COMPLETION SPECIAL: London Midland Scottish Railway Plate Open TDB726631

In a surprise move for the department, we are pleased to be able to record the completion of the first company (NNR) owned wagon restoration since 2012, LMS plate wagon 726631. This increases the length of the demonstration freight train to 12 wagons on paper, 10 wagons in practice. This represents a high point for the development of the freight set, making it the biggest it has been in recent times and possibly the largest ever! (Longstanding followers of the railway may be able to correct me on that particular suggestion).

In terms of history, the lowly plate wagon has one of the most boring of anything on the railway. Plate wagons were rough, nondescript items of plant that were built in fairly large numbers by the North Eastern Railway, London North Eastern Railway, London Midland & Scottish Railway and lastly British Railways. They were designed to be simple and effective: a standard 4-wheeled wagon chassis, often unbraked, with a floor and low sides (sometimes hinged). They were meant for a variety of freight traffic, whatever was required of them, and typically used for steel plate (giving them their name), cable drums, items of machinery, concrete sections/beams etc. They were far too useful to be confined to specific items of freight, and photographs exist proving that these wagons were used for moving almost anything one can think of, provided it can be fitted safely on and secured! Total weight fully loaded was 22 tons.

The first examples were built by the North Eastern Railway and building continued by subsequent companies, with earlier unbraked wooden bodied examples giving way to vacuum (and air) braked steel versions. The last ones were built by British Railways before they were superseded by a revised design of 4-wheel air braked wagon during the 1970's.

Our example, 726631, lies somewhere in the middle of the story, built by the London Midland & Scottish Railway in 1947, unbraked, steel (riveted) bodied and probably grey coloured. We have no means of knowing most of the history of our wagon, needless to say that less than a year passed after being built before it was absorbed into the nationalised British Railways. Whilst in their ownership, it would have wandered around the UK, at a less than efficient pace, occasionally earning some money moving the various loads described above. At some time unknown, BR deemed the wagon surplus to requirements, selling it to Boulton & Pauls in Norwich, a prominent manufacturing company (remember those?) most known for their aircraft, but in practice were general manufacturers. Their site would have used 726631 as an "internal user" (not allowed to leave their internal railway system back onto the BR network) for several years before it is believed the wagon derailed and suffered damage to the "W iron" which held one of the wheelsets into plate. Such a low cost vehicle was then condemned once again and preserved by the North Norfolk Railway.

On arrival at the North Norfolk Railway, 726631 had the bent W iron bent back to allow it to be moved around once again. However, in a somewhat similar fashion to bending a paperclip and then bending it back again, the W iron never quite returned to its original shape, so 726631 continued to be plagued by unstable riding characteristics which eventually caused it to be removed from normal duties on safety grounds. It was also thought at the time that the wheels were worn to scrap size and therefore shouldn't be used in the demonstration freight train. By the 2000's, the wagon had received a steel floor (replacing its wooden one) and was used as an ash wagon by the Locomotive Department, carrying corrosive waste ash generated from the steam locos.

It's general condition was still fair, but cosmetically it was worsening. By the 2010's, its only use was being used as a Bandstand for the 1940's weekend and Beer Festival events, and its worsening appearance and usage restrictions had led to the wagon being put in the "problem" category and there were calls from some quarters to sell the vehicle and move it on.

However in the summer of 2018 a deal was able to be reached between the NNR and M&GN sections of the railway's Carriage & Wagon department. Whilst the NNR had no workshop capacity or available labour to dedicate to wagon restoration work, the M&GN side had an unusually high level of volunteer labour available. With such a good summer in progress, it was agreed that the NNR owned wagon could sit outside of the shed and be repaired and restored as a 100% volunteer project, similar to Great Eastern Railway 853. For this the NNR is grateful, and it is a shining example of everybody working together for the greater benefit of the overall aim, in this case a better freight train.

726631 was duly moved from storage at Holt into the yard at Weybourne for the process to begin. It has been given a light overhaul, as its condition was not bad at all and focus was mainly on fixing problems rather than un-turning every stone. At the top of the list was removing the mechanical problems that had brought the wagon out of service. The wagon's "scrap" wheels were measured and proven to be well within operational limits, making that particular allegation unfounded. The unstable riding characteristics (which had limited it to 10mph) were cured by re-straightening the problematic W iron for a second time but this time more accurately. An out-of-adjustment handbrake was repaired which cured a nasty habit that the wagon had of not securing itself properly if the handbrake was applied. Finally, a through vacuum pipe was fitted which is now a requirement for any vehicles being out into the demonstration freight train.

Cosmetically, the vehicle was able to be quickly transformed with a decent brush down, rust treatment and repaint, including the floor. It has been liveried and lettered up as the North Walsham reach wagon. Whilst not correct for this exact wagon, another plate wagon was used for this purpose, presumably in connection with the gas terminal there, and a photograph was used of that example to copy onto ours. This is in line with our policy of attempting to represent East Anglian history (where possible) on vehicles within the freight set. A photo of the original North Walsham example can be found as part of the excellent Paul Bartlett Wagon Website.

