Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853
The roofing compound has been deemed dry enough to continue with the roof. The steamed curved roof hoops, along with their straight sisters, have all been fixed to the edges of the roof canvas pinning the latter to the sides of the coach (at the top). This allowed more "roof furniture" to then be fixed into place. In no particular order this has included curved rain strips, the gas lamp tops (tee-pees?) and fake gas piping. The piping also extends over the edge of the roof and vertically down the Sheringham end of the vehicle.
There are four ventilators which sit above the two passenger compartments on the roof. There were only three decent examples "in stock" to restore so these have been cleaned up and painted ready for fitting. The fourth has been made up from a variety of "bits". Whilst the last one was under construction I must admit at first I thought it looked horrendous so sneered slightly at it! However it was not finished and after a lot of welding and fettling it has come good and will look fine alongside its authentic counterparts on the roof.
Elsewhere on the coach, all of the guards door handrails have now been fitted into position.
British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224
The replacement flooring along the side corridor is now almost finished with all of the large panels now cut and test fitted. There are now only a few smaller floor repairs to do where electrical conduit passes up through the floor from below.
Meanwhile inside the store cupboard, painting is well underway with the walls now in white undercoat and the tops of the shelving in black undercoat.
Work on stripping, sanding and priming the wooden sections of the luggage area also continues steadily.
British Railways 1955 Mark 1 Second Open M4372
Progress has focused mainly on the repainting, although a repair to a defective door on the landward side has been successfully made and the windows on the same side have also been cleaned of stray paint.
The landward side paintwork is now substantially completed, brought right up to gloss Crimson & Cream colours. The top lining (above the windows) has also been applied but the bottom line will wait until the coach exits the staging area.
By Easter the sanding and filling work had been completed on the two ends and the seaward side allowing the painting team to make a start on these areas. So far, all of the remaining areas have been coated in primer and undercoats and now await the commencement of gloss.
British Railways 1959 Tourist Second Open M4843
Now that the welding repairs are completed to the Sheringham end, a start is being made on reassembling all of the interior and fittings from that area. However this has so far been limited to laying out all of the bits and undertaking a bit of head scratching!
At the Holt end, the areas requiring welding are being stripped out to facilitate these repairs. The landward side toilet has horrendous corrosion at gutter level which extends from the corner right along a six foot section to the doorway, it is one of the worst cases we have seen in a while.
Parts of the veneered toilet bulkhead have now been removed so that they do not catch fire when we start welding.
British Railways 1958 Class 101 Railcar Driving Motor Brake Second M51192
Repainting of the front saloon seat frames and re-upholstery of the seating continues.
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