December News Part 4

This will be the last "normal" working update for 2017 although stick around as next week, when the workshops are closed, there will be the traditional Review of the Year where we can look back on everything that has been achieved over the past 12 months.

Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853

Work has restarted on this elderly vehicle, now that S1359S is approaching the finish line. The pre-prepared vacuum piping was able to be threaded this week. This in turn later allowed the pipe itself to be bolted up onto the vehicle and various elbows and fittings etc attached. This is another major step forward in completing the underframe.

Most of the handbrake linkages have also now been finished, although there are a few loose ends and testing to attend to yet...

British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224

The interior bulkheads along the side corridor have been sanded down again ready for their next coat of varnish, however this will now not be done until warmer weather returns... Filling work on the store cupboard also continued this week.

British Railways 1959 Tourist Second Open M4843

Several tables have had their edges re-varnished to improve them. The table edges can get a battering when in service so this particular addition of varnish should be most helpful.

British Railways 1958 Class 101 Railcar Driving Trailer Second Lavatory M56352

Seat reupholstery continues at a very good pace. This week has seen some of the more complex seat backs from the middle saloon receive their new material. All of the wider 3-seat backs have now been completed from this area, and approximately half of the smaller (but more numerous) 2-seat backs have also been completed ready for refitting.

Whilst the seats are removed, the repainting work on the ceiling continues. The middle saloon has been primed and given two coats of white undercoat and is already looking better!

British Railways 1960 Covered Carriage Truck E94464

As mentioned last week, the underframe was in primer last week and has this week progressed through to undercoat. We have decided not to gloss paint it until the body-sides have been painted as drips can occur...

Moving upwards, the bodyside paint preparation and filling work is substantially complete on the seaward side. Four metal covering boards have also been produced from scratch (as the originals were long gone) and will eventually be attached to the wooden chalk boards which were recently added to the exterior. The metal covers will be painted in blackboard paint and is actually what a guard chalks onto when writing the destinations on the van.

The biggest change on the interior has been the gloss painting of the ceiling, two coats, which has made quite a difference.

This in turn has allowed the porcelain light fittings and bulbs to be fitted, finishing off the ceiling.

The interior focus has now therefore transferred to the two sides. The landward side window glass and wooden surrounds have been fitted which now means the vehicle is fully glazed once more. The wooden planking, towards the end of the week, received its final repairs and any bare patches of wood spot painted in primer. The sides are now ready for undercoating in the new year.Whilst the walls are being painted, the four lighting control face-plates have been removed and cleaned up back to bare metal and repainted. One of them has even had its lettering picked out in black and it looks great, far too posh for an old bike/buggy carrier!!

Southern Railway 1939 Parcels & Miscellaneous Van S1359S

As mentioned last week, two plated over windows were in the process of being reinstated. New frames were made, some plastic that roughly matched the others was sourced, and the two windows reinstated.

The round shaped chalk boards have also been finished off, assembled on the vehicle and painted up. They really set off the Crimson bodysides nicely and somehow make the vehicle look much more "whole". S1359S has also received its true identity following the visit of our resident signwriter who has applied numbering and some end detail including its "PMV" designation. As always, the numbering looks very smart!

Finally, the interior shelving has been modified slightly to accommodate the reinstatement of the windows on the outside - so there is now no shelving in front of any of the windows.

Sleeping Car

Although there are no pictures, the Mark 3 volunteer accommodation carriage at Sheringham (Hotel Babylon) has seen a large amount of work this week to secure a new tarpaulin over the roof section. Mark 3 roofs corrode very badly and this one is now beyond redemption. With no resources available to repair/replace the roof, a "5 year" solution involving the tarpaulin has been engineered to allow the sleeping car to continue performing its job for the foreseeable future. Hopefully this will stop the majority of the water ingress which has been recently plaguing this vehicle and causing a bit of a headache for both the user and maintainer!

Merry Christmas

All that remains is to wish all our readers a very Merry Christmas from all of us in Carriage & Wagon, plus Monkey of course! We hope many of you choose to continue following our updates, which all being well will continue throughout 2018, but before then, don't forget the Review of the Year next week...