April News Part 3

Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853

Glazing work continues with more drop-light glass being fitted into frames this week. Several are now also appearing fitted inside the doors as well.

The next task to accompany the glass will be reproduction leather straps for pulling the windows up and down. As is tradition - these will be stamped GER.

More interior painting has also been progressed this week.

London North Eastern Railway 1950 Brake Corridor Third E1866E

A slightly quieter week for this vehicle. Another of the sliding top-lights has been dismantled for restoration, while more electrical switch gear for the lighting has been dismantled, cleaned up and reassembled to ensure completeness and reliability into the future...

British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224

The cupboard doors, now suitably stained, have received a few coats of varnish so are slowly gaining an attractive shine.

Air brake pipework is progressing nicely with the new pipe runs under the guards floor now permanently fitted in place.

This has also involved careful bending of the original pipes that came up through the floor to make a better job than BR did cosmetically. The air pipe now follows the curve of the original vacuum pipe and although its still in the initial stages the visible pipework is already looking neater than previously.

The corridor floor supports are progressing well with most of the corridor now refitted.

On the exterior, the side panelling is now complete on the landward side which concludes this side of the coach. Only the two ends now remain to be welded. Crash pillars at the Sheringham end are now the main focus of attention, with several previous repairs being chopped out and redone to better standards.

British Railways 1959 Tourist Second Open M4843

After much work, the passenger communication apparatus is now refitted permanently into place on the Holt end of the coach.

Other end "furniture" has included the refitting of the toilet filler pipes. These are no longer used but have been repaired (where they had snapped off on the roof) and refitted to keep the coach externally original.

A start has now been made on doing final bodywork preparation and filling before the vehicle is handed over for repainting.

British Railways 1962 Tourist Second Open M4958

This vehicle, painted five years ago, is the replacement in the shed for M51188 (see below). It was due in during October this year for varnishing but an opportunity in the programme has arisen due to other reshuffling which created an opportunity to bring it in six months earlier. The first task was to clean it down as it was very dirty having been in use as a front line coach recently on the main steam set. This was done by a variety of volunteers with a variety of products and a lot of elbow grease! The end result was a clean coach ready for further work.

So far, the seaward side has also been sanded back gently to create a good surface for the varnish.

A small repair to the strip which holds the flexible bellows to the corridor connection faceplate has been made at the Holt end, corrosion had split the old one outwards and a full replacement can't be fitted unless the corridor connection is removed, so this repair will keep the bellows watertight for the foreseeable future.

We have been experiencing problems with the opening sliding windows in the passenger saloons. One of these has been completely dismantled into its individual parts, cleaned and reassembled meaning they open freely now. Unfortunately we don't have the time to do this to the other 15, so some of the less stiff examples have been cleaned as best as possible whilst still in situ, which has also improved some of them.

British Railways 1958 Class 101 Railcar Driving Motor Brake Second M51188

A flurry of activity early in the week saw this vehicle finished. Tidying up included fitting the remaining window surrounds back into place on the interior and having a sweep out. Externally, more bufferbeam pipework was colour coded, the replacement foot-boards fitted and painted gloss black.

The vehicle completed a test run on Monday. The C&W completion of the painting coincided with other work by the diesel department to get two DMU sets working together in multiple for the first time in the NNR's history - so it was quite a day.

Both the repaint work and multiple working were a great success, so M51188 has now been signed off back into service, the end of another Bronze level overhaul for us.

British Railways 1951 16 Ton Ballast Plough Brakevan DB993707

This new arrival has now squeezed into the shed meaning we have five vehicles inside at once which is fairly rare for us. No time has been wasted, with the whole exterior receiving a wash and hose down just before it came in. Having been outside for five years since being overhauled a few jobs are required before it is fully released into NNR service. These tasks are all cosmetic and centre mainly on the exterior and paintwork. It is not anticipated for this vehicle to be in works for long.

So far most of the handrails have been removed (they get in the way) and the seaward side and Sheringham ends have been combed over, with any cracked or loose paint chipped off to reach a solid surface below. Most of the filler which hides the screw heads had also popped so has been dug out in order to be replaced.

