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.
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