May News Part 4

A slightly earlier Blog this week to take into account more unavailability at the weekend...

Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853

The only progress to note has been some more small adjustments to the draught excluders pictured last week to make them more suitable "paired up" aside each of the four doorways.

London North Eastern Railway 1924 Quad Articulated Set 74

This set continues to be the subject of our obsessions and has progressed well as a direct result. Here's another image of the progress board, which can be directly compared to last week's which obviously had fewer ticks on it!

The Sheringham end pair of coaches continue to have their compartment ceilings painted. The coach at the Sheringham end is now complete and the next one along 3/4 done. Part of the repainting task is removing the lighting bowls, cleaning the glass, repainting the ring that holds the bowl into position and refitting them.

Moving downwards, the bogies at this end have now had their repainting work completed, with the side frames resplendent in gloss. The wheels have also been repainted, complete with white tyres which sets them off nicely.

We have also taken the opportunity to give the footboards at this end a repaint as well.

Moving onto the Holt end pair of coaches. As predicted last week, the repainting of the roofs was completed early on, which finishes all the renewal work we need  to do on the roofs of the full four coach set. It's been quite a journey but the roofs really are now transformed in their brilliant white finish.

Roofs done, the scaffolding was able to be removed which in turn has allowed work on the bodies and interior to resume. One task completed was a repaint of the guards van floor.

Finally, the second coach in, which is the final of the four to have the exterior rubbed down ready for re-varnishing, has been started.

British Railways 1959 Tourist Second Open M4843

Repairs are moving around the corner into the ex toilet area. The window has had to be removed which has allowed the steel paneling to be stripped off to undertake the required repairs to the framework. This framework is now the current focus of Team Welder's attention...

British Railways 1958 Class 101 Railcar Driving Motor Brake Second M51192

No more seat refitting this week, however many of the areas which are very hard to access when the seats are in place have been deep cleaned while the opportunity was available.

May News Part 3

Back from another weekend away... Well, we have to make the most of the sun whilst it's about don't we? The visits did have some relevance to the NNR, one day being spent at the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway where the railway's diesel railbus, E79960, was making a visit for their gala weekend. Thankfully it is in rude health and appears to be very well looked after by its custodians at the Ribble Steam Railway. The vehicle last saw serious attention by members of our department in the early 2000's but has of course seen ongoing work since to maintain it, by both ourselves and more recently at the Ribble.

Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853

The draught excluders for the four doorways have been cut and sanded to shape. As these have been done by hand they have slight differences so have since been "paired" so as to make each doorway as consistent as possible.

Earlier in the week there was a surprise in the form of the 16 ton mineral wagon being delivered to us in Weybourne yard. This was requested late last year as three out of the four buffers for 853 were stored in there. Within a day we had extracted the buffers with the added advantage of also being able to fill up the wagon with some more long term wagon and heavy underframe spares, further tidying the yard area close to our shed. It was noted that Monkey completely shirked the heavy lifting, being more interested in testing out reupholstered seating instead....for armrest, read sun lounger!

The three buffers for 853 have already made it to the shed next to the rest of the vehicle and have been brushed down and painted in their first coat of "rust kill" primer.

London North Eastern Railway 1924 Quad Articulated Set 74

The main focus of the department continues to be the Quad-Art set, the thorn...SORRY-the jewel in the railway's crown! The OCD project planning has reached a new stage for us after the "to do" list upgraded to a grid system so we could check progress on the four coaches that make up the set!

The Sheringham end pair of coaches continue to be most advanced and we have now started on the body and underframe jobs now that the roofs are done. All of the varnish rubbing down has been completed with the exception of three compartments at one end which is still obscured by scaffolding preventing access.

The repainting of the tedious bits of brown metalwork which surround the doors and their associated equipment has also been progressed on these two, with the Sheringham end coach now finished and the adjacent one in first coat.

All of the ceilings in these two have been cleaned of mould and primed (again with the exception of three compartments at one end which is still obscured by scaffolding) and the top coating in eggshell is now progressing well.

Underframe tasks are now also being able to be progressed. So far the wheels and bogie side frames have been de-greased and washed down to assess their cosmetic condition. If we have time we will probably repaint much of it to give it a boost as a lot of it is looking tired now after ten years. Some bogie side frames have already made it into black undercoat.