Two rotten corner pillars on the cabin have been chopped out ready for new pieces to be spliced in. Luckily, these two pillars are the only serious areas to have rotted - all other defects are small surface examples. This is mainly because the vehicle is being kept on top of after only five years, rather than the more normal practice of leaving it 20 odd years and then having to do a much larger rebuild.

April News Part 2

Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853

As hinted last week, the glass fitting has continued through to the moving panes. The two ex-hinged guards windows have now been glazed and are securely in place, whilst the assembly of the drop-lights for the doors is also progressing well. These droplights will be fitted to the doors once they are all fully glazed.

London North Eastern Railway 1950 Brake Corridor Third E1866E

The hidden body framework in the luggage van area has been the focus of attention, having been cleaned down and protected in several layers of paint, finishing with left-over gloss which explains the multi coloured appearance.

Meanwhile progress continues underneath the vehicle with some painting work on the recently refitted components (dynamo etc) and more chassis painting.

A reduced size pulley for the dynamo has been fabricated and machined which will hopefuully charge the batteries at lower speeds than previously.

Parts of the vacuum brake system are now methodically being removed, inspected for wear, repainted and refitted, with the linkages around the vacuum cylinder around the Sheringham end being the first area to receive this work.

British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224

The replacement cupboard doors, for the interior bulkhead which were explained in detail last week, are seen pictured here as there was no image last update.

The floor from the guards compartment has now been fully protected underneath and refitted back into position now that the floor supports are fully sound in this area.

This has allowed the vacuum and brake piping that comes up through the floor to be test fitted once again so that the underfloor pipework can be fitted permanently! However hopefully once all this work is done there will be a much neater space around the guard, as the duel braking conversion BR instigated was ugly to say the least.

Along the corridor, all of the holes through the steelwork which accommodate the bolts that support the wooden floor have been opened out to accommodate the new, larger, bolts. This done, the area that will be hidden by the floor supports has been protected with paint. Hopefully we are now not far away from reinstating all of the flooring down the corridor, making it safe to start the full interior reassembly.

On the exterior, panelwork replacement around the lower part of the luggage van area on the landward side is progressing well, with new metal welded in and the window aperture to be cut out shortly.

Little has been done this week on the bogie refurbishment, due to those particular resources being moved onto M51188, however there is a nice neat pile of parts ready to receive attention!

British Railways 1959 Tourist Second Open M4843

The gutters which were refitted last week have now been finished off. This involved sealing the joint where the chopped off bits join onto the main section of gutter (which wasn't removed) and painting them in a starting coat of roof paint. The areas of renewed roof above the gutters were also painted at the same time.

Both corridor ends now have their rubber and steel bellows refitted, a long winded task as there are so many little fixings on them that are located with limited access.

The final element of the corridor connections is a flexible "rain hood" that is suspended over the top and held up with brackets. This has been fitted to the Sheringham end but due to a few more areas requiring some painting the Holt end has had to wait till next week.

Final preparations and cleaning to the interior floor have been made so that the remaining areas under the seats can be painted.

British Railways 1958 Class 101 Railcar Driving Motor Brake Second M51188

The finishing touches continue. The solebars and bufferbeams are now all repainted into black (except the front buffer beam which received three coats of red instead) and all the underframe lettering is now complete. This was completed the same day that the main signwriting (numbers etc) was finished on the bodysides and corridor end.

Also at the corridor end, the exhaust silencers have been refitted back in place.

Two replacement footboards have been cut to replace either damaged or rotten examples on the vehicle.

The final task for the repaint is now in progress, that of picking out all of the bufferbeam pipes and equipment into their multicoloured coding, DMU's have reds, blues, blacks and whites all to denote the various pipes and connectors.

The interior is on the verge of being finished off, with the window surrounds being screwed back into position. All but one window is now refitted. A bit of a sweep out has also occurred as the interior has become quite dusty since being in the workshop.

It is expected for M51188 to return to service next week.

