Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853
The section of missing body paneling shown last week has now been permanently fixed into position, and a reasonable amount of the beading has also been added. This has made a surprisingly large visual difference to the outside of the coach, which when viewed from the end now looks much more complete...
The underframe has also progressed, with new footboards having arrived, already machined to size. There are two steps, the one at the top being double width, so these were first glued together to form a very "vintage train looking" wide step. This done, all of the boards have been pasted in several coats of resin to ready them for paint, presumably next week.
British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224
Little progress this week, with the steel ironmongery stripping down continuing (in similar vein to last week) and the varnishing of the five sliding compartment doors also continuing (and also pictured last week!)
British Railways 1959 Tourist Second Open M4843
The main progress has been with the welding on the Sheringham end. The two repaired crash pillars on the landward side of the corridor connection have been painted up to protect them before new skin is welded over them, sealing them for evermore! This has allowed the two corresponding pillars on the seaward side of the connection to be chopped out for the same lower replacement. One has already been welded in in fact.
Progress has also been made on the interior, with the re-varnish of the Holt end passenger saloon and vestibule. This has included the table edges, which do get a bit of a knocking after years of use.
British Railways 1958 Class 101 Railcar Driving Trailer Second Lavatory M56352
This week has seen a trial fitting of a seat back which has been reupholstered in the new material, complete with side "boomerang" and cushion, to represent what a fully completed seat looks like. It is now standing in splendid isolation, where it will remain until the vehicle is withdrawn from traffic for the winter, which cannot happen until December. However we then have two months to complete the rest of the seating until it is required again in service in February 2018. I personally think it looks pretty snazzy and a great improvement on the faded 1990's Regional Railways seating. Monkey has yet to get into the DMU to test the seat and ensure quality control is upheld, but I am sure it won't be long!
British Railways 1960 Covered Carriage Truck E94464
This one has seen the most progress this week of all the vehicles currently in works. We are becoming conscious that the next project will need to come in before too long, so a concerted effort on this vehicle, which is the closest of all to completion, will ensure completion and therefore the space in the shed also becoming free.
The underframe sprucing up mentioned in previous updates has crossed the halfway point, with the seaward side now cleaned up. This has allowed it to be repainted into primer.
Speaking of painting, the wheelsets and axleboxes are now ahead of the underframe and have been finished in black gloss and now await reassembly. The bad news mentioned last week on the wheels themselves has luckily been reversed. We sought advise from a professional who works with these wheelsets and profiling on a daily basis and it has now been confirmed that the suggested issue with them was not as serious as originally thought. The wheel is therefore suitable for refitting to the vehicle, which is a great headache gone!
Phil has been very busy undertaking all of the window bottom framework replacement and re-panelling where they had rotted away on the landward side. He has completed two (out of the three) required windows.
The steam heat pipe has also been repaired which required a new pipe adding onto the Sheringham end as the previous example had been cut off, for some unknown reason? Two overhauled valves have also been added to each end and are ready now to receive their new flexible pipes.
On the interior, the ceilings are now ready to refit. The panels themselves are now all painted on their reverse sides, and have been painted as far as white undercoat on the visible sides prior to fitting. The supporting battens which are up in the roof space have all been de-nailed and re-secured into place where they had fallen off or come loose! The air vent holes had been letting some water in, and we fell we do not really need them on a vehicle which only moves buggies and bikes around, so we have blanked them over with steel plates on the inside.
Southern Railway 1939 Parcels & Miscellaneous Van 1359
This interloper, a stores van which normally lives outside, has been brought indoors to be emptied of its Carriage & Wagon spares onto the mezzanine floor. This is the final (of a long list of) vehicle to be emptied as part of the project. Hopefully it can be emptied quickly as it is getting cold outside and the van will have to go out when E94464 gets shunted out or finished!
Workshop
The folding lids for the Weybourne Bookshop trolleys are progressing well and have now all been made and are being painted up.
The Axeman has also completed his latest contraption, mentioned last week, the trolley designed to hold our pipe threading machine.
Towards the end of the week, it carried its (enormously heavy!) payload and is now ready for use on 853's vacuum pipework.
Finally, we would like to thank Tim Bambridge, long term supporter of the NNR, for donating to us a large selection of cutting taps obtained from Fakenham market. They are old, and therefore quality, as the steel in newer ones never seems to be quite as strong!