More bogies have also had their brake blocks replaced. We have now completed three out of the five bogies.

Moving onto the Sheringham end pair of coaches. With scaffolding erected, progress has been limited to the roofs themselves. The remaining repairs were quickly completed last week and painting has been the order of the day. The Holt end (brake) coach is now finished and the adjacent coach just requires one more coat and then the scaffolding can be dropped.

British Railways 1959 Tourist Second Open M4843

More metal repairs to the Holt end/landward side corner have been completed. A new main crash pillar has been welded in to the corner and several smaller sections of replacement framework also let in. The whole structure has been cleaned and primed with new paint prior to moving to some of the neighboring sections.

As can be seen moving around the corner doesn't lead to any better metal!

British Railways 1958 Class 101 Railcar Driving Motor Brake Second M51192

Some limited work has been able to be undertaken although it is of a lower priority as this vehicle will not be returning to service in the near future. Most of the seating has now been moved out of the upholstery workshop and back into the vehicle, and progress is being made on refitting the cushions into the frames within the front saloon behind the driver's cab.

Workshop

More painting work has been completed on the platform trolleys.

The Axeman is furthering his crate empire nicely with crate numbers 3 and 4 taking shape fast. These pair will be for the engineering department next-door-but-one to us. It has been suggested we number the crates so that we can keep tabs on the growing population!

May News Part 2

An image which was taken last week which didn't make it into the Blog for some reason: 76084 in steam breaks new ground for the class, the first standard 4 inside the carriage shed whilst moving 4843 into position. But don't linger too long, or the fire alarms go off!

Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853

No progress to report, the usual workforce having been borrowed for Quad-Art progression!

London North Eastern Railway 1924 Quad Articulated Set 74

Great progress continues to be made with the Quad Art set, mainly due to the fact that almost everybody has been together working on it. Work carries on with the coaches split into two main work areas: the two Holt end coaches and the two Sheringham end coaches.

Starting with the Sheringham end pair. The repainting of the repaired roofs has been completed this week, with two more coats of white being added making a total of three. Roof work is now therefore concluded and on Friday the scaffolding around these two coaches was removed so that we can focus next week on interior and bodyside jobs.

Before the scaffolding was removed, we were able to make a head start on some of the re-varnishing, with the cant rail strip being keyed up and varnished and some of the hard-to-get-at panels on the intermediate ends also rubbed down near the top where it will be very awkward to reach now that the scaffolding platform is gone.

Moving on to the Holt end coaches. The preliminary roof repairs including the water trough modification (please read the entry from two weeks ago for a full description of this work) have now been completed on the brake (Holt end) coach.

This is great as it means that the brake coach now only requires the roof to be scrubbed and repainted. Similar work has been progressing on the other adjacent coach. Scaffolding was erected around the two Holt end coaches towards the end of the week allowing full resources to be directed at the roofs from next week.

Moving downwards, a start has been made on the exterior work planned for the set starting with these two coaches. The brake coach has now been fully rubbed down ready for its re-varnishing in due course.

Meanwhile, the adjacent coach has received a repaint of all of the metalwork associated with the doors (catches, bump stops, window edges etc) which are all painted in a horrible light brown colour! Picking out all of the metalwork again in fresh paint, should join the repainted roofs in making the set look the best it's looked since its major restoration was completed ten years ago.

Interior work has also continued. All of the repainted compartment ceilings in the two Holt end coaches are now finished, and a coat of paint has also been added to the guards van area which was also looking a little stained.

Now that the scaffolding has been swapped over, the tasks associated with each end will reverse so the next few weeks we will be doing it all again just at opposite ends of the workshop!

British Railways 1959 Tourist Second Open M4843

More of the corroded Holt end is being pulled apart and rotten areas are currently in the process of being chopped out and the remaining sections needle gunned to clean them up, prior to new material being prepared and let in. Corrosion is rampant as usual and more and more of the toilet area is going to have to be renewed.

British Railways 1958 Class 101 Railcar Driving Motor Brake Second M51192

The upholstering of the seating is now completed which means the task of refitting the seats can soon start in earnest, but it is unlikely to be able to progress rapidly until the Quad Art set is completed.

