July News Part 1

Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853

Door hanging continues and there are now six at the "hung" stage awaiting the next stage which will be fitting of the catch/locking mechanisms. The four remaining to do are the pair of luggage doors and two compartment doors on the seaward side.

Meanwhile, progress also continues to be made on the passenger communication gear. On the exterior, the feed pipe which links the apparatus valve to the main train vacuum pipe is now complete and in position.

Internally, more pipes (that accommodate the chain) have been produced and in some cases fitted. Work on the adjusting thread and end stop (which is located at the opposite end of the coach where the chain ends) has started.

British Railways 1959 Tourist Second Open M4843

The landward side solebar, pictured last week, has now been painted into gloss black which finishes this particular task.

More coats of paint are being applied to the ironwork which will adorn the two coach ends once all other repairs are completed.

The Holt end metalwork repairs have been noisily progressing with lots of chiseling and needle gunning of old metal to clean it up or remove it for replacement. Some new sections of major "crash pillar" are being prepared for welding into position on the seaward side shortly.

The removed toilet window from the same end is having coats of paint built up on the rear so that it can be refitted in due course.

Meanwhile at the Sheringham end, paint preparation work has started on the end here all the new metal joins the old.

The new floor in this end is also beginning to take shape, with several reproduced framework bearers now completed and painted ready to install on top of the chassis.

British Railways 1962 Corridor Second M26012

The full extent of the vehicle has been coated in a first coat of gloss this week, closely followed by a rub down and a second coat, the latter being 3/4 complete.

On the interior, all of the four-a-side bench seating has been swapped 180 degrees around. This is due to the nature of the vehicle and its wear patterns. The side corridor faces the sea on this coach meaning the compartments/seats face the sun. The seat position nearest the window naturally gets more sun damage than the other three seats on the same "bench". Additionally, when only one or two people travel in a compartment they naturally sit by the window, so the seats nearest the window also get more bottoms than the others! The combination of these two factors, let's call it the "sunny bottom syndrome", has led the seats to be on the verge of wearing out on just 1/4 of their length, the remaining 3/4 still being very presentable. The cure for sunny bottom syndrome has this week been to swap the two seat backs and bases in every compartment round with each other, putting the two worn seating positions closest to the corridor and away from the window, and the two least worn seating positions are now "taking the hit" next to the window, ready to receive maximum summer sun and passenger traffic. It was very hard work but hopefully this move will keep the overall look of the seating in this coach better for longer which prolongs the date which we will have to reupholster.

Upholstery

There hasn't been any updates from upholstery for several weeks, however they have remained very busy. The latest project has been the stripping down of first class compartment seat backs and bases and making patterns for new material. The first, pilot, seat back has been completed and it's magnificent in its first class "chestnut leaf" moquette.

A second back is now following and has been stripped of its old material. These seats are from Brake Corridor Composite GE21103 which is one of the operational brakes, but I'm not sure if they are going back in that coach or are being fitted to similar 21224 which is currently in the restoration programme.