March News Part 1

Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853

The reclaimed brake gear introduced last week has seen more work, mainly scrapimng down, rust proofing and coating in red primer paint. The handbrake column, handbrake wheel and one (of the four) buffers have been treated so far.

A cross shaft for the brakework has seen some modifications to it before painting, this includes extra slotting to enable a handbrake mechanism to apply the brakes as well as the standard vacuum "train brake". This is because we are using a cross shaft from a non handbrake fitted vehicle to 853 which of course will have one, being a guards vehicle. The Monkey family seemed particularly impressed with the modification!

In other news, of course, the door reconstruction work continues...

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

No progress to report.

British Railways 1960 Restaurant Buffet (Refurbished) E1969

The long and arduous task of paint preparation has now finally been completed. Both sides of the body have been fully sanded and filled to a smooth finish, feathering in all of the repairs we have undertaken whilst the coach has been in with us. The tail end of the week has been spent cleaning down the coach, hoovering the roof and surrounding areas, so that the painting can commence next week.

British Railways 1955 Mark 1 Suburban Composite Lavatory E43041

This vehicle is due to be released from the works next week, which will be the (unoffical) end of the Suburban 4 project!

British Railways 1954 Mark 1 Suburban Third W46139

The dedicated reader may remember that the Suburban we out-shopped 12 months ago had to enter service without its luggage racks as we were struggling to source replacement netting for them. This was finally resolved in October but with CL E43041 approaching completion we decided to re-net those racks first and then return to W46139's. Well the time has finally become available and Roger Ison is now busy stringing all of the nets onto W46139's luggage rack frames. So far approximately half of them have been completed.

British Railways 1958 Class 101 Railcar Driving Trailer Second Lavatory M56352

The external repainting work to the body has now been completed, which pretty much finishes the exterior. Both cream lines and numbers have been applied, as has the top coats to the half yellow warning panel on the front end.

The final task was tom apply some of the final trimming on the body which included the "Private" signs on the cab doors, a blue square in each corner (which represents the vehicle's multiple working code) and a data panel on the rear corner next to the corridor connection.

There are some more tasks to complete on the chassis, including repainting of the jumper sockets and a few other small pipes etc. Some chassis lettering also needs applying. However we are on the home straight and the vehicle should be completed soon.

British Railways 1959 Class 03 Diesel Shunter D2063

The engine room doors have now been fitted back onto the loco, meaning it is watertight again marking the end of the repaint and therefore the C&W involvement in the loco. It is expected to be shunted out of the shed and into the big wide world fairly shortly.

Workshop

Loading of the new mezzanine floor has now started in earnest with several cabinets from the lower end of the shed moved up and reloaded. This has already created a great deal of space with the area alongside GER 853 opened up allowing more space for a safe work to be undertaken. The Vintage coach team got into the spirit as well and assisted with the tidying and reconfiguration of the area of the shed being "worked on", the results are a pleasing start to this area which will be better for all. Of note is a new cage which has been constructed to hold our milk bottles (which are used as disposable paint kettles). This project is to continue around the shed as time allows.