January News Part 4

Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853

Fettling of the bodywork has continued, with the white primer revealing the next round of problem areas to tackle. Door reconstruction also progresses.

The four footboard supports mentioned last week have now been fitted to the underframe so these short boards should be appearing before too long which finishes that task. Also underneath, more brackets and adjustment work has been done to the the special valve which prevents vacuum being made if the handbrake is on.

All of this underframe work needs to be completed before the body is lifted back onto the underframe, as it is much easier to access when there is no body on top! Hopefully it will not be too long before the reunification of body and chassis is considered...

British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224

This coach is being progressed at present by a 100% volunteer workforce. The beading inside the storage cupboard has now been completed and fitted.

Some more of the exterior doors which missed out on paint stripping when we tackled the bodysides last year continue to be so treated.

The first of the large numbers of interior planking for the luggage and guards areas have been stripped back to bare wood and primed ready for refitting. This is another of those long laborious tasks but it will make the luggage van look really nice and smooth, which it most certainly wasn't before we dismantled it.

Another batch of components, the heater grills which locate under the seats, have now been primed. These were cleaned up some months ago and have been waiting for a rainy day to carry on with them, and we've had a few of those recently!

British Railways 1959 Tourist Second Open M4843

No progress to report, other than the Sheringham end interior getting ever closer to its interior refit being completed.

British Railways 1958 Class 101 Railcar Driving Trailer Second Lavatory M56352

The reupholstering production line continues quietly and efficiently!

British Railways 1960 Covered Carriage Truck E94464

The biggest transformation has been to the exterior of this vehicle. At the end of last week it had nearly been finished in primer. Monday morning saw this loose end tied up, before two days of undercoating and then two days of glossing.

The vehicle is now in maroon along both sides and the paintwork is now hardening between coats.

A lot of effort has also been going into the Sheringham end folding end doors. Framework now completed, these are starting to be panelled out and will be shortly ready for reassembly of some kind!

Southern Railway 1939 Parcels & Miscellaneous Van S1359S

This week saw the conclusion of the interior restoration work, with the gloss painting of the walls into white to freshen up the whole area.

The restoration work to this vehicle is now complete and it now simply awaits shunting back out into the big wide world!

Maintenance

Corridor Second vehicle 26012 has now had its main exam completed after it was shunted into position.

All of the the dining set has been examined including wheel measurements, underframe checks, the gangway ends and coupling equipment oiled and buckeye couplings gauged.

this means that all three sets are now examined and are ready to have the repair work (highlighted on the exams) done to get them fighting fit for running season.