British Railways 1951 16 Ton Ballast Plough Brakevan DB993707

The gap in the wagon fleet left by pipe wagon 4228 last year has been filled with the arrival of "Oyster" brakevan DB993707 from the Churnet Valley Railway. Fully operational and restored between 2011-2014, it can be used in the demonstration freight set and for works trains and stock movements with unbraked vehicles, making it a useful vehicle - particularly for the Operations Department who undertake many of these moves.

Its ballast ploughs for track renewal work can also be used should the more modern TRAMM be out of service for overhaul in the future.

The vehicle is currently at Sheringham but will hopefully be moved to Weybourne for some remedial work before it enters regular service.

Workshop

Some other miscellaneous items are also passing through the workshop. These include three not-to-be-moved boards which have been fully repainted, lettered and returned to Sheringham. There is also a table being made out of an old cable drum for the commercial department.

April News Part 1

There are comparatively few images for this update as the final day of the working week was somewhat preoccupied with the Spring Steam Gala which has run its first day.

Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853

Sole focus has been the fitting of glass to the fixed windows in the vehicle. These are now almost done (if not all done), and any excess sealant has been cleaned off also as the team work their way around the vehicle. Next will be the glazing of the moving panes such as the droplights and the strange hinged windows at the guards end.

London North Eastern Railway 1950 Brake Corridor Third E1866E

Despite a few challenges and blind avenues the passenger communication apparatus modifications are starting to come together, so hopefully it won't be too long before we can report that the coach has a system fitted once again.

Inside the guards area all of the wall planking has been removed from the luggage van area so the relevant areas can be restored - more news to follow on that score.

Meanwhile under the vehicle the reinstatement of lighting and electrical apparatus continues well. The reclaimed (Mark 1 style) lighting control boxes, regulator box and dynamo that were removed from Gresley Buffet E9128E have all now been fitted to the underframe of E1866E. They remain to be properly connected of course but the heavy task of getting them into position is now complete.

British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224

The letter rack pictured last week has now been completed and is resplendent in silver spray.

Staying with the interior, two replacement door panels have been cut out of plywood and stained to match the existing woodwork. These doors are located in the passenger vestibule at the Sheringham end of the coach, and will be covering up old cupboards which formerly housed the pipework and equipment for the toilet at that end. Now that the toilet is just a store cupboard, the access doors are no longer required so these panels will be permanently shut. We couldn't use the original doors as they had been too heavily modified during the coach's time as a mainline support coach in the past - this area used to be a shower!

The guards compartment floor has been removed and is currently being protected with the usual layers of paint before it is fixed back down again. The corridor flooring meanwhile has had the supporting bearers test fitted with new coach bolts and should hopefully be being fitted permanently shortly.

Welding of course continues, with the bodyside around the Sheringham end landward side still receiving attention.

However the largest visual change this week has been underneath. The coach is now back on jacks following last week's shunt and this has allowed the two bogies to be temporarily swapped around so that we can dismantle the Holt end bogie to change the wheelsets. This has now been done and once again we have a large pile of bits to start cleaning up and repaint!

All 8 bearing caps followed the ones that were done for M4843 in being repainted yellow and lettered up, these now look very nice and are all now refitted to the bogies.

British Railways 1959 Tourist Second Open M4843

This is now in the staging area for its big push to completion (gasp!) to begin. The immediate tasks are to finish off all the exterior work which remains outstanding. So far the four sections of gutters which were removed for steelwork repairs to the ends have now been refitted. We are now concentrating on attaching the corridor connection "bellows" to the faceplates which were craned on last week.

Internally, a coat of floor paint has been applied to the two store cupboards, but more coats are required.

British Railways 1958 Class 101 Railcar Driving Motor Brake Second M51188

The finishing touches to the repaint continue. The route indicator box has been fitted to the front end which completes this area, complete with cosmetic reporting number, "B3". All of the lining is now also finished with the lower bodyside stripe applied. A start has been made on all the bodyside and chassis lettering (such as numbers etc), and there is quite a bit of it to get through.

Meanwhile, some of the lower height finishing jobs are now being tackled. The two solebars have been cleaned down and are being repainted into black gloss, as is the rear bufferbeam. The front bufferbeam has received a pink primer however, as this is a better base coat for the red gloss we will be applying to this area.