coat of black gloss. The rubber "bellows" (that attach to this faceplate and keep the rain out) have been cleaned up and are also ready for refitting. The final piece, the metal bellows, have been completed this week (made brand new) and await painting.

British Railways 1955 Mark 1 Suburban Composite Lavatory E43041

I must say that I am starting to run out of different ways of saying that the interior supporting timber installation continues! Alignment problems plus many missing parts have slowed this job down but we will prevail...

British Railways 1955 Mark 1 Suburban Third Lavatory Open E48001

A long and boring list of finishing jobs have been completed on this vehicle, a spot of paint here... missing screw there...a clean...a polish...

Some of the larger final tasks have included the fitting of the full length footboards to the vehicle and the completion of the sign-writing and lettering.

The latter encompasses the vehicle's number and route letterings on the ends of the coach. We have returned what was found underneath the paint so authenticity is the name of the game.

We did a final water test on the toilets with the aim of signing them off but we found a few extra leaks that had been missed so these will be attended to next week.

British Railways (LMS Design) 1949 20 Ton Brakevan B950133

No progress to report this week.

Workshop

Another project to distract us is fitting a new boiler to the wooden loco that normally graces Platform 2 at Sheringham. I have no idea how this came into our duties but it's here and will hopefully leave in a better state than when it arrived.