Workshop

In other news, the Axeman has been busy building his third steel crate (see last week), whilst woodworkers have been busy repairing and repainting trolleys for Weybourne station once again.

May News Part 1

We have now entered May and temperatures are rising meaning outdoor work is becoming more and more attractive by the day!

Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853

Progress is limited due to the Quad Arts being in, however some draught excluder timber has been kindly donated for the four passenger doorways. These are rather nicely shaped and go either side of the doorway, indeed we noticed that the Quad Art set is fitted out in a similar manner. The draught excluders for 853 are now being shaped at the bottom where they pass round the edge of the passenger seating.

London North Eastern Railway 1924 Quad Articulated Set 74

Work to repair the Quad Arts is proceeding at a very satisfactory pace. Ceiling repainting in the two Holt end coaches is now almost complete. They have all been undercoated, and all but two compartments have received their top coats of eggshell.

Some replacement signage has also been applied to compartment 24 which had suffered some minor vandalism - I will never understand why anyone would visit a heritage railway and then proceed to scratch at the seat upholstery, signs and varnished wooden walls with a sharp object?

Also on the Holt end coaches, a preliminary head start is being made on the roof repairs, with the water trough modification (please read last week's entry for a full description of this work) having been started on the brake (Holt end) carriage. This is being progressed by a single person as without scaffolding around this coach we are only able to utilise one person using our normal safety line and harness. This will speed up the remaining roof work which will start on these coaches once scaffolding is erected around them.

Moving onto the Sheringham end pair of coaches. The water ingress repairs to the cable troughing (described last week) are now completed and all of the cable troughs have been resealed and their lids put back on them. This done, a serious attempt has been made to scrub down the existing canvas which had gone a dark grey colour after ten years of steam haulage had left it heavily smutted. This build up of oil and carbon has etched in to the canvas meaning that only part of it could be removed, however the roof post-scrubbing was a lot cleaner and as ready as it could be for applying fresh paint. Once the coaches are refreshed I think it will be best that steam haulage of the Quads be stopped, with all services operated instead by the M&GN Society's excellent Class 31 diesel!.....Or perhaps not....

Towards the end of the week after the scrubbed roofs had dried, the first (of three) coats of brilliant white roof paint were applied.

We are still fairly early on in the time period we have to return the Quads to service, so to be this far advanced with the roof repairs at this stage is a really encouraging sign as we always knew that the roof repairs were going to be the largest/hardest element of the project.

British Railways 1959 Tourist Second Open M4843

With the assistance of the Operating Department the void in the shed left by M4372 has been filled once again by M4843 which has returned from its holiday in Bridge Road Carriage Sheds. Some cosmetic underframe works have been completed namely the gloss painting of the footboards, with some parts of the corridor connections also being similarly treated.

Meanwhile corrosion repairs have started in earnest on the Holt end, with the outer panelling on the landward side being ripped off to fully attack the corroded framework beneath. This end is much worse than the Sheringham end and (from an outer panelling perspective) it will receive a whole new end as a result.

This particular corner received a "hatchet job" by myself four years ago after it came into works briefly for a bogie repair job. Whilst in it was commented on how this particular corner of the coach was getting so rotten that corroded jagged holes were beginning to show through. With the coach required in a week or two's time for the Santa Specials, and with no place at that time in the overhaul programme for it, we had little choice but to rivet unsightly patches onto the corners to cover up the potential passenger hazard. Not the finest moment, but a necessary move that was made to keep the coach in service in a safe condition until the work we are doing now could be done. It is pleasing to see my rivetted patches being ripped off into the skip so that a proper fabricated repair can be instigated.

British Railways 1958 Class 101 Railcar Driving Motor Brake Second M51192

Upholstery works are almost complete, it is estimated that it will be done in about a week or two.

Workshop

Over the past couple of weeks the Axeman has been missing from these writings... Well here he is, busying himself with the continuation of an existing project to construct some steel cages to hold spares/equipment in outside, with the added bonus that they can be stacked upwards. With a pair completed structurally, he is now adding the mesh so that the smaller items don't fall out!

Weybourne Station

The display stands for the wheels of the haycart (pictured last week) are now completed and await fitting.