November News Part 1

There was no update last week due to holidays to the Isle of Wight. Aside from some very nice scenery in full autumnal colours, the Isle of Wight Steam Railway was an essential segment of the itinerary, for academic research and comparison purposes of course! Their carriage fleet is exceptional, with late 19th century and early 20th century stock the norm for all passenger trains. Indeed, the youngest carriage in their fleet was built in 1924! Perhaps we should take a leaf from their book and have the vintage train in daily service?!?

Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853 & Great Northern Railway (later M&GN) 1887 6 Wheel Third 129

No progress to report. This has mainly been due to the teams involved assisting the locomotive department in the overhaul of the M&GN Society's WD Steam Locomotive 90775. The inside of the tender frames required painting rapidly to allow the tank to be lifted on top. Accordingly primer, undercoat and black gloss were applied to said frames after the insides had a quick cleaning down. A team of loco volunteers were also engaged in this activity on Wednesday evening, so between everyone the task was progressed swiftly.

London North Eastern Railway 1929 4 Wheel Pigeon Van 6843

This vehicle is now back together again. The two wheelsets were cleaned down and repainted into wood effect brown with white rims and axles. They looked so good that the axleboxes and surrounding metalwork on the coach underframe had to be repainted gloss black to match. Unfortunately when reassembling the brakegear there were some problems adjusting the springs and ride height which prolonged the reassembly process. However these were overcome and the van is now back in service as it is required next week for photo charters.

British Railways 1957 Mark 1 Tourist Second Open E4641

The saga of the toilet plumbing continues. The hot water tank is now leak free and fully plumbed in. It has been tested and all was working well but the sink taps were found to be leaking. These repaired, the system was declared complete and working!

Painting has also continued well. The ends of the coach have been painted in black undercoat and gloss.

The two sides have both received two coats of both Crimson and Cream gloss which concludes the process of the main panel painting. The lining has been applied to the top above the windows, but the bottom lines (below the windows) will wait until the coach has been shunted out of the staging area.

A start has now been made on some of the fiddly painting jobs, such as painting the insides of the doors (they are not panelled on this coach due to the doors being one piece aluminium castings), painting door bump stops etc. All of the scratched glass out of the doors has now also been replaced with clean examples.

British Railways 1955 Mark 1 Suburban Composite Lavatory E43041

With the Suburban 4 project drawing to a close, activity has been frantic on this vehicle. Glazing continues with all of the smaller type of windows now installed. The larger panes, which had to be replaced as they were not safety glass, have arrived from the glass suppliers  and are now in the process of being fitted. Underneath the vehicle, a few loose ends are being tied up before the vehicle is trapped in the staging area. These have included fitting the overhauled vacuum cylinders and attaching repainted footboards.

On the interior, the corridor ceiling in third class half of the vehicle has been fitted, as have several replacement ceiling panels in the compartments. A start has now been made on refitting wall panelling to the corridors and compartments.

Where available, the veneered wooden panels have been refitted, but not all of these have been fully varnished yet, the woodwork which is not yet finished continues to be stripped, sanded and revarnished.

A lot of Formica panels have been cleaned up thoroughly by volunteers and are now being refitted around the windows. It is amazing how well they clean up.

The Formica panels out of the two toilets are also being cleaned and several have been refitted. The ceilings in the toilets are also Formica so there is a large area to clean up.

Metropolitan Cammell 1965 4 Wheel Petroleum Tank 53083

No progress to report.

Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway Society Lorry

The Society's Austin K2 lorry has now exited the workshop, its preparation and repaint having been completed. It is now sporting M&GN brown livery and its roof board has been lettered up M&GN. More sign-writing is required but this will be undertaken at the Lorry's base at Holt station.

Mezzanine Floor

We are pleased to report that after much lobbying a start has been made on the construction of the department's new mezzanine floor level in the corner of the workshop. This will be a valuable asset and will free up much storage space around the railway and Weybourne yard as well as making the workshop itself a much more open, neater and safer environment.