December News Part 2

Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853

No progress to report

British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224

Work has continued on the ongoing projects. We hope to direct a bit more manpower towards this restoration soon, and start a few more new jobs in the New Year. Meanwhile, one of the pair of sliding doors mentioned last week has now joined the completed pile, which means we are now varnishing up the last door...

The varnishing of removed components, a huge task, is therefore now reaching its completion. The inside walls of the coach's side corridor has also received a second coat of  75/25 varnish/white spirit to further protect it before the winter.

The collection of steel handrails and other odds and sods are doing well, with most of them now completed up to black gloss paint.

British Railways 1959 Tourist Second Open M4843

The Sheringham end continues to receive welding repairs in a similar fashion to last week.

Quieter days (typically on Fridays) have also allowed some of the electrical box covers from underneath to be shot blasted and repainted to improve their appearance and make them nicer and easier to handle for maintenance. The same treatment has also been given to the battery box covers.

On the interior, the repainting of the internal window surrounds has been completed and they look great in a fresh coat of brown. The reassembly of the inside of the Sheringham end saloon is also progressing and most of the side panelling is now all refitted meaning that the seating units and backs can start to be refitted.

British Railways 1957 Composite Corridor M15997

With graffiti now gone (see last week) the coach has had a few bits and bobs loaded into it (to get them out of the way and out of the main workshop) and it has now been returned to storage where it rejoins its restoration queue. We are still very hopeful that one day this coach will be brought it and be done properly so it can join the main running fleet!

British Railways 1958 Class 101 Railcar Driving Trailer Second Lavatory M56352

Re-upholstery work continues.

British Railways 1960 Covered Carriage Truck E94464

The end of the underframe cleaning is now in sight, just a single victim this week struggled on with this thankless task which i think has seen several volunteers flee the country in order to avoid! Fingers crossed this can be completed next week so that it can be painted, which is a much more pleasant pursuit...

More work to get the outside bodysides complete and ready for painting has been started this week. These CCT vehicles used to have a wooden chalk board (for writing destinations etc on) on each of the four corners, however this poor example only had one left when it came into the works, all the rest having rotted off over the years! We have decided to return the vehicle to full original layout and will be reinstating all four boards, the first of which has already been fitted.

The interior has taken large steps forward this week. The main ceiling panels which have required a lot of preparation work, have now all been fitted to the supporting roof battens and most of the electrical trunking which feeds the five interior lights has also been fitted.

In readiness for refitting the glass to the vehicle, all of the wooden window surrounds have now been sanded down and repainted in primer.

Southern Railway 1939 Parcels & Miscellaneous Van GE1359S

Now that all mechanical and wooden body repairs have been completed on this "lightening restoration" the team are concentrating on its repaint. Nobody bit on the bait I laid out last week, so this week it has become plain that the vehicle will be receiving a coat of BR Crimson. Very quickly over a few days the final resin applications were completed and pink primer applied.

Then two days after that the colour had changed again to crimson undercoat, with the ends receiving black paint at the same time.

Towards the end of the week gloss crimson was starting to be applied. Some other smaller details such as the handbrake levers etc were also painted black and their handles picked out in white.

As a final note, some more relevant information regarding the vehicle has emerged since last week. The vehicle was purchased for the railway in April 1999 and had its last movement on the mainline in September 2000 when it was tripped from Temple Mills to Stratford for onward road movement to the NNR. It was just before this rail movement that the vacuum system was last tested, and being used on the NNR solely as a stores vehicle since, it is therefore approximately 17 years since the braking systems, recently reinstated, last saw use! It has required remarkably little mechanical work considering how long it has been stood!