This week has seen a reduced presence on the ongoing restorations as a fair amount of time has been spent getting two of our open coaches ready for going on hire to another railway for the winter/Santa Special season. As is always the way with these things, the nominated pair required more work than originally envisaged but the job list was getting smaller by the end of the week!
Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853
The modifications to the hand brake mentioned last week have continued, with a link bar having been cut and shortened to suit the new arrangement. The holes for the new buffers at the Holt end of the vehicle have been successfully drilled and the two remaining buffer shanks bolted into position. All four buffer shanks are now in position and painted.
Work on the sanding, filling and wood repairing on the wooden bodysides is also progressing in its usual ongoing manner.
British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224
The end of the long and arduous task of scraping the roof clear has been reached, with the last vents and central sections scraped back to bare metal this week. The stripping of the roof has highlighted a few odds and sods up there that need to be attended to, but nothing serious has come to light thankfully!
Work on sanding and varnishing the interior woodwork continues like a reassuring heartbeat. Compartment doors are the main bits being sanded at present, with more trim work and beading having increasing coats of varnish applied.
British Railways 1959 Tourist Second Open M4843
The refurbishment of the doors continues. They have had a second coat of "wood effect" brown gloss and the varnishing of the timber door cards has also been completed. With these two elements ready the cards can be reattached to the doors themselves.
Four out of the nine window frames which were removed have been refitted top the coach side, on the seaward side, there is just one more on this side to complete. This is a good visual milestone, given the length of time people have been working hard on the stripping down and repainting of these frames.
The 1/4 steel re-skin is progressing well, with new panelwork now more than half way along the section we're replacing.
British Railways 1960 Covered Carriage Truck E94464
Work on rebuilding the wooden end doors continues. Slower progress this week, however three of them are now repaired and painted into primer.
Work on sanding the interior walls has been completed with just a few of the inside planks on the doors still to receive the same treatment.
Other Projects
The latest quality project has been the building of a cage specifically designed for volunteers who show signs of working in another department, or worse another railway...
...or so we thought. It is actually a paper storage bin for the bookshop who occasionally have to dispose of items to the paper bank for recycling. Being able to store them in here will increase their space and reduce the number of trips to be made to the paper bank.
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