June News Part 3

Great Eastern Railway 1899 4 Wheel Brake Third 853 (GOLD)

Good steps forward have been made this week, with the commencement of the final gloss exterior painting. For the first time, we are seeing the final colour of the vehicle, with the double set of luggage doors on the landward side, plus the Holt end being covered so far.

London North Eastern Railway 1950 Brake Corridor Third E1866E (GOLD)

A good week for visual progress, with several items being installed and painted.

The guard's emergency equipment locker has been reinstated up in the ceiling, having been painted and filled again.

The hinged guards seat is now also in place.

The outside walls of the guard's "booth" are also coming on well, with two out of the three walls in place and the glazing bars being fitted ready to receive glass.

The Sheringham end wall has already received a coat of cream gloss.

Further into the luggage end of the vehicle, a new teak strip of flooring has been laid between the sets of double doors.

Above this, the steam heat piping in the ceiling of the same luggage area has now been 95% completed.

British Railways 1959 Brake Corridor Composite E21224 (GOLD)

Bodywork continues on the Holt end. All four lower crash pillar repairs have now been completed along with the new sections of baseplate.

Welding has now turned to the upper sections, also at the Holt end, around the gutter area in the corners where further corrosion is present. So far, sections of gutter and roof paneling have been removed to assess the damage!

The replacement of damaged flooring sections has focussed on the Sheringham end, with a large piece spanning the full width of the vehicle now fitted at the very end. As this is in the luggage area, it will be visible, not being covered by lino, so it has had a small teak top added to it as the main material we use for the floor bearers themselves is probably not up to the job of being repeatedly scuffed by foot traffic.

Repaired sections are now being refitted to each side of the luggage area.

The project to clean and refit the corridor and compartment windows has now reached the end of the frame cleaning stage, with all five windows along the corridor now ready to receive the sliding lights.

These are now being prepared to fit - there is a lot of work in getting the runners drilled, tapped and repaired as many were damaged when removed some time ago.

Inside the toilet, the walls are being stripped of their previous owner's paint revealing the original Formica pattern below, which so far has been found to be in very good condition. Fingers crossed we don't reveal any horrors whilst stripping the rest of the walls.

Meanwhile the soap dishes and paper towel racks that will be fitted inside the toilet compartment have all been rubbed down and received a coat or two of varnish, with more to follow.

The sawdust bin, briefly mentioned last week, has now been completed and is ready for fitting to the guards compartment when ready.

British Railways 1959 Tourist Second Open M4843 (SILVER)

The exterior repaint continues. All of the main gloss work to the coach is now completed, with the second coat of maroon gloss being finished this week.

This allowed the ends to be masked off and finished in gloss black.

As the toilet water tank is no longer in operation, the filler spouts have been removed and capped off. These caps are now being painted, as are several other small items too numerous to mention that add into all of the finishing touches to the vehicle's repaint.

Internally, any final varnishing work to the vestibules is now complete, so any finishing touches or reassembly can now be done.

We now enter the final snagging list stage of the vehicle's overhaul.

British Railways 1957 Tourist Second Open E4521 (SILVER)

More woodwork has been pulled off the ends, revealing significant areas of holed metal which will require the corridor connections removed in order to replace.

Some of the end components including the passenger communication apparatus and the corridor bellow metalwork, have been cleaned back to bare metal and are now in the process of being repainted.

British Railways 1962 12 Ton Box Van B784254 (GOLD)

All of the areas of blown metalwork around the bottom of the corrugated steel ends have been cut away.

The strips which were removed show how much rust had built up behind them.

The areas are currently bare and are being protected before repair sections are welded in.

Underneath the vehicle, the mis-aligned W-irons around the axleboxes have been bent back straight via the careful use of heat to manipulate them. This is one of the few mechanical jobs required on the vehicle which is generally in very good shape underneath.