November News Part 4

Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853

Work has continued on existing aspects on an ongoing basis (that's management speak!). The droplight frames are becoming increasingly advanced with final sanding and assembly being the order of the day. These frames have been holding back the ordering of new window glass, so with the frames being so close to finishing it can't be long before the windows are due to follow.

More lighting is being fitted, with the fake gas lights soon to get the dimmer of the two lights that are planned to be installed within them.

Less exciting has been the further filling and sanding on the seaward side, which is slowly getting the  body to a smoother and smoother finish.

London North Eastern Railway 1937 Restaurant Buffet E9128E

Painting continues. All of the main painting has now been completed, the last section being the second coats of gloss on the landward side.

The finishing strip below the canvas has received its final coats of black gloss.

After a period drying off, this has allowed lining and lettering to start. The black sections of the waist height line, vehicle numbers and "buffet" signs have all been applied. Next week will see the ochre added which will finish the paint job.

Another finishing job has been picking out the letters on the vehicle's data plates on the ends.

During its time in storage the vehicle's passenger communication emergency chain became too stiff to remain in a safe condition. The chain furthest away from the apparatus was no longer operating the valve and putting the brakes on. After various access hatches and sections of ceiling were removed, the problem linkages have now been straightened and loosened. This has returned the chain to full health, which is a good thing if the coach is going to pass its exam next year to allow it to return to traffic!

London North Eastern Railway 1950 Brake Corridor Third E1866E

The news you've all been waiting for! This week the unique Thompson era brake was moved down from temporary storage up at Holt for its return to service works to begin. There is always a wild stir when a new restoration starts and this vehicle is no different. The coach has arrived outside at Weybourne to enable internal work to be started over the winter. When convenient the incomplete corridor connection plates (currently one is a Mk1 design whilst the other is original LNER pattern) will be replaced in due course with a set from LNER BG 70621 which are LNER versions complete with all associated fixing gear.

As an aside, the BG will in turn get the pair from E1866E, which will be more appropriate given that the BG is destined to become a non operational cosmetic restoration.

Returning to E1866E, the interior will get worse to start with due to the work that is to be done; most of the flooring is loose and still needs to be fixed permanently. This will be lifted so that the under frame can be rust killed and painted. At the same time repairs/replacement to the vacuum and steam heating pipes will be carried out. The ceilings will be taken down and stored for re-use and two bulk heads removed or altered, to allow the through control cables and lighting relay controls to be reinstated. An emergency passenger communication alarm chain will also be fitted in the coach.

On taking down the toilet panels the block wood wall was deemed to be very damp and the exterior ply on the block board was de-laminating. So the opportunity has been taken to remove and replace with new. The toilet water tank had a temporary prop added as it appeared to be held up by the wall, once the wall was removed, the beam that should have been holding the tank up wasn’t, it had a foot of wood missing on the landward side! (Glad the prop was put in, tank very heavy!). The next job will be to fit a new beam to support the tank.

Elsewhere in the coach, the wall panelling in the passenger section has been removed revealing the coach's main framework below, which is in excellent order - as expected due to the thorough structural rebuilding work that has been undertaken at the coach's previous home.

British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224

The wheelsets continue to be worked on. Two out of the four have now been turned to the correct profile. The first wheelset is ahead of the second and has now been fully painted up to gloss black stage, with the bearing housing fully cleaned out and refitted.

The brakegear is now ready for refitting. All of the rods have been gloss painted and the bushes cleaned out ready to receive freshly lubricated pins. Also forming parts of the braking system has been the air reservoir tank, which has also made it into gloss this week so is now ready to refit.

The arrival of some specialist grease allowed the three brake cylinders (two for the coach and one spare) to be reassembled ready for use.

Inside the vehicle, two out of the five compartment ceilings have been painted into white undercoat. At the same time, the hidden areas of the walls (which will be behind the seating) have also been treated in the same undercoat.

Serious work has commenced on the remaining deferred welding repairs, which this coach so desperately needs in order to progress properly. The seaward side has had its lower skirt cut off along almost all its length, alongside the five compartments down where the corridor will be. This has revealed some corroded floor supports which will require some tactical removal of flooring and wooden supports in order to replace. This will be ongoing in the weeks ahead.

British Railways 1959 Tourist Second Open M4843

The main progress has been on the Holt end toilet/store cupboard. These areas are almost impossible to photograph due to their enclosed nature, however the walls are now fully boarded out and the floor repairs are also complete. Only the ceiling now remains to be refitted before these areas can be smartened up with a quick lick of paint. They will then become the clean storage areas which can actually be used, rather than the dusty dead spaces that they were before.

At the other (Sheringham) end, the corridor connection is nearly ready to be refitted. The woodwork has been fitted to the steel this week, as have the supports for the inter connecting lighting jumper cables.

Primal behavior caused by hard-to-fit corridor components! 

Maintenance

A lot of work has been undertaken on the doors of all the vehicles that will be used on the Satan Special trains in the next few weeks. The four open coaches have all had doors adjusted, with 4667 being particularly problematical, requiring all six of its doors to have attention. 4641 & 4958 required two doors each to be worked on, with 4236 being even better with just the one door.

The brake vehicle in the set, BSK 35148, required both of its inward opening guards doors which had drooped. One of the luggage/disabled doors and a passenger door also required moving. All of these doors were due to the recent weather causing swelling in the doorways which causes stiffness and for the locks to go out of alignment, so a constant battle to attend to.