With all operational restrictions lifted, and the wagon's appearance transformed, 726631 now assumes a place within the demonstration freight set, although it can continue to be extracted for use around the railway where required and return to its role of the bandstand at the 1940's and Beer Festival weekends.

Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853

The buffers have now had their oversize shanks machined down so that they fit properly within the underframe of 853.

London North Eastern Railway 1937 Restaurant Buffet E9128E

The Gresley Buffet has now entered the shed and its progress has been dramatic.

After arriving inside it was left to dry out and several rotten beading strips below the windows were removed and replaced with brand new examples machined in house. A small army of volunteers then took to the bodysides and have been busy sanding and filling the remaining wooden panelling that is still present in the upper half of the vehicle.

The beading on the lower half, which contains some 900 screws, had the screw heads filled over and the tops sanded smooth.

Progress has been so great that after just a week painting on the seaward side commenced, with the landward side joining a few days later. All of the bodysides have been painted in an all-purpose primer which has able to be applied to the Di-bond lower panels and the wooden upper panels simultaneously.

With the primer completed, a red undercoat has also been applied to the lower half of the seaward side.

Up on the roof, now that the vehicle is underneath the safety line, a series of canvas patches and repairs have been made to correct some questionable areas. These done, painting of the roof has also progressed with about 75% now completed.

London North Eastern Railway 1950 Brake Corridor Third E1866E

Awaiting transfer from Holt down to Weybourne for work to begin in earnest.

British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224

Work has continued to be progressed at a good pace, keeping the momentum up from previous weeks. The repainting of the underframe has continued into the gloss black (topcoat) stages, and this final coat is now 90% applied so the end is nigh for this substantial task.

The Sheringham end bogie is now complete in terms of its brakegear overhaul, with all sections now stripped, cleaned and lubricated to mainline running standards. Work has now started on turning (on the wheel lathe) the first of a pair of replacement wheelsets for the bogie.

Meanwhile the same process of overhauling the Holt end bogie is now fully in progress, with those involved showing their best sides as always!

Some of the parts have been very troublesome to separate, which reinforces our view that its important during the restoration stage to get everything apart and working freely and properly.

The Holt bogie is now roughly half way through this process.

Also concerning the underframe has been the installation of a brand new steam heat pipe, required as this coach was electric heat only when we purchased it. The main pipe runs from end-to-end with a subsidiary pipe (half size) also running along most of the vehicle to feed the various heaters in all of the compartments. So far, about half of the main end-to-end pipe has been manufactured and is currently test fitted (suing clamps) into position.

Inside the vehicle, a further two compartment ceilings have been sanded ready for repainting, leaving only two still to tackle. The luggage rack brackets mentioned last time are now back from the aluminium welders and are awaiting polishing before they can be fitted back into the luggage racking.

British Railways 1959 Tourist Second Open M4843

Good progress at the Sheringham end this week, with the door re-hanging on the seaward side now fully completed.

The door on the landward side is also not far behind.

British Railways 1960 Brush Type 2 D5631

The Class 31 has been rolled out of our shed, resplendent in its green paint, and returned to the Locomotive Department for them to progress the remainder of its overhaul.

British Railways 1968 24T Tube Open 4228

This week the railway has bid farewell to a wagon as well as completing the restoration of another. The M&GN Society's un-restored tube wagon (obtained in 2013) has been sold and was collected this week for a new home at the Spa Valley Railway.

With siding space precious and no immediate restoration plans possible, it was felt this wagon would have a better future elsewhere.

Maintenance

During steam heating testing two main Open Second vehicles, M4236 and E4667, were identified as not warming up and the normal tweaking at Sheringham proved ineffective. They had to be tripped to Weybourne for workshop attention. Several major blockages were discovered in the drains which when removed and properly rodded out produced a lake of water which had been permanently sitting in the system preventing the steam from getting to the heaters.

It was also discovered that a valve deep underneath the coach on M4236 had also been cutting off part of the vehicle from the rest of the system, the concerning part being that it would seem the coach has been running like this for years! The steam heat pipework was slightly altered to remove the surplus valve and returning all four corners of the coach back into the world of heat.

By using locos on shed being steam tested, the repairs on the two coaches were tested and a major rise in heat reported inside the saloons. The two coaches have been returned to Sheringham and will hopefully be keeping our passengers much warmer this Santa season!

Given how blocked up the drains were on these two coaches, time has also been spend on removing some components under the running coaches stabled at Sheringham as a preventative measure, to remove any grime/slime/detritus that was building up slowly in those areas. This will hopefully reduce instances of coaches becoming blocked with water in the next year or so. When the Santa Special trains start running, we will see if this work will pay off...

Miscellaneous

One of the many side jobs we have completed, has been the creation of a storm sheet for the Y14 locomotive.

This was sewn up by using canvas from a genuine Norfolk Wherry which was donated to us some time ago, and it has now been fitted to the